Iceland, the birds do not meet with the same
considerate attention, and are therefore
frequently destroyed for their down's sake.

The eider drake is a remarkably handsome
bird, and is nearly double the size of an
ordinary farm-yard duck; the duck, which is
smaller than her mate, is of a sombre brown
colour. She generally lays from five to eight
eggs, after which she will begin to sit,
unless the eggs be taken. But as it is the object
of the proprietor of a colony of ducks to get
as much down as possible, the nest is generally
robbed once or even twice of its down and
eggs, to induce the bird to lay again and pluck
a further supply from her breast.

It is a most interesting sight to visit one of
these Norwegian duck colonies, and observe
the jealous care with which the birds are
treated. The ducks approve of it, and become
so tame that they will even suffer themselves to
be taken off their nest by the "gudewife."

Mr. Shepherd, in The North-west Peninsula
of Iceland, gives a most interesting account of
a visit he paid to an eider-duck island off the
extreme western part of the country. It was
but three-quarters of a mile in width, and was
almost entirely surrounded by a stone wall
about three feet high. Every alternate stone
at the bottom of this wall had been taken out,
leaving a hole for the duck to build her nest in.
When he visited it every compartment was
tenanted, and "it was a curious sight," he
writes, "to see a whole line of ducks fly out
from the wall as I walked along it." The
island belonged to a widow woman, who devoted
all her care to the rearing of the eider duck,
and who doubtless made a pretty good thing
out of it. The walls and roof of her dwelling,
moreover, were covered with ducks, while even
"a duck was sitting in the scraper."

The eider duck is a very close sitter, and her
mate is ever on the watch to protect her from
intruders, or give her timely notice of
approaching danger. Foxes and ravens are among
their deadliest and craftiest enemies; and these
will frequently come and pull the duck off her
nest in order to rob her of her eggs, or callow
brood.

Take for example this true story of an eider
duck and a raven. The duck was sitting
assiduously on her nest, for hatching time was
near. But a crafty raven, ever on the look
out for eggs, made up his mind to have a
treat at her expense. The eider duck being
a heavy bird, is not very easily dislodged.
The raven attacked in the rear, and with his
powerful beak laid hold of her tail, to pull
her backward. The duck, from sitting so long,
was scarcely a match for the robber, and would
have been forced to give way. But the drake, on
guard near by, presently saw the assault on his
wife, and hastened to the rescue. So intent was
the raven upon getting at the eggs, that the
drake was on him before he was aware. With
head erect and ruffled feathers he made a sudden
dart at the raven, and took a firm grip of his
enemy's neck with his strong beak. The raven
at once gave up his hold of the duck's tail.
But do what he would, he could not get his
neck out of the drake's beak, and, from the
position in which he was held, his own beak and his
claws were useless. He would have flown up
could he have done so, carrying the drake with
him; but this was impossible. Moreover he
was being choked. One side of the rock on
which the struggle took place, sloped gradually
down to the sea, and it was the drake's
purpose to drag his enemy in this direction.
Slowly but surely he succeeded. In
vain did the raven with the eider drake upon
him, flap his powerful wings; they only beat
the ground. In vain did he utter the hoarsest
of cries. At one time it seemed as if the
raven would have escaped after all; but never
once did his opponent loosen the hold on his
throat, until he was dragged to the edge of the
rock whence the drake rolled down with him
into the sea. A splash, a ripple, and the two
birds locked together vanished from the surface.
The drake presently came up again. The black
assailant of his wife remained below.

Eider down needs a good deal of cleaning
and dressing, as the pieces of grass and twigs
of which the nest is made get so intermingled
with it, that it is not easy to get rid of them
entirely. Each duck yields on an average
about eight ounces of down, which is reduced
one half by dressing. The method of cleaning
is to spread the down out in the sun to dry,
and as in those far northern latitudes for six
weeks the sun never sets below the horizon, it
soon dries. Should rainy weather set in, the
down has to be dried in ovens. The particles
of grass and twigs, becoming brittle, are picked
out by hand, and the down is placed on sieves
to be well riddled until all the small bits and
the dust have fallen through. It is then ready
for exportation, and is shipped chiefly to
Denmark.

Most of the down in the London market
comes from Greenland and Iceland, and is not
nearly so valuable as the Norwegian, because
the greater part of that which comes from the
first-named countries is the dead down. Once
or twice the writer has had eider down sent him
from a "holm" on the other side of the North
Cape, and has always found it expedient to have
this down dressed over again. In buying eider
down, therefore, the purchaser must not mind
if he find twigs and dust mixed up with it, for
he may rest assured that he has the genuine
article. Eider down plucked off the dead bird,
is perfectly clean, but not nearly so valuable.

It takes (according to size) from one and a
half to three pounds of down to make a quilt.
It is a great mistake to cram too much down
into the quilt, as it then becomes lumpy, and
defeats the object in view, which is to have the
quilt as light as possible.

There are two methods of making a quilt,
adopted in Norway and Sweden; the one is to
"quilt" it, and this is the best way, for it
prevents the down from collecting in masses in
any particular part; the other is what may be