added; this increases from day to day, and at last becomes-
so considerable in. quantity, as to envelope and entirely conceal
the eggs from view, no doubt contributing by'its effect,
as a nonconductor of heat, to the perfect evolution of the
foetus-. The young, as soon as hatched, are conducted to
the water, and this, in some instanctes^must be effected by
the parent carrying them in h&r bill,, as I hai^xfrequently
seen the nest placed in"such situations as tb preclude the
possibility of its being done in any other way. Incubation
lasts a month!; -The food .of the-Eider'consists of the .young
of the different muscles' that cover the 'rocks,; and
cies; of bivalves. The?ffyoung^are reared with difficulty in
confinement, and being very bad walkers, are. subject to frequent
accidents in the poultry-yard. Like all" the Anatidte,
possessing a: ldbated hind tbe]- they»'dive with ■ facility, and
remain submerged for a long tiine.’?t
The Eider Duck is also callediSt'. Oh'ffibert’s Duck,- from
the circumstance of. its breeding there on a rock,, nailed St?
Cuthbert’s Isle, as well as upon other-islands whichJurm theV
group. “ So early as A.D. 635,. s^ys the author^f Ramble^
in Northumberland and on the Scottish’ Border, a monastery?
was established at Lindisfarn, one of these islands,4by AidaH»,*;
a ;Scottish monk, educated in tlie island of Iona, or1 Icolinkil;
who exercised the office of bishop in Northumberland. From
this period’ 'U'lRioee&ieB- of bishops 'continued rto^pfeside-at
Lindisfarn till about 803, when, in consequence of the monastery
having been several times plundered by the Danes,-
the bishop and his bfi&thfeh;abandoned i f e island, taking
-with them the body of StrCuthbert,* which had been interred
in the church, as one*;of their most precious relics.’ After
the saint’s body had been inv a state of almost perpetual
transit for nearly two centurlCsr he at length made chome O#
Durham, as a final resting-place; -and/ thither the • Seer; of
Lindisfarn was transferred’, with the remains, of St. Cuthbert,
in 995: Though Lindisfarn thus lost its importance as a
bishop’s ' see, it was not entirely deserted as a place of religious
abode;; jj for a cell of Benedictine nflonks, dependent on
the abbey at Durham, was afterwards established there, which
continued to the suppression of the monasteries by Henry
the Eighthi’’_
Mr. J. Macgillivray^Jwho visited’ the outer Hebrides in
the; summer of 1840; mentions! that thsfh' birds breed on
severah-qf the islands*4 théré^ more particularly that called
Haskir. Mr. Bullock brought nest, down, eggs, and young
birds,, from Papa Westra, one .©Lithe Orkneys, in 1812 ; and
this speci-essdias; since-been observed ondsfre islands of Orkney
andl'Shetlhnd - by Mr. Drossier, Mr. Salmon, Mr. Dunn, and
others, from 18-28* to the present time. Mr. Hewitson men-*
tions that fhfe ^B^der-*wias the most .numerous of the'Ducks
breeding on some'of the islands ©n the west coast of Norway,
where , ,theÿ are ; strictly protected. Upon one island which
Mr. Hewitson-. and his friend visited,v in company with, thé
keeper; the. females; were sitting in great numbers, and were
so perfectly tame, and -on such familiar terms with him, that
théyidid not appear to fee’!, in .the least ^disturbed whilst we
stood by to? look at them, and some of them would even
allow him to stroke ;them on the back* with his hand. | The
male birds-at ‘this time were floating about in hundreds among
thh islands, giving the seura' lively and even beautiful ’ appearance!
Earl Derby?Sâ:principal menagerie keeper, who was
sentf-tos Sweden in the,.summer of 1.839,- brought back with
him a-broodidf young Eiders, which he reared, feeding them
o n . sligsyiand thé bodies :!of shelled mollusca. Several of
these! birds; are now àlive ù t Knows! ey. Eider, Eder, or
Eidder*. ? is tha name applied- to this Duck in Germany,
Sweden, Denmark-,, and Norway. I t is found on the Faro
Islands,- at,"Iceland, at Spitzbergen, and at Nova Zembla.
Mr; Sèorésby observes that the specimens seen by him at