THE FAROES AND ICELAND 279 



but they did not move from their position, so that I was able 

 to take with my hands as many of the old birds and their 

 young as I wished. The nests lay close together and the 

 soil was so slippery that I ran the risk of being precipitated 

 down the slanting cliff, partly on account of the dirty nests, 

 partly because of the quantities of disgorged Clwpea 

 harengus, Sepia loligo, etc., etc., which the attentive parent 

 birds had deposited in the nests in the process of feeding 

 their young. It is remarkable that nearly a third of the 

 nests contained addled eggs, which were nevertheless being 

 sat upon by the parent birds, who, misled by the impulse 

 to feed their young, expected at this time of the year, had 

 disgorged food in front of the nests containing addled eggs 

 as well as before those containing young birds.* The bird 

 obtains this food by means of his highly developed diving 

 apparatus. Raising himself high into the air he precipitates 

 himself under water like an arrow and to a fair depth per- 

 pendicularly as well as in a slanting direction, which the 

 other genera are not able to do. For me it was one of the 

 most interesting ornithological sights of my whole journey 

 to see S. alba uninterruptedly, and in flocks, fish in the bays 

 of Westmanoer. They prefer to fish in still water, but I have 

 also seen them throw themselves into the breakers. When 



* It is more likely that tliis food liad been intended for the sitting 

 females, the young being fed at first from their parents' throats. 



