Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1893 — EIDER DUCK FARMS. [ARTICLE]

EIDER DUCK FARMS.

FACTS AB'iUT ONE OF ICEIiAND’B LEADING INDUSTRIES. When the Mother Prepares to Set She Covers the Eggs with DoWn from . Her own Breast—This the Farmer Steals and Sells.

There are pleasanter capitals to reside in than Reykjavik, the chief town of Iceland. All the available spaoe on the shore not taken up with houses is covered with codfish, "drying in the sun, and giving out an intolerable stench. All the rocks, palings and even the roofs of the houses themselves are covered with these gleaming testimonies of the city’s chief occupation or trade. Other products of the place are eider down, horses and hot water. One of the larger eider duck farms is situated on a small island in the bay, and, with the permission of the owner, can be visited by strangers.

Not muoii agricultural labor or ingenuity is expended by the eider duck farmer upon hia property. It consists for the most part of a large open field of stunted grass, which has been blown by the wind and worked by the action of the weather into round hammocks, such as may be frequently met with all over the barren and devastated country of Iceland. In the reeesses, and holes and cavitias between lhe hammocks the eider ducks may be seen sitting on their nests. Of these there are several scores, and the birds themselves when setting are perfectly tame, some of them even allowing a stranger to stroke them with the hand. { They are not all hatched at the same time, and many are still in the egg when others are hatched and swimming about in the sea. The drake, as is so frequently the case with the male bird, is a handsome, showy creature, with much white in his plumage. He is excessively shy and wary, while the female, whose plumage is brown and glossy, is, on the contrary, tame and confiding. Theduek lays from fiye to six eggs at the beginning of June, and it is no unusual thing to find from ten to sixteen eggs in one nest, together with two females, who ait either at intervals, or, if necessary, both together at the same time, and, strange to say, seem to agree remarbably well with one another. The period of laying lasts from six to seven weeks, and the birds are in the habit of laying three times in different places. From the first and second of these both the down and 'the eggs are taken away, but from the last it is very seldom that the farmer removes either. Should he do so with any degree of persistency the birds would desert the locality, and he is not suoh a fool as to destroy the duck with the golden eggs. In some cases the owner resides on or near the farm. In this particular instance he visited the island from the mainland once a week at least. So soon as he and his men arrive at the nest they carefully removed the female, and take away the superfluous down and eggp. The duck immediately begins to lay afresh, and covers the eggs with new down, which she plucks lrom her own breast. If the supply is inadequate the male comes to her assistance and helps to cover the eggs with his down. This being white is easily distinguishd from the brown covering which the female supplies, and is not so good in quality. The nest is now, as a general rule, left until the young ones are hatched. There is not much callowness find helplessness about these youngsters. About an hour after they are out of the shell they quit the nest together, when it is once more plundered. Tne best down and the greatest number of eggs are obtained during the first three weeks of the laying period, and it has in general been observed that the birds lay the greatest number of eggs in rainy wnather. The female is a close and persistent sitter, and so long as she is sitting the male, with commendable constancy, remains on the watch hard by, but so soon as the young are hatched he considers his responsibility at an end, and leaves them to their own devices and the care of their mother. It is a curious and pretty sight to see how the latter looks after her brood. She leads them out of the nest, so soon as they creep of out the eggs, and precedes them to the water, while they toddle after her. When she reaohes the waterside she takes them on her back and swims with them for a few yards; she then dives, and the young ones are left floating on the water like yellow corks, and henceforth are obliged to look after themselves. Indeed, the farmer seldom sees his flock again till the next breeding season, for they become comparatively wild, and live out among the damp rocks in the sea, where they feed upon insects and seaweeds and other like vivers. Some idea of the value of the crop may be gleaned from the fact that one female during the whole time of laying generally gipes half a pound of down, which is, however, reduced one-half when cleaned.

This down is divided into thang-dunn or seaweed down, and gras-dunn or grass down. The latter is generally considered to be the best in quality. The down is very valuable, and fetches from $1 to $5 a pound. The three takes of down vary considerably in quality, the first being superior to the second, and the second to the third. The birds themselves, apart from their down-giving capacities, are of little value. The down taken from dead eider ducks is valueless, as it has lost all its marvellous elasticity. An eider duck farmer is excessively proud of his ducks, and regards them with intense and peculiar affection. The owner of the farm just described was in the habit of saying that he would rather loose one of his children than one of his ducks, but to any one who had seen both, this statement would seem to have but little comparative value.—[New York Tribune.