68 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



all night through in the Iceland summer, redeems 

 many a wild mountain tarn in that country from what 

 would otherwise be a desolate and oppressive silence. 



Cosmonetta histrionica (Linn.). 

 Harlequin Duck. 



Native names : ' Straumond ' (Stream-duck), ' Biim- 

 dufa ' (' Wave-dove ' !), ' Brimond.' 



Resident, moving southwards in some measure in 

 winter, occurring not uncommonly on all but the still 

 rivers, and those which, flowing from glaciers, are 

 without insect life. They breed under bushes or thick 

 sedge, or in holes in river banks, and seldom more than 

 twenty yards (rarely as much) from the water's edge. 

 The nest is hard to find, being more skilfully concealed 

 than that of any duck with which I am acquainted. 

 There is not much nest, usually, and the eggs, which 

 vary from a pale to a warm cream colour, are from five 

 to eight in number, and a shade under 2J inches in 

 length. 



The plumage of the drake is rather hard to describe 

 briefly. The head is black, the upper parts a dark 

 lead grey, the underparts grey-brown, the flanks 

 chestnut; and the head, neck, and upper breast are 

 conspicuously barred, obliquely and transversely, with 

 white stripes, bordered with black and sometimes with 

 chestnut as well. Length 17 inches, wing 8 inches. 

 The female is dusky brown, with dirty-white under- 

 parts and a patch of the same colour in front and 



