FIELD NOTES FROM NORTHERN ICELAND. 157 
Goldeneye nest in a turf wall not far from our quarters. A few 
days previously we had approached her cautiously, hoping to 
catch her, as she flew off, in a net softly spread over the hole 
mouth. These elaborate preparations were wasted. Flying off 
was the last thing she thought of. She took no notice whatever of 
the net, and only hissed at us; when an arm was introduced she 
attacked it, eliciciting exclamations from its proprietor of “ any- 
thing but joy.” She was hauled out and examined ; we remarked 
the almost impossibility of distinguishing the females of the two 
Goldeneyes, and she was then put back into her hole, into which 
she shuffled, and flopped down on her eggs as if nothing out 
of the common had happened. She had hatched that day, and 
we quietly impounded two of her chicks. 
We had sent the baggage ponies off early. One nee loaded 
almost entirely with eggs, it was necessary that they should travel 
leisurely. We followed at mid-day. We picked up, en route, young 
in down of Snipe, Whimbrel, and Redshank. We came suddenly, 
also, upon an old Ptarmigan with a numerous brood of young ones. 
S. was off his pony, and had caught a couple of them in a very 
few seconds. Not wanting any more, he nevertheless looked for 
the rest, of which there must have been eight or nine within a 
few yards of him, but not one could he find. The old bird, who | 
had been feigning lameness or injury at first, vanished too, 
though she certainly had not flown away. 
We travelled vigorously for some days, the ground having 
got much drier, and better going, collecting a few eggs and 
catching a few fine Trout here and there on our way, and 
reached at last Akureyri, the northern capital of Iceland, where 
we put up at Jensen’s Hotel, which we can strongly recommend 
for kindly treatment, comfort, and moderate charges. Here we 
had a grand unpacking of our treasures, and were gratified to 
find that not one egg was broken. In fact, all were eventually 
unpacked in England without a single casualty. The following 
is our list of eggs :— 
White-tailed Eagle 1 White Wagtail : Sean) 
Iceland Falcon 5 Meadow Pipit : : Baal 
Merlin . 6 Snow Bunting ; : 2 
Redwing 5 Mealy Redpole ‘ : oe Bs) 
Wheatear I Raven . : ; : 2 a8 
