348 CHILDREN'S BOOK FOR SABBATH HOURS.

them, so are the window-sills; they are knows that if he were to rob the nest a
in every corner we can see, and one has third time, they would leave the island
actually settled itself on the scraper at in disgust, never to return, so he takes
the door! The master spends his whole care to stop short of what would spoil
time watching with his telescope, lest his profit next year.
any boat should appear carrying a gun, He gets about half-a-pound from each
and so giving a fright to these carefully- nest, but the down is so extremely light
tended ducks. All this arises not out that this quantity goes a good way. He
of love to them, but out of regard to the sells it at a high price to the traders, and
profit which is reaped from them. The the eggs he pickles for home eating in
down on their breast is so valuable that the winter.
they are worth taking care of. The down is used in England princi-
 This is the way it is got from them : pally for coverlets, but in Russia and
The duck sets about making her nest, a the northern countries it is much more
few sticks or dried stems or seaweed is important as an article of dress, to keep
all she requires as far as the outside is out the icy cold. Very few people, prob-
concerned, but the inside is a different ably, know or care anything about the
affair, and the careful loving mother well poor Eider Ducks on the far-off shores
knows how to make that comfortable for of Iceland, from which were stolen the
her nestlings. She strips the down off warmth and lightness they enjoy. Let
her own breast, and then lays her eggs us, at any rate, thank our unknown
in the middle; they sink down into it, so friends for the comforts we have from
that when she is away they are well them. And let us think, too, how poorly
covered and protected from the cold. we should be off, if God had given no
 But alas! they have worse enemies charge to the lower creatures thus to
than the cold. Some unfortunate morn- warm us, feed us, and clothe us.
ing, while she is gone to snatch a hasty It is interesting to see how the mother-
breakfast, both down and eggs vanish, duck weans her young ducklings. As
She then goes through the same course soon as they are hatched they trip after
again, and once more she returns and their mother, who leads them to the
finds nothing but the bare walls of her shore. Here they climb on her back,
nursery. She has no more down; her when she swims out a few yards and
breast is bare; what is to be done? Her dives down, leaving them floating on the
mate steps forward, and with a dignified surface and obliged to look out for them-
quack intimates that he is willing to do selves. This is rather a harsh way of
his part, and put himself to inconven- weaning the ducklings; but they under-
ience for the sake of his family. So he stand it, and are seldom seen much on
gives the down off his breast, and this the land afterwards.
time they are not molested. The master As there is always a great demand for