THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 725.— November, 1901 



BRIEF NOTES ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE 

 NORTH OF ICELAND IN 1899. 



By F. Cobdrn. 



I SPENT the sutniner of 1899, alone, exploring the North of 

 Iceland for ornithological purposes. My primary object in visiting 

 that island was to study the breeding haunts and habits of some 

 British birds who do not, or rarely do, breed in this country ; and 

 to procure specimens, especially the downy young, to assist in 

 completing, as far as I can during my lifetime, the series of 

 educational pictures depicting the life-histories of British birds, 

 upon which I have been already engaged about ten years. 



I was totally ignorant of the island and the people, and 

 could obtain no reliable or satisfactory information in this 

 country until the very eve of my departure ; the only books I 

 had access to being Paijkull's ' Summer in Iceland,' and Shep- 

 herd's ' North-West Peninsula of Iceland.' 



From the scant information I could glean, I quite expected 

 that I should have to lead a wild life, and therefore fitted up my 

 expedition with tents and all necessaries, provisioning myself 

 for two months, which I considered, with the assistance I might 

 obtain from the inhabitants and my guns, should make me safe 

 for four months, if necessary. I had not, however, been on the 

 island many days before I found that most of these prepara- 

 tions had been so much worry, hard work, and money practically 



ZooL 4th ser. vol. V., November, 1901. 2 i 



