VOL. VI.] BIRD-LIFE OF ICELAND. 241 



some variation, as did also tlie down, but the most 

 remarkable clutch we saw was a set of four eggs in the 

 Re^^kjavik Museum, which were deep blue in colour, like 

 those of the Glossy Ibis. 



Many Gannets {Sula bossana (L.)) were seen at sea off 

 Reykjanes, and a colony is said to exist on Eldey. Iron 

 stanchions have now been fixed in the rock, so that the 

 eggs can be collected by fishermen from the Vestmann- 

 eyjar, where there is also a colony. On the latter 

 islands there is also a breeding-station of Fork-tailed 

 Petrels {Oceanodroma leucorhoa (Vieill.)), the existence of 

 wliich was unknown at the time Slater's Manual was 

 published, but time prevented us from reaching it. We 

 did however visit the cliffs where the Fulmars [Fidmarus g. 

 glacialls (L.)) breed in thousands. One grassy bluff 

 standing back some distance from the w^ater was not 

 difficult of access, and here we managed to obtain several 

 eggs. Practically the whole of the way from the Orkneys 

 to Reykjavik we were accompanied by, or in sight of, 

 these birds, whose tireless gliding flight just over the crests 

 of the Avaves was the main feature of the voyage. 



The only Grebe which breeds in Iceland is the Slavonian 

 (Colymbus auritus (L.)), which is plentiful on the marsh- 

 lands near the south coast, a pair being met with on 

 every pond of any size.^ Great Northern Divers {Gavia 

 immer (Briiim.)) cannot be called common, but there is 

 pretty certain to be a pair on each lake, and on the large 

 ones, such as Thing valla vatn, there are at least two pairs. 

 The nest is a typical Loon's nest — the turf flattened out 

 by the weight of the bird, and with a very decided track 

 where she shovels her way on to the nest on her breast 

 and slides back again by it into the water. Red-throated 

 Divers {G. stellata (Pont.)) were extremely plentiful in 

 one locality, the nests being sometimes not more than 

 twenty yards apart. There could not have been fewer 

 than about sixteen pairs breeding in this group of islands, 



* Here again Slater gives the niunber of eggs as two to four, whereas 

 the typical clutch is four or five, sometimes six. 



