b Gr Ee ae OM De 
-At other times, a oder or lure is tied toa rope, and placed before the nets ; to 
which the Seals, fuppofing it to be fome ftrange animal, will eagerly fwim, and 
itrike into.the nets, paying with their lives for their curiofity. This carries them 
fometimes fo far, that they will {tray to a confiderable diftance inland, attracted 
by acandle, or the fire in a fmith’s forge. If they are taken young, they are 
capable of being tamed: they will follow their mafter, and come to him like a 
dog, when called by the name which is given them. The Icelanders have a 
ftrange fuperftition about thefe animals: they believe they refemble the human 
‘fpecies more than any other, and that they are the offspring of Pharaoh and his 
hoft, who were converted into Seals when they were overwheimed in the Red Sea. 
Other fpecies of Seals are migratory. Among them is the Harp, N° 77, 
or Vade-Selur. Thefe quit the feas of Iceland in March, and {wim through the 
ftreights of Davies, by fome unknown opening, to the fartheft north ; bring forth 
their young, and return, by the north of Greenland, in May, extremely lean, to 
the north of Jceland ; continue their route, and return to that ifland about Chri/?- 
mas, chiefly upon the drift-ice, on which they are either fhet, or harpooncd. 
The Hooded Seal, N° 76, or Bladru Seal, is rarely taken here. The Walrus, 
Ne 71, or Roff-unger, is fometimes wafted here from Greenland on the ice. 
It cannot be expected, that many of the feathered tribe fhould inhabit an 
ifland fo very fevere in its climate, and fo remote from the more fouthern continent 
and iflands. It is, like all other 4ré#7c countries, the afylum to water-fow], 
to breed and educate their young ; but, being an inhabited place, fewer refort 
here than to the untrodden waftes of the more diftant north. The Gutand 
Duck; p. 572. E. may poffibly be a local bird. The reft, whether land or water, 
_are common to Norway, and many other parts of Eurcpe. The Great Auks, 
Ne 428, are found here in greater numbers than elfewhere : they inhabit and 
breed on the rocks, called from them Geir-fugl Skier, off the point of Rekenes, 
the moft fouthern part of the ifland. Notwithftanding they are furrounded with 
a {welling fea, and tremendous breakers, the Icelanders venture there annually, in 
order to collect the eggs, to contribute to the provifion of the year. I can only 
ea 
S 
reckon fixteen land-birds * ; twenty cloven-footed water-fowl ; four with pinnated 
* Sea Eagle, N° 87. Raven, - - N° 3144. Leffer Field-Lark, = p. 395. 
Cinereous Eagle, p. 214, B. White Grous, - N° 183. Snow Bunting, - - N° 222. 
Iceland Falcon, - 216,D. Hazel Grous?- - p..317, F. White Wagtai, -- - p. 396. 
Gyrfalcon, - - 225,F. Stare, - - p. 331. A. Wheat-car,  - =p. 420. 
Lanner; - - 225,K. Red-wing Thrufh, p. 342. D Wien, - - - Noo322. 
Short-ear’d Owl? No1r16 7, 
+ Olafen, ii. tab. xlvi. gives the f gure of an Ow! refemblin. his fpeeics, 
a 2 feet, 
g 
Byrvs. 
“i 
