list of protective measures for the colony of Iceland.The list included the prohibition of eider harvesting except on one’s own land.In the 1770s, Magnusson harvested down and eggs from eider nests and husbanded a very large colony of eiders on the island of Videy.Because fines for illegal eider hunting were weakly enforced, a bill signed by the Danish king in 1849 made eider hunting illegal under any circumstances.The same bill extended property rights to eider down and eggs to the owners of land upon which eiders reside.With property rights secure, eider farming expanded.Eider farming grew and reached a peak in the second decade of the twentieth century.They defend against poachers and predators, improve habitat, and even build artificial nesting sites.As a result, Iceland boasts some of the largest eider duck colonies in the world.Arni Snaebjoernsson, a specialist on eiders in Iceland, estimates the eider population there at 600,000 to 900,000 birds.Eider farming remains an important economic activity, with exports ranging between 1.5 and 3.2 tons of down a year.According to the Icelandic Association of Eiderduck Farmers, approximately one hundred farmers derive a considerable part of their income from the collection of down from eiders.For example, Baldur Bjarnason and his family farm Vigur Island, where 4,000 nesting pairs of eiders produce enough down to constitute 60 percent of the family’s annual income.His annual harvest is approximately 114 pounds.Financial and stewardship rewards also have come from farming other seabirds in Iceland.Eight farms on the island harvest about 1,500 eggs per day from these birds, and the total harvest in a season is about 35,000 eggs.The eggs can bring $10 per dozen in the