Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/223

Rh them to her nest, and hatch them out with her own. The robbed duck discovers the theft immediately on her return, but gives no sign of concern about it, seeming to say, "We will wait till you go away, and then I shall take my revenge." Her time comes at last; and thus no duck knows whether it is sitting on its own eggs or another's.

The young come out from the eggs at the end of thirty-six days, but do not stay in the nest any longer than till they have become completely dry, when the mother takes them to the sea, which she does not leave till the young have become tired in this their first swimming lesson, and can no longer ride on the backs of the strong waves. It is usually a considerable distance from the nest to the shore, and the chicks are exposed to many enemies in the shape of hawks, ravens, and gulls, which keep an eager lookout for them. Now the Northman steps in with his protecting hand and comes along with a pair of large baskets, into one of which he puts the young birds and into the other the precious down, while he goes from nest to nest, examining them to see in what ones the brood is ready to be removed. Hence he takes the young ones to the sea, while the mother waddles along behind, well knowing where he is leading her. At the shore he turns the basket over and goes away, leaving it to the old birds to find their own. They plunge into the flock, and each speedily gets as many of the chicks as she can. After a few hours the family bonds are closely sealed again, and each mother has gathered her little ones around her, which she treats with the most tender care, while they in return show the most grateful affection for her. They go with the old ones into the water, crawl around on their backs, and receive instruction in swimming and diving for mussels, the mother in the last exercise going down with a chick under each wing. In the course of eight weeks the young become fully instructed, and are ready to begin the struggle for existence on their own account. Now appears the Hen* Papa again upon the scene, when there is nothing more to be done, and proudly conducts the whole company over the open sea to their winter home. Such is the history of the best-known and most interesting of the birds that people the mountains of the North. I have thought it proper to give in brief a clear picture of its habits, because it forms in some respects the central point of the motley, busy company. We will now sketch in broad outline a general picture of one of these bird mountains.

The storm-gulls are inseparable from the eider-duck. If there are ten thousand pairs of ducks on a mountain, then the number of gulls nesting there will be at least fifty thousand. They come rushing up in graceful, rapid flight, presenting a pleasant aspect with their snow white and dark-colored feathers. They are the real but innocent betrayers of the eider-colonies, for where gulls circle in great numbers around the island one is sure to find nests of down. The host is further increased by large flocks of a kind of snipe which are