14 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



times a few ptarmigan feathers, which no small bird 

 in Iceland seems able to resist. The eggs (four to five) 

 are greyish white or light brown in ground colour, 

 more or less spotted and blotched with various shades 

 of brown, often with a fine black irregular line, or two, 

 as if scribbled with a pen, near the larger end. The 

 bird is well known, but it may be well to describe 

 it as slender-billed ; light buff below, brown above ; 

 spotted boldly on the chest, broadly on the back with 

 very dark brown. It has a very long hind-claw 

 (longer than the toe it concludes), and is 5| inches 

 long, wing 3 inches. The outer tail-feather on either 

 side is half white, which shows very conspicuously 

 when the bird is on the wing. 



[Oriolus galbula, Linn. Golden Oriole. 



Native name : none. 



The only recorded occurrence of this bird in Iceland 

 is to be found in Herr Liitken's Jahresbericht uber 

 die ornith. Beohachtnngsstat. in Ddnemark {Ornis, 1895, 

 p. 97), where it is stated that an adult male was 

 met with on the ' north coast of Iceland ' in ' mid- 

 December, 1843.' Both the time of year and the 

 place suggest a legitimate surprise.] 



Hirundo rustica, Linn. Swallow. 



Native name : ' Lands vala.' 



A summer visitor of extremely rare and irregular 

 occurrence. I have never seen one in Iceland (nor 



