146 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



ever, would be to arrange for the absence of Mosquitoes entirely, 

 and this could be done in two ways, either by visiting only those 

 parts of Iceland where they are not found, or by leaving about 

 the middle of June. The official date for them (here at any 

 rate) is the 24th of June, but, unlike the official spring in 

 England, iliey begin sooner. The Black Flies come a little 

 before them, and are bad enough, but nothing in comparison. 

 They bother — very much — but don't bite, nor are they in such 

 swarms. One may, I suppose, make oneself personally impreg- 

 nable to both, but only by a great loss of ease and convenience 

 — life is no longer tbe same — nor is it so easy as one might 

 think. For myself, I was very defective in making arrangements, 

 and only brought one net, without rings to fasten round the hat. 

 That, however, is as they all use them here, and I think, in many 

 ways, it is better than with the rings ; one can use the glasses, 

 for instance, and very well too, I find. But the problem is not 

 the face but the hands, and, more still, the wrists, nor is it a 

 completely soluble one, for one cannot do everything (nor any- 

 thing comfortably) with gloves on, and if they are sewn to tbe 

 sleeves, which is the one and only way to protect the wrists 

 adequately, then they can never be taken off. Of course if 

 Mosquito-bites — or tbese inferior Icelandic ones, as I am asked 

 to consider them — don't affect one, then it doesn't matter, or not 

 nearly so much, for nobody, even here, finds them pleasant. 

 Apparently, they don't affect Icelanders — or not the peasantry — 

 but they do me, and my right hand and wrist now is a spectacle, 

 with my left but a few degrees better. There are some hundred 

 and sixty bites on the wrist alone, that I can count, but the 

 greater number of these are double or treble bites — or more — for 

 Mosquitoes, according to Sigurdsson, love to fasten on the already 

 bitten spot, and go on till they have "made a hole," nor (as I 

 would add) do they stop then, if they can help it. To the fact I 

 can certainly testify, but, for the reason of it, want of room 

 would be an adequate one, in my own case, and, I should think, 

 in most others ; for, affected or not, nobody here plays the part of 

 Simeon Stylites with Mosquitoes. 



Thus wretchedly ended my attempt to study the domestic 

 habits of these grand birds, amidst their native wildness and 

 solitude. Either they had abandoned their eggs through fear 



