BIRDS OF ICELAND 107 



inches, the female the largest, and with the longest 

 bill; wing llf to 12| inches. 



Food (when on the shores) Crustacea, worms, and 

 any small creatures; inland they live on insects and 

 berries, but seem to prefer small helices to anything, 

 and eat enormous numbers of them. 



Numenius phoeopus (Linn.). Whimbrel. 



Native na77ies : ' Spoi,' ' Litla Spoi ' — from the 

 bird's note. 



A summer visitor, arriving in April and leaving in 

 September. One of the commonest birds in Iceland ; 

 one of the most invariable recollections which a visitor 

 to Iceland bears away with him is that of a AVhimbrel 

 perched on the apex of a rock or boulder, screaming 

 at him. It breeds everywhere on grassy land, or drier 

 marsh, from the high fells of the interior almost down 

 to sea-level, but is most abundant at moderate eleva- 

 tions. The nest is a small hollow, generally on a 

 hummock, but sometimes between two, and is not 

 much concealed. The four eggs (sometimes three 

 only) are olive brown, blotched and spotted w^ith sepia 

 brown, and are generally very pyriform. Length about 

 2 J inches. There is seldom any lining to the nest. 

 I once found, lying beside a nest containing eggs, a 

 little heap of small rounded gravel about as big as 

 peas, which must have been recently brought from a 

 river-bed about a mile off, necessitating a good many 

 journeys there ; I surmised that this might have been 



