APPENDIX: NO. XLI. 43 
the vast swarms of Guillemots, Uria troile, and such like birds, 
would alone be sufficient to show this; Soland Geese, Sula bassana, 
too, find enough of a larger size within a reasonable flight of the 
station they have chosen. Other marine animals are in plenty, 
some, probably crustaceous, occasionally in such compact shoals, 
as, in their sudden rise to the surface, to have given origin to 
the story of one kind of sea serpent, or rather flat sea monster, 
the Kraken of Pontoppidan, here called Kraka or Teara-bue; whales 
too, principally Phocena melas, the Ca’ing Whale, and another 
species very nearly allied, often in prodigious herds, show the 
richness of the surrounding sea. The great numbers of Oyster 
Catchers and Eider Ducks mark the abundance of the productions 
of the wave-washed rocks. Representatives of almost every tribe 
of sea-fowl here fare luxuriously. But when we turn to the land, 
we uo not find the same fertility and plenty ; there is indeed a 
great show of green, and in some places plenty of good grass, but 
generally there is a large proportion of Carices, Juncacee, and other 
plants, on a thin covering of peaty soil; and these afforded food to 
Wild Geese and Swans during the summer in former times. Insects 
are In small numbers, but not so few but that a Snow Bunting can 
get a good mouthful for its young; Snipes too are well pleased with 
their entertainment. Lakes are not numerous, but there are a few 
which satisfy the wants of the Common Wild Duck, Anas boschas, 
and also of the Red-throated Diver, Colymbus septentrionalis (for 
Trout and Salmon are not absent), and they serve as fresh water 
baths to continued flocks of Kittiwakes. There is no heather that 
could be sufficient for the Red Grouse, Tetrao layopus ; no tree or 
even shrub of a foot in height. 
In this brief sketch of the inducements held out to birds to take 
up their abode in these islands, we should not omit to notice the 
general peaceable character of the human inhabitants, who do not 
constantly molest them; but catch them only at certain seasons, 
and then with as little disturbance as possible. The parasites of 
man, the dog and the rat, are their only other enemies, if we except 
the occasional visits of a kind of whale, which the inhabitants call 
the Trold Whale, and which they much dread from the havoc it 
makes amongst their Eider Ducks and their Seals. Sharks are in 
such plenty as to occupy a vessel constantly in catching them ; but 
they are never known to attack the birds. To the Hooded Crow, 
Corvus corone, and the Raven, Corvus corax, the vicinity of man is 
most advantageous, from the offal and other refuse which falls to 
their share; but they and some other birds are less agreeable to their 
feathered neighbours. 
The birds which we found breeding in the Faroe Islands are as 
follows :— 
Anthus pratensis, Titlark 7 
Anthus petrosus, Rock Pipit > all plentiful. 
Saxicola cenanthe, Miiieatear ) . 
Alauda pratensis, Common Lark, one pair, probably breeding. 
Corvus corax, Raven. 
