116 



and other seeds are also sometimes washed up on the shores of 

 the Færoes — but it never brings species which would thrive 

 tliere; and not only this, but running parallel as it does with 

 tbe Færoes il Forms a barrier between thcm and Scotland, as any 

 seeds coming from Scolland are caught up by it and carried away 

 from the Færoes and towards the north-east. Nor does the direc- 

 tion of the ocean currents between Iceland and the Færoes lead to 

 any expectation of their conveying seeds. In my opinion the ocean 

 currents in these parts are of no consequence whatever in the matter 

 in qnestion. 



With regard to the birds, we find that they are generally 

 mentioned in this connection and several authors lay great em- 

 phasis on them as an important factor in conveying seeds from 

 land to land. In the case of the Færoes, it is Wille^ especially 

 who has pointed out how excellently they are adapted to spread 

 fresh-water algæ, and Borgesen^ follows him in maintaining their 

 usefulness in this respect; they are of opinion that if sufficient 

 importance were attached to this action of the birds the theory of 

 a land-bridge would be unnecessary. As I also laid some stress 

 on the migrations of birds (all the more, perhaps, because I held 

 the other disseminating agencies to be of little value) I applied to 

 an eminent Danish ornithologist, Mr. Knud Andersen, who has 

 made a special study of the birds of the Færoes^, and he very 

 kindly gave me the information I wanted. Relying on Palmen*, 

 Wil le has taken for granted, thai immense numbers of migratory 

 birds pass over the Færoes in spring from the British Isles to Ice- 

 land and Greenland — perhaps also to Norway — and return in 

 autumn. But according to Mr. Andersen this statement must be 

 considerably modified, as the migratory birds of Greenland chiefly 

 go to America and come from thence^; the Norwegian migrants 

 are only chance visitors, the greater part of them go along the 



1 N. Wille: Om Færoernes Ferskvandsalger og om Ferskvandsalgernes Spred- 

 ningsmaader (Botaniska Notiser 1897. Lund), p. 17. 



^ F. Borgesen: Conspectus algarum novarum aquae dulcis quas in insulis 

 Faeroensibus invenit. (Vidensk. Meddelelser fra den naturhistoriske Forening i 

 Kjobenliavn 1899, p. 321.) 



^ Knud Andersen: Meddelelser om Færoernes Fugle med særligt Hensyn 

 til Nolsø. I and II. (Vidensk. Medd. f. d. naturli. Forening i Kjobenliavn 1898, p. 315; 

 1899, p. 239). 



•* J.A. Palmen: Om foglarnes flyttning.svagar. Helsingfors 1874. 



■' H.Winge: Gronlands Fugle. Medd. om Grønland XXI, 1899, p. 60. 



