BIRDS OF ICELAND 89 



The bird is black above and white below, with a 

 white patch on the wing and a large one covering most 

 of the back. Legs and feet pink (no hind toe), bill 

 orange. Length 16 inches, wing 9 J- inches. Sexes 

 alike. The young in first autumn are mottled a good 

 deal with rusty and white. 



The ' Sea Pie,' as it should rather be called (for even 

 where they exist, it does not get an oyster ' once in a 

 blue moon,' nor do oysters want very much * catching ') 

 — the Sea Pie feeds on any small marine creatures, 

 and its wedge-shaped bill enables it to deal with such 

 as wear armour or cling to rocks ; limpets, small crabs, 

 mussels, annelids, sandhoppers, and other Crustacea 

 provide it with a varied bill of fare. 



Phalaropus fulicarius (Linn.). 

 Grey Phalarope. 



Native names : ' ))6rshani ' (' Thor's hen '). Professor 

 Newton adds ' FlatnefjaSur-sundhani ' and ' EauS- 

 brystingur ' (partim) — i.e. ' flat-billed Sundhani ' 

 (q.v.) and ' red-breasted one,' so they may be more 

 descriptive than appellative; nor does Grondal 

 include them in his Islandische Vogelnamen. 



A rare and local summer visitor, most abundant at 

 passage times, on its way to Greenland and Spitzbergen 

 no doubt, but some remain to breed. They still nest 

 in small and decreasing numbers in the neighbourhood 

 which Faber mentions, and I know of at least four 

 other breeding places in widely distant parts of the 



