Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/190

 species, which contains from four to ten (generally six or eight) well-shaped, smooth-shelled eggs, usually of a dusky greyish green, is formed of fine sea-weed, and is lined, after the eggs are deposited, with down from the mother's breast, placed so thickly that the eggs are completely hidden from view. The down from a single nest, when cleansed, although sufficient in bulk to fill a man's hat, seldom weighs more than one ounce. In northern countries the business of robbing the nests of this valuable material begins soon after the eggs are laid, the female replacing it by a fresh supply from her breast, until it is quite bare, when the male bird in turn strips himself to provide a warm covering for his young. "In a month's time," says Mr. Selby, "the little family are led or carried in their parent's bill to the water, where they swim and dive with facility; the mother meanwhile carefully watching over them to defend them from their biped foes, and feigning lameness to lure their pursuers from the spot."

(Somateria mollissima).

"The care which the mother takes of her young," says Audubon, "cannot be exceeded. She leads