Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/188

 timidity nor annoyance. Some we purposely took to a little distance from their nesting-place and placed upon the ground, but they would immediately waddle back to their domicile, arrange the down around the eggs, and quietly resume their position, as if nothing had happened. When left quite to themselves the brooding females quit their nests regularly every morning, taking care, however, to cover their eggs warmly with down, so that they may not be chilled during their absence; having done this, away they fly out to sea, and dive assiduously for half an hour in search of food, and in this short period manage to fill their crops almost to bursting with various kinds of shell-fish, after which they return at once to their charge. The males are much more timid than the females, even when with them at the breeding season or whilst keeping watch over their nests. Should any one approach, they immediately get into a terrible flurry, toss their heads, call loudly to their wives, and after blustering for a little time, fly off to sea, whence they anxiously watch the proceedings of the disturber of their quietude. After the lapse of twenty-five or twenty-six days, the young ones break their shells and make their appearance; they are beautiful little creatures, clad in rich parti-coloured down. From the first moment of their birth they are well able both to swim and to dive; they also walk with considerable facility, even better than their mother, who takes them, before their downy coat has had time to dry, down to the sea. Should the breeding-place be far from the sea, and the departure of the little flock be unusually delayed, the keepers frequently come to their assistance, and, putting the entire brood into a basket, walk with them to the shore, followed by the waddling parents, who seem quite satisfied with the arrangement.

The sea, indeed, is the safest place for these helpless nestlings, as there they can most readily escape from their natural enemies the Falcons, Ravens, and Skuas. Very frequently several mothers, accompanied by their little families, consort together, and then they present to the observer a very attractive spectacle. Should the parent birds perceive that they are followed by a boat, they at once begin to paddle away with all their strength, hoping to escape from their pursuers, and it is not till the boat has come close upon them that they decide upon taking wing; by so doing they are of course compelled to desert the young birds, who, however, seem very well to understand how to provide for their own safety, as they immediately make for the land, and scrambling on to the shore, may be seen running nimbly in search of some convenient hiding-place, dropping down between stones, or concealing themselves behind slight inequalities of the ground, from which they are scarcely distinguishable. Should the threatened danger pass away, they will be found after a little time hastening back to the sea, into which they immediately plunge, and paddle away directly from the shore, until they are joined either by their own mother or by some other elderly female belonging to their flock. Should their mother be killed, the young, if unable to do without assistance, at once join some other family, into which they are received without the slightest reluctance, and tended and cared for by the old birds precisely as if they were their own offspring. The instinct for brooding in the Eider Ducks is indeed very remarkable; they will even steal each other's eggs in order to brood upon them. The nestlings grow rapidly, and often within a week from their birth are well able to procure their own food; they remain, nevertheless, in company with their parents till the early part of the following year. In their earliest infancy they are fed with small crustaceans and other soft-bodied animals; at a later period they live for the most part upon bivalve shell-fish, but likewise feed willingly on fishes, or indeed on any small marine animals that they may meet with. Although the Eider Ducks constitute a considerable portion of the wealth of the countries they inhabit, they are by no means cared for and protected as they might be. Intelligent landholders, whose property the breeding-places are, take the opportunity while the birds are laying to remove some of their eggs, and thus succeed in making them lay a greater number than they otherwise would do. Moreover, they are content to wait patiently until the breeding-time is over before they gather the down from