St. Landry democrat., 1893-12-30
ELDER DUCK FARMS.
FACTS ABOUT ONE OF ICELAND'S
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 plcasanter capitals to reside
in than Rcykiavik, the chief town Of
Iceland. All the available space on the
shore not taken up with houses is covered
with goldfish, drying in the sun, and Civ
ing out al intOlrrable stencil. All the
rocks, palings and even the roofs of the
houses themselves are covered with these
cleaning testimonies of the cjtys chief
occupation or trade. Other products Of
the place are cider down, horses and hot
water. One Of the larger cider duck
farms is situated on small island in the
bay, and, with the permission of the
owner, can be visited BY rangers.
Not much agricultural labor OF huge
| nuity is expended by the elder duck
farmer upon his property. 1t consists
for the most part OF large open field Of
! stuntcd 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 aud devastated country #
| Iceland. In the icccsscs and HOES and
cavities between HE haG,mocks the cider
ducks may be seen sitting on their nc>ts.
! OF these here are several scores, and the
| birds themselves when setting are per-
fcctly tame, some of them even allowing
n stranger to stroke them with the hand.
| They arc not all Matched at the same
| time, and many are sllll in the egg when
others are Matched and swimming about
in the sea. The drake, us is SO fire.
quentiy tho case with the male bird, is
handsome, snowy creature, with much
white in his plunage. tie is excessively
shy aud wary, while the female, whose
pumage is brown aud glossy, is, on the
contrary. tame and contiding. The duck
| laws from five to Six eggs ut the beg III
ming Of june and it is no unusual thing
| to find from ten to sixteen eggs in one
nest, together with two females, who sit
| either at intervals. Or if necessary, both
| together at the same time, and, strange
| to say, seem to agree remarkably we'll
| 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 re-
moves either. Should he do SO with any
degree Of pcrsistency the birds would
| desert the locality, and he is not such 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 week at least. So soon rs he and
his men arrive ut the nest they carefully
removed the female, and take away the
supcriluous down and eggs. The duck
| Immediately begins to lay afrcsh, and
covers the eggs with new down, which
she plucks from her own breast. If the
supply IS Inadequate the male comes to
| her assistance and hclp s to cover the
eggs with his down. This being white
is easily distinguished 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 Matched. There is not
| much calowncss and heIpIcssness about
| these Youngsters. About an hour after
they arc out of the shell they quit the
nest together, when it is once more
| plundercd.
The best down and the greatest num-
Der of eggs are obtained during the first
three weeks of the laying period, and it
has in general been observed that the
irIs Low IN Of
in rainy weather. The female is a close
and persistent sitter, and 50 long as she is
sitting the male, with commcndabIe con
stanuy, remains on the watch hard by,
but SO soon as the young are Matched he
considers his responsibility at an end, and
leaves them to their own devices and the
care of their mother. 1t 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 precedcs them to the water,
while they toddc after her. When
she reaches the waterside she takes
with them for a few yards; she then
dives, and the young ones are left float
ing on the water like yellow corks, and
henceforth are obliged to look after
themselves. Indeed, tue 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 seq, where they feed upon insects
and seaweeds and other like yivcrS. Some
idea of the value Of the crop may bc
CLEANED from the fact that one female
during the whole time Of laying generally
gives half pound of down. which
is, however, reduced one-half when
cleaned.
This down is divided into thang dunn
or scawccd down, and gras dunn or grass
down. The latter is generally cousiI-
cred to be the best in quality. The down
is very valuable, and fctches from 81 to
S. pound.
The three takes of down vary ccnsid-
erably in quality, the first being superior
to the second, and the second to the
third The birds themselves, apart from
their down-giving capacities, arc of little
value. The down taken from dead elder
ducks is valueless, as it has lost all its
marvellous elasticity.
An elder duck farmer ia 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,