BIRDS OF ICELAND 47 



probably misled here, though there is no impossibility 

 in the thing ; but the Brent and Barnacle Geese seem 

 only to be met with on the coast, and I have never 

 heard of either inland. Faber gives the date October 

 1820, and Nielsen of Eyrarbakka has shot them in 

 October 1878, September 28, 1880, and May 8, 1881, 

 which are all probable enough. I have never met 

 with the bird myself (nor been in Iceland early, or 

 late, enough in the year to be likely to do so), but I 

 have seen a stuffed specimen in the Museum at 

 Eeykjavik, and my friend Herra St. Stephensson tells 

 me that a small goose visits the EyjafjorSr pretty 

 regularly in autumn, and only stays a few days ; about 

 there they put it down as the Margaes. So that we 

 may conclude that it visits Iceland as a migrant in 

 spring and autumn, on its way to and from its more 

 Arctic breeding-grounds, and with considerably more 

 regularity than the Bernacle Goose. 



Cygnus musicus, Bechst. Whooper Swan. 



Native names : ' 'Alpt,' ' 'Alft,' ' Svanur ' (the first name 

 is Eddaic ; Grondal connects the first two with 

 the Latin ' albus '). 



A resident in considerable numbers, breeding on the 

 remoter fells on almost every tarn or lake of any size 

 but I only know of one lake, and that a very large one 

 (Arnarvatn), where more than one pair breeds. They 

 are very noisy and quarrelsome birds, and if a strange 

 pair or individual on the feed should stray to the tarn 



