8 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



thing — in a rock- face partly clothed with trailing 

 vaccinium growing from ledges. Later on the same 

 day, I found another, quite a new one, in a similar 

 place, made of moss, and exactly like our own wren's 

 nest, though with a somewhat larger aperture — but, 

 alas, no eggs ! 



Being very hot, and somewhat tired after five hours 

 of very rough walking, we sat down on a moss cushion 

 in a shady place some thirty yards from the nest. And 

 I was almost on the verge of forty winks, when — the 

 wren's song again. Somewhat louder, even, than that 

 of our Kitty, and equally jubilant. A careful approach 

 only gave me a view of an anxious Eedwing, clucking 

 its warning from the top of a birch bush. ' What a 

 wary little skulker it must be ! ' I said to myself as I 

 subsided amongst the bushes. I daresay half an hour 

 passed, and again a burst of song from a new direction. 

 I crept towards it, and this time saw the bird sitting 

 on the top of a pinnacle of rock, standing above a 

 small barren plateau of ragged lava blocks between 

 which were patches of grey moss and lichen. I could 

 get no nearer than forty yards without showing myself, 

 which I dared not do ; so tried a dust-shot cartridge 

 in my choked barrel, and saw the bird fall. We ran 

 to the spot but only found cracks between the lava 

 blocks, and a feather or two. So we started to ' shift' 

 the stones, and had not moved many before out from 

 under our feet fluttered the ' Mouse's brother,' and, like 

 a bolted rabbit, dived into another crack a couple of 

 yards off. We proceeded to the spot, and started 



