HOW EIDER DOWN IS OBTAINED.
THE wonderfully soft and warm substance which we call eider down is produced by the eider duck, an inhabitant of the Arctic Ocean. It is proper to call these birds inhabitants of the ocean, for they pass the greater part of their lives far out at sea, only coming to land for a little while in the spring for the purpose of laying and hatching their eggs. They are very awkward on land, but are wonderful swimmers and divers, descending twelve fathoms below the surface of the water, and remaining submerged as long as five minutes at a time. Their food consists principally of mollusks, which they pick up from the bed of the sea. Their favorite laying places are certain small, low islands off the coast of Norway, which are called "eider holms." The birds visit these islands in pairs, which present a striking contrast in appearance, the drakes being brilliantly colored in black, white, and green, while the females are of a dull reddish brown, matching the color of the scanty vegetation so perfectly that even a practiced hunter can hardly discover them when they crouch down among the reeds. On coming ashore the duck proceeds very deliberately to choose a place for a nest, while the drake follows and occasionally give warning of real or fancied danger. The duck is very hard to suit, and it is not an unusual thing for her, after examining all the likely spots out-of-doors, to march boldly into a house and coolly select what she considers a suitable place for her nest, such as the oven, if it happens to be unused at the time. The human inmates of the house welcome her gladly, supply her with food, and cheerfully submit to any small inconveniences, like the temporary loss of their oven, for they know that their guest will pay a good price for her board and lodging. When a duck has selected a place, she gathers grass and sticks and builds her nest. Then she plucks the soft down from her breast and makes a wonderful mat, which not only covers the bottom of the nest but rises so far above the edge that it378can be folded over the eggs when the duck leaves the nest in search of food. When the six or eight eggs are laid, they are seized, together with the valuable eiderdown mat, by the people of the house, and the duck goes off in sorrow to her mate, who awaits her on the shore, as his courage never rises to such a pitch as to lead him into the house. The duck, somewhat wiser than before, proceeds to build another nest out-of-doors, and, as her own down feathers are exhausted, she calmly plucks the drake's breast as bare as her own. After this outrageous treatment he goes off in disgust and joins his companions at sea. This time the duck is allowed to hatch her brood without human interference. But whenever she leaves the nest, two or three eggs are liable to be stolen by some other duck who has a nest near by. The marauder carefully folds the down coverlid over the robbed nest again and carries the stolen eggs to her own nest. In this way the eggs are changed about so that a duck may finally hatch out a brood containing not a single one of her own offspring. As soon as the ducklings are all hatched out, the mother, or foster mother, if undisturbed, endeavors to lead her flock to the shore. This march to the sea is to the ducklings what teething is to the human infants,—the most trying time of their lives,—for they are exposed to the attacks of birds of prey and other enemies. Usually the islanders interfere again at this point, but now their interference benefits the ducks as well as themselves. They gather the down and carry the ducklings in baskets to the shore, the old ducks following them very contentedly. When the shore is reached, the baskets are emptied into the water. The old ducks plunge in, and after a good deal of commotion swim out to sea, each followed by a flock of ducklings, some of which she has never seen before. The duck does not always make her first nest in a house, of course, and if the first nest is not disturbed, she will simply hatch her brood and put to sea with them, and the drake will not be robbed of his feathers. But the islanders are very watchful, and the first nest rarely escapes, no matter where it is built. Sometimes the duck's down is sufficient to supply the second nest, and in this case the drake remains with his family. This nest is then robbed also, and the poor duck is forced to begin a third, with the help of the drake's down feathers. The rule among the eiderdown hunters is to rob every nest until the drake's feathers, which differ in color from those of his mate, appear among the down. When this occurs, it is known that the pair will build no more that year, and so the eggs are allowed to hatch, in order to preserve the species. A single nest will furnish at least an ounce of down, which is worth on the spot about twenty-five cents of our money. As the birds visit the island in vast numbers, the collection and sale of the down mats is an important source of income to the inhabitants.—Selected.