BIRDS OF ICELAND 133 



draw a young Puffin out of a burrow with a liook, and 

 find that a whole string of them is by this means 

 brought to the day, each one hanging on by his bill 

 to the tail of the one in front. It sounds rather 

 Munchausenesque, somehow. 



The late W. Proctor had several examples sent to 

 him of the large Spitzbergen race of Puffin, which has 

 been named F. glacialis, ISTaum., but tlie specific dis- 

 tinctness of which is not acknowledged nowadays. It 

 is probable tliat this large race is to be found, round 

 the northern coasts especially, every winter. (See Ihis, 

 1864, p. 132.) Native Iceland Puffins are, in their 

 turn, rather larger tlian English ones. 



Colymbus glacialis, Linn. 



Great Northern Diver. 



Native names: ' Himbrimi,' related to our ' Imber- 

 Goose ' of old literature, and to the Danish, 

 Swedish, and Norwegian names for this bird ; 

 ' himbrin ' of the Younger Edda ; but the ety- 

 mology of this name, though variously explained, 

 seems quite obscure. ' Briisi,' equally obscure in 

 derivation ; the word means an earthenware jug, 

 but it seems probable that the name is rather 

 borrowed from a demon Briisi of the Orms Th. 

 Storolfssonar Saga, on account of the weird laugh 

 which the bird's note resembles. 



Eesident in considerable numbers, Iceland being the 

 breeding headquarters of this species as far as Europe 



