51 
Notes from Northern Iceland. 
care (they were, of course, on the point of hatching), and 
seemed to resemble what we remembered Sanderling's eggs 
to be. On our return to England we again inspected the 
plate in Nares^s ‘ Narrative/ and sent them off to Professor 
Newton, who expressed his opinion that they were possibly 
Sanderling^s eggs. When dissected, however, the embryo 
proved to have a hind toe. Notwithstanding this, we feel it 
difficult to alter our opinion as to the species. As the San- 
derling, hind toe excepted, is a normal Tringa, it seems to us 
not impossible that the hind toe may become atrophied shortly 
after hatching. We propose to investigate the subject further, 
if possible. 
Arctic Tern. (Sterna macrura.) 
Universally distributed in large numbers. The native 
Icelandic names for the birds are generally onomatopoeic, and 
that of the Arctic Tern is “Krja” (pronounced kreee-ah) ) 
which exactly suggests the note; this is more than can be 
said for most of the complicated arrangements in italics so 
common in books on birds. The Terns in Iceland were ex¬ 
cessively bold, and, when we were near their eggs or young, 
gave us vicious raps on the head, which, through our soft 
hats, were distinctly painful. A large proportion of the 
young birds seemed to die in the downy stage some little time 
after hatching, for which we could only account by attributing 
it to the cold summer, or to the presence of huge tapeworms 
in their insides. 
Great Northern Diver. (Colymbus arcticus.) 
Opinions differ as to the disposition of this bird. It is not 
unfrequently stated to be so very wary that it is only with 
the greatest difficulty that it can be approached in a boat. 
Mr. Charles Dixon, apparently (Ibis, 1885, p. 90), considers 
that it is of so guileless a disposition as to sit on a rock while 
St.-Kildans, taking it, in a moment of universal temporary 
insanity, for an evil spirit, stone it to death. 
Its disposition appears to lie somewhere between these 
extremes, but probably a good deal nearer to the former. 
We were able one morning to obtain a couple (both males, 
e 2 
