taken at intervals of a few days by the owners of the “eider-fold,” and the birds are thus kept depositing both during the whole season; but some experience is needed to ensure the greatest profit from each commodity. Every duck is ultimately allowed to hatch an egg or two to keep up the stock, and the down of the last nest is gathered after the birds have left the spot. The story of the drake’s furnishing down, after the duck’s supply is exhausted is a fiction. He never goes near the nest. The eggs have a strong flavour, but are much relished by both Icelanders and Norwegians. In the Old World the eider breeds in suitable localities from Spitsbergen to the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland—where it is known as St Cuthbert’s duck. Its food consists of marine animals (molluscs and crustaceans), and hence the young are not easily reared in captivity. The eider of the New World differs somewhat, and has been described as a distinct species (S. dresseri). Though much diminished in numbers by persecution, it is still abundant on the coast of Newfoundland and thence northward. In Greenland also eiders are very plentiful, and it is supposed that three-fourths of the supply of down sent to Copenhagen comes from that country. The limits of the eider’s northern range are not known, but the Arctic expedition of 1875 did not meet with it after leaving the Danish settlements, and its place was taken by an allied species, the king-duck (S. spectabilis), a very beautiful bird which sometimes appears on the British coast. The female greatly resembles that of the eider, but the male has a black chevron on his chin and a bright orange prominence on his forehead, which last seems to have given the species its English name. On the west coast of North America the eider is represented by a species (S. v-nigrum) with a like chevron, but otherwise resembling the Atlantic bird. In the same waters two other fine species are also found (S. fischeri and S. stelleri), one of which (the latter) also inhabits the Arctic coast of Russia and East Finmark and has twice reached England. The Labrador duck (S. labradoria), now extinct, also belongs to this group. (A. N.)
EIFEL, a district of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, between the Rhine, the Moselle and the frontier of the grand duchy of Luxemburg. It is a hilly region, most elevated in the eastern part (Hohe Eifel), where there are several points from 2000 up to 2410 ft. above sea-level. In the west is the Schneifels or Schnee-Eifel; and the southern part, where the most picturesque scenery and chief geological interest is found, is called the Vorder Eifel.
The Eifel is an ancient massif of folded Devonian rocks upon the margins of which, near Hillesheim and towards Bitburg and Trier, rest unconformably the nearly undisturbed sandstones, marls and limestones of the Trias. On the southern border, at Wittlich, the terrestrial deposits of the Permian Rothliegende are also met with. The slates and sandstones of the Lower Devonian form by far the greater part of the region; but folded amongst these, in a series of troughs running from south-west to north-east lie the fossiliferous limestones of the Middle Devonian, and occasionally, as for example near Büdesheim, a few small patches of the Upper Devonian. Upon the ancient floor of folded Devonian strata stand numerous small volcanic cones, many of which, though long extinct, are still very perfect in form. The precise age of the eruptions is uncertain. The only sign of any remaining volcanic activity is the emission in many places of carbon dioxide and of heated waters. There is no historic or legendary record of any eruption, but nevertheless the eruptions must have continued to a very recent geological period. The lavas of Papenkaule are clearly posterior to the excavation of the valley of the Kyll, and an outflow of basalt has forced the Uess to seek a new course. The volcanic rocks occur both as tuffs and as lava-flows. They are chiefly leucite and nepheline rocks, such as leucitite, leucitophyre and nephelinite, but basalt and trachyte also occur. The leucite lavas of Niedermendig contain haüyne in abundance. The most extensive and continuous area of volcanic rocks is that surrounding the Laacher See and extending eastwards to Neuwied and Coblenz and even beyond the Rhine.
The numerous so-called crater-lakes or maare of the Eifel present several features of interest. They do not, as a rule, lie in true craters at the summit of volcanic cones, but rather in hollows which have been formed by explosions. The most remarkable group is that of Daun, where the three depressions of Gemünd, Weinfeld and Schalkenmehren have been hollowed out in the Lower Devonian strata. The first of these shows no sign of either lavas or scoriae, but volcanic rocks occur on the margins of the other two. The two largest lakes in the Eifel region, however, are the Laacher See in the hills west of Andernach on the Rhine, and the Pulvermaar S.E. of the Daun group, with its shores of peculiar volcanic sand, which also appears in its waters as a black powder (pulver).
EIFFEL TOWER. Erected for the exposition of 1889, the Eiffel Tower, in the Champ de Mars, Paris, is by far the highest artificial structure in the world, and its height of 300 metres (984 ft.) surpasses that of the obelisk at Washington by 429 ft., and that of St Paul’s cathedral by 580 ft. Its framework is composed essentially of four uprights, which rise from the corners of a square measuring 100 metres on the side; thus the area it covers at its base is nearly 212 acres. These uprights are supported on huge piers of masonry and concrete, the foundations for which were carried down, by the aid of iron caissons and compressed air, to a depth of about 15 metres on the side next the Seine, and about 9 metres on the other side. At first they curve upwards at an angle of 54°; then they gradually become straighter, until they unite in a single shaft rather more than half-way up. The first platform, at a height of 57 metres, has an area of 5860 sq. yds., and is reached either by staircases or lifts. The next, accessible by lifts only, is 115 metres up, and has an area of 32 sq. yds; while the third, at 276, supports a pavilion capable of holding 800 persons. Nearly 25 metres higher up still is the lantern, with a gallery 5 metres in diameter. The work of building this structure, which is mainly composed of iron lattice-work, was begun on the 28th of January 1887, and the full height was reached on the 13th of March 1889. Besides being one of the sights of Paris, to which visitors resort in order to enjoy the extensive view that can be had from its higher galleries on a clear day, the tower is used to some extent for scientific and semi-scientific purposes; thus meteorological observations are carried on. The engineer under whose direction the tower was constructed was Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born at Dijon on the 15th of December 1832), who had already had a wide experience in the construction of large metal bridges, and who designed the huge sluices for the Panama Canal, when it was under the French company.
EILDON HILLS, a group of three conical hills, of volcanic origin, in Roxburghshire, Scotland, 1 m. S. by E. of Melrose, about equidistant from Melrose and St Boswells stations on the North British railway. They were once known as Eldune—the Eldunum of Simeon of Durham (fl. 1130)—probably derived from the Gaelic aill, “rock,” and dun, “hill”; but the name is also said to be a corruption of the Cymric moeldun, “bald hill.” The northern peak is 1327 ft. high, the central 1385 ft. and the southern 1216 ft. Whether or not the Roman station of Trimontium was situated here is matter of controversy. According to General William Roy (1726–1790) Trimontium—so called, according to this theory, from the triple Eildon heights—was Old Melrose; other authorities incline to place the station on the northern shore of the Solway Firth. The Eildons have been the subject of much legendary lore. Michael Scot (1175–1234), acting as a confederate of the Evil One (so the fable runs) cleft Eildon Hill, then a single cone, into the three existing peaks. Another legend states that Arthur and his knights sleep in a vault beneath the Eildons. A third legend centres in Thomas of Erceldoune. The Eildon Tree Stone, a large moss-covered boulder, lying on the high road as it bends towards the west within 2 m. of Melrose, marks the spot where the Fairy Queen led him into her realms in the heart of the hills. Other places associated with this legend may still be identified. Huntly Banks, where “true Thomas” lay and watched the queen’s approach, is half a mile west of the Eildon Tree Stone, and on the
