1878 – Eider Ducks

“Eider Ducks – by Harrison Weir” is a full page book plate image, taken from the “Chatterbox Album of Animals”, published by W.W.Gardner, circa 1878. Instead of an anecdote accompanying the illustration, a simple educational paragraph has been included and reads as follows: “These Eider-ducks live in Iceland, where they are taken care of for the sake of their valuable down. This is how the Icelanders get the down: when the duck builds her nest, she herself plucks off the soft down on her breast to line it with. Then one morning, when the mother flies away to snatch a hasty breakfast, some one takes both nest and eggs. The poor duck begins all over again. Again her nest is taken away. Her breast is quite bare now, so the father-duck yields his down. This time they are not disturbed, because the Icelanders know that, if robbed a third time, the ducks would fly away from their island.”

Prints currently available in A4, A3 and A2 sizing options.