The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-17
an EIpER DUCK FARM.
How IceIand's Chief Industry is Man
aged and Made Profitable.
From the Chicago Record.


In the recess and holes and cavities be-
tween the hummocks of Iceland the elder
ducks may be seen sitting on their nests.
OF these there are several scores, and
the birds themselves, when sitting, are
perfectly tame, some of them even allow
ing a stranger to stroke them with the
hand They are not all Matched at the
same time, and many are still in the egg
when others are Matched and swimming
about in the sea. The drake. as is so
frequently the case with the male bird,
is a handsome, snowy creature, with
much white in his plumage. He is ex-
cessively shy and wary, while the female,
whose plumage is brown and glossy, is,
on the contrary, tame and confding.
The duck lays from five to six eggs at
the beginning of June, and il 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 at the same time, and, strange to
say, seem to agree remarkably well with
one another. The period of laying lasts
some six or seven weeks, and the birds
are in the habit of laying three times in
different places. From the first and sec
ond of these both the down and 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 per-
sistency, the birds would desert the local
ity, and he is not such fool as to destroy
the duck with the golden eggs.
In some cases the owner resides on or
near the farm. In this particular in
stance he visits the island from the main
land once week at least So soon as he
and his men arrive at the nest they care
fully remove the female and take away
the surperfiuous down and eggs. The
duck Immediately begins to lay afresh,
and cover her eggs with new down, which
she plucks from her own breast. If the
supply is inadequate the male comes to
her assistance and helps to cover the eggs
with his own down. This being white,
it 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 young ones are Matched. There is
not much callowness and helplessness
about these youngsters. About an hour
after they are out of the shell they quit
the nest together, whensit is once more
plundered. This down is divided into
seaweed and grass down. The latter is
generally considered to be the best in
quality The down is very valuable, and
fetches from 81 to s. a pound.
The three takes of down vary consider
ably in quality, the first being superior
70 Inc second, ana Ihe second TO the
third. The birds themselves, apart from
their down-giving capacities, are of little
value. The down taken from dead elder
ducks is valuless, as it has lost all its
marvellous elasticity
An elder 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
lose one of his children than one of his
ducks, but to any one who had seen both,
this statement would seem to have had
but little comparative value.