FIELD NOTES FROM NORTHERN ICELAND. 153 
birds were in the light plumage. None of the females seemed, 
from the state of their ovaries, to be within a month of laying. 
In one the oviduct had not commenced to curl. Yet we saw them 
invariably in pairs, and it was getting well into the short Icelandic 
summer. C., too, is sure that he was near eggs on one occasion 
—though he could not find them—from the behaviour of another 
pair of birds. 
Having pretty well worked out the locality, our friend and 
host, the pastor, procured ponies for us, and we moved on some 
ten miles, to a very comfortable farmhouse near a lake. The 
pastor very kindly accompanied us, thinking that his slight know- 
ledge of English might be of assistance to us in coming to an 
understanding with our new host. He rode like a Centaur on a 
very good pony of his own, and passed his time on the way in 
belabouring our two inferior beasts with a very persuasive imple- 
ment of the dog-whip type. The first time he tried this, on S.’s 
pony, its rider, not expecting any such delicate attention, and 
being in a brown study, nearly went overboard, like the White 
Knight. 
At this farm we stayed from July 8rd to July 9th. Our pro- 
ceedings were rather marred by the arrival of a legal functionary, 
who was deputed by the Sheriff of the district to show us a copy 
of the law which forbids shooting in the close-season. We had 
previously got our guide to explain to the authorities that we 
were not intending to shoot for sport, or even for food, but only 
to authenticate eggs, and collect a few skins ; therefore he desired 
our proceedings to be benignantly ignored. And if it had not 
been for a local farmer, who was prevented himself from shoot- 
ing or snaring Ptarmigan, and did not see why these Englishmen 
should not be prevented too, we should probably never have been 
interfered with. As it was, we did not like to carry our guns for 
some days, which prevented us from bringing to England, 
thoroughly identified, what we still believe to be the eggs of the 
Sanderling. (See ‘Ibis,’ 1886, p. 50.) Harlequin Ducks were 
very abundant here, and we saw one flock of quite adozen. They 
did not seem (from anatomical evidence) to be breeding generally, 
though we got some eggs. Their food consists of insects, mostly 
aquatic larve of some kind of Ephemera, which they hunt for in the 
gravelly margins of the rapidest rivers, just such places as anglers 
ZOOLOGIST.—APRIL, 1886. N 
