BIRDS OF ICELAND 3 



conveys to the hearer a sense of agreeable proportion. 

 There is also a harsh note, uttered when any one 

 approaches the nest or young, and usually from the 

 top of a birch bush. 



Turdus pilaris, Linn. Fieldfare. 



Native name : none, but Herra Grondal seems to have 

 christened it ' Gra];rostur,' an Icelandic version of 

 the Norse ' Graatrost ' (Grey-thrush). 



A rare straggler. Grondal {Skyrsla, p. 36) gives two 

 instances of its occurrence : at Pieykjavik, on Decem- 

 ber 6, 1885, and in December 1894. I have heard of 

 no others. 



Turdus merula, Linn. Blackbird. 



No native name: Herra Grondal's 'SvartJ^rustur' is 

 only a translation of the Danish ' Sort drossel.' 



There are one or two occurrences on record, several 

 of which seem dubious. Grondal (in Verzeichniss, 

 p. 357) mentions, rather doubtfully, an occurrence 

 'in the east,' in 1877, and Nielsen (Ornis, 1887, p. 157) 

 one at Eyrarbakka on Deuember 22, 1877. There are 

 two specimens in the museum at Eeykjavik, and we 

 may suppose it to be a rare straggler to Iceland. 

 I ought to take this opportunity to remark that all 

 the specimens in the above museum are not quite in 

 the position of Csesar's wife — beyond suspicion. For 

 example, there are two Common Linnets, Linota Canna- 



