240 Messrs. H. J. and C. E. Pearson on 



snowstorms and eold rain we experienced during most of our 

 visit. In fact the cold was so severe on several nights that we 

 were glad to sleep in four suits of flannels besides our 

 blankets, although we had a tent lined Avith thick blue serge ; 

 and as this district is nearly surrounded by large masses 

 of snow-covered mountains, the weather must be always 

 uncertain in early summer. No map to be procured in this 

 country shows these lakes accurately, but Herra Th. Tho- 

 roddsen, of Reykjavik, published one in 1889 which gives 

 a good general outline of them. A place marked Skalar on 

 our maps really consists of two old lava-rifts, which were 

 once partly roofed in ; we had hoped it represented a farm ! 

 Our guide Kristofer had been to this district once or twice 

 every year for the last thirty years to look for strayed sheep 

 and to fish, so that he knew all the lakes where there was 

 any chance of finding birds. Nearly all the eggs we obtained 

 were from islands, and, as no boats were available, the india- 

 rubber boat used in Norway last year was of great service ; 

 it was carried on a pony without the slightest trouble or 

 damage. On the 27th we crossed the Tungua, a swift river 

 nearly as wide as the Thames at Hammersmith (though 

 the water did not cover our saddles), and camped for two 

 days at Laugar under the Torfajokull. This valley had been 

 a centre of great volcanic activity, and contained a number 

 of hot springs and hot sulphur-pits. We found a Whooper- 

 Swan's nest with one egg and a Wild Duck^s nest with six 

 near the hot springs, but most of the eggs were addled. On 

 the lakes near were a few Great Northern Divers and Long- 

 tailed Ducks ; also large numbers of Arctic Terns. Streams 

 of lava had been erupted from the sides of the hills in several 

 places. Our tent was pitched at the base of one, which was 

 about a mile and a half long, and was covered in most 

 places with moss a foot thick ; but other streams were quite 

 black and bare, as if they had only recently cooled. The 

 district was more interesting to the geologist than to the 

 ornithologist. The general result of our expedition was 

 disappointing, and we certainly should not advise any mem- 

 bers of the B. O. U. to visit this part of Iceland, for it is not 



