THK



309



Hvtcultural fllbagasine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCI ETY.



New Series— VOL. VII. —No. 11 .—All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER, 1909.



“ SUNDHANI."


Bv C. Barnby Smith.


Sundhani (the swimming cock) is the popular name in the

North of Iceland for the Red-necked Phalarope. As there are

probably several members of the Avicultural Society who are

interested in these charming little waders, I am writing a few

notes as to how I recently brought over some of them from the

North of Iceland.


As travel in Iceland is very difficult and slow, the first

thing was to make provision for the birds whilst I remained in

the island. I accordingly took out with me some three-quarter

inch mesh wire netting, and in the first place covered in a short

length (about 12 ft.) of a little stream running near the farm

where I stayed. I, of course, included a strip of grass on one

bank and at each end of the enclosure, at and below water level,

piled stones so that the waste could run between them but the

birds not escape.


I found some Phalaropes in the places they like best—that

is small low grassy islands in the middle of a large river. The

birds, although absurdly tame, are by no means as easy to cap¬

ture as one who has not tried would suppose. The way I tried

was to take a small square of fine string netting attached to the

middle of a piece of fishing line about 60 feet long. I got an

Icelandic boy and we each took one end of the line and, wading

in the river, floated the net in the water to the edge of an island

where Phalaropes were swimming. They are usually near the

bank for the purpose of catching the flies that fall into the water.

When the net had floated sufficiently near the bird, we suddenly



