150 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
ornithological traveller before long gets almost weary of seeing 
and hearing. 
Nothing need be added to this account of our first three days, 
except, perhaps, that we had a new experience in gastronomy. 
We had noticed at the port at which we landed that catching sea 
birds (principally Guillemots and Razorbills) was quite an 
industry, and we wondered what they did with them. We dis- 
covered that, like dried fish and sea-birds’ eggs, they formed an 
important article of food, and were carried to the farms far 
inland, at one of which we tasted them. ‘They were very dark- 
coloured, and full-flavoured, but tasted a good deal better than 
could have been expected, yet nearly as fishy as the codfish, 
which formed the second course. 
To get to our first real working ground we had to cross a 
long sea loch, a range of hills, and a river. The loch was easily 
managed. We went across with our traps in a boat, the ponies 
went round some miles by a ford, and 10 o’clock p.m. on June 
26th found us mounting and en route to cross the hills (1660 feet). 
We had a fair road to begin with, though the gradient was steep, 
but the road came to an end before long, and we went across 
bog, still ascending (N.B. In Iceland bogs do not require level 
ground for their existence). At last we came to a great snow 
slope, at about the same angle as an ordinary house-roof, up 
which we went in a slanting direction. We were not particularly 
anxious to travel on foot, as we had thigh boots and much 
clothing on, to say nothing of guns, cartridges, egg-boxes, and 
other impedimenta slung about us; but we had to dismount, as 
the ponies kept getting up to their middles in the snow (as did 
we occasionally). However, this was a trifle to the top, which 
we reached about 2 a.m. Here it was pretty flat, and the snow 
dreadfully slushy, the ponies (and ourselves) sinking in about 
every third step. The poor baggage ponies, whose loads could 
not be removed, were nearly knocked up, and kept helplessly 
lying down. It really looked like a bivouac where we were. 
However, in time we began to descend a little; the ground got 
firmer, and at last we were able to mount. 
Crossing a patch of black boggy earth, 8. happened to catch 
sight of a bird fluttering away from almost under a baggage pony’s 
feet, so he jumped off at the spot and found a nest with four eggs. 
Dropping his gun-cover and sling to mark the spot, he slipped a 
