Notes from Northern Iceland. 51 



care (they were, of course, on the point of hatching), and 

 seemed to resemble what we remembered Sanderling^s eggs 

 to be. On our return to England we again inspected the 

 plate in Nares^s ' Narrative/ and sent them off to Professor 

 Newton, who expressed his opinion that they were possibly 

 Sanderling^s eggs. When dissected, however, the embryo 

 proved to have a hind toe. Notwithstanding this, we feel it 

 difficult to alter our opinion as to .the species. As the San- 

 derling, hind toe excepted, is a normal Tringa, it seems to us 

 not impossiljle that the hind toe may become atrophied shortly 

 after hatching. We propose to investigate the subject further, 

 if possible. 



Arctic Terx. [Sterna macrura.) 



Universally distributed in large numbers. The native 

 Icelandic names for the birds are generally onomatopoeic, and 

 that of the Arctic Tern is ''^Krja^^ (pronounced kreee-ah), 

 which exactly suggests tlie note ; this is more than can be 

 said for most of the complicated arrangements in italics so 

 common in books on birds. The Terns in Iceland were ex- 

 cessively bold, and, when we were near their eggs or young, 

 gave us vicious raps on the head, which, through our soft 

 hats, were distinctly painful. A large proportion of the 

 young birds seemed to die in the downy stage some little time 

 after hatching, for which we could only account by attributing 

 it to the cold summer, or to the presence of huge tapeworms 

 in their insides. 



Great Northern Diver. {Culymbus arcticus.) 

 Opinions differ as to the disposition of this bird. It is not 

 unfrequently stated to be so very wary that it is only with 

 the greatest difficulty that it can be approached in a boat. 

 Mr. Charles Dixon, apparently (Ibis, 1885, p. 90), considers 

 that it is of so guileless a disposition as to sit on a rock while 

 St.-Kildans, taking it, in a moment of universal temporary 

 insanity, for an evil spirit, stone it to death. 



Its disposition appears to lie somewhere between these 

 extremes, but probably a good deal nearer to the former. 

 We were able one morning to obtain a couple (both males, 



E 2 



