except during rain or fog, when the cold penetrates almost to one's marrow. My health was almost extravagantly good; better than it had been for many years previously.
This was my maiden effort at exploration away from our own shores. The following pages will show how successful it was.
The Icelandic names of the birds are placed in brackets. I have taken them from Gröndal's 'Skýrsla' (Skýrsla, un hid Islenzka náttúrnfrædisfelag, árid 1894-1895. Reykjavik, 1895). This, I consider, better than trusting to the spelling of the names given to me by the inhabitants.
Redwing, Turdus iliacus. (Skógarpröstur).—Fairly abundant in the districts where birch-scrub abounds. Very wild; more so, in fact, than they are with us during the winter. I was utterly disappointed with the song; it is the weakest, shortest, and most unmusical song I have ever heard from a Thrush, and I could not believe that I was listening to one until I located the bird with my glasses. My specimens differ in plumage from any other Redwings I have ever seen, and are in Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's hands for determination. I procured adult male and female, nest and eggs, and nest with five young just hatched.
Wheatear, Saxicola œnanthe. (Steindepill).—The small dull-coloured race. Plentiful in all districts I visited. I got adult male and female, and young in first and second stages.
Iceland Wren, Troglodytes borealis. (Músarrindill).—I saw this bird once only, and then it was like a mouse gliding into the scrub. All Icelanders knew the bird by name, but very few had ever seen it.[1] That name was invariably "músarrindill"; I never heard it called by any other in the north. The Rev. H.H. Slater, in his recently published 'Manual of the Birds of Iceland,' curiously enough, has never heard this name used, notwithstanding his fifteen years' experience in Iceland. Músarrindill means "Mouse-bird."
White Wagtail, Motacilla alba. (Maríu-erla, &c.).—Common almost everywhere, and the only species of Wagtail to be found in Iceland. I procured a perfect series: adult males and females; first, second, third, and fourth stages of the young; the change from summer to winter plumage; nest and young; nest and eggs; and, a great rarity—nest with white eggs.
- ↑ As a matter of fact, throughout all my wanderings I made incessant inquiries, but only found one shepherd-boy who had ever actually seen the bird, and that was near where I saw my solitary specimen.
