418 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



birds, and the physical features of the wonderful land I was 

 passing through, and the interesting tj^pe of people I met. These 

 daily observations covered 530 pages of note-books. When it is 

 remembered that several of my journeys after one particular 

 species of bird occupied two and three days, and that I was con- 

 stantly in the saddle, and covered great distances almost daily, 

 it will be readily understood that I had not a single idle moment. 

 Indeed, I gave myself only about half my usual time for sleep. 

 The unbroken daylight was of great assistance to me, and I was 

 strong and vigorous for each day's labours, although I might 

 have been hard at work until 3 or 4 a.m. Towards the 

 close, however, I became so utterly worn out with the unceasing 

 strain, that I felt that I could not continue without a period of 

 rest, and, as previously stated, resolved to return home. The 

 whole journej^ was studded with stirring adventure, and I had 

 several narrow escapes from losing my life, both by drowning 

 and other causes. 



It is a pleasure to me to be enabled to state that the bodies 

 of every bird I shot and recovered are made into good skins or 

 mounted specimens, and were needed for the series I was pre- 

 paring. Not a single bird was needlessly shot ; and never for 

 only cooking purposes. I regret that many bodies were lost, but 

 through no fault of mine. This was when birds fell through 

 cracks in the lava, or, in the case of the Harlequin Ducks, when 

 they were carried away by the mad rush of water in the rapids. 



The careful mounting of the 330 birds occupied me, after my 

 return, together with other work intervening, over twelve months ; 

 another important and laborious task in connection with the 

 Baylis collection occupied still another twelve months ; hence 

 the delay in publishing this report. 



I feel that I ought not to bring this paper to a close without 

 tendering my earnest thanks to those who assisted in my expe- 

 dition ; and, first of all, a tribute to the memory of F. W. W. 

 Howell, who, alas ! lost his life this year (1901) while crossing 

 one of the treacherous Icelandic rivers. I met Mr. Howell 

 quite accidentally about two months prior to my departure for 

 Iceland. We were total strangers, but it was through his kindly 

 and generously tendered advice that many obstacles which others 

 had magnified into insurmountable ones were smoothed away, 



