APPENDICES. APPENDIX A. NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF ICELAND, BY ALFRED NEWTON, M.A., Late Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge; Foreign Member of the Icelandic Literary Society (Reykjavík Branch); THOUGH several British naturalists of no mean repute have visited Iceland, I believe that hitherto no connected account of its Ornithology has ever been published in the English language. What is chiefly known of the subject in this country has either been derived from foreign works, or from the communications made to our standard authors by British travellers. Thus, in 1833, Mr. G. C. Atkinson, accompanied by Mr. Cookson and Mr. William Proctor, the present curator of the Durham University Museum, undertook a voyage thither, and, on his return, supplied his friend Mr. Hewitson with a series of valuable remarks, which are to be found in the various editions of that gentleman's work on the Eggs of British Birds. Four years later, also, Mr. Proctor again visited the island, and, besides contributing a few notes on his tour to Mr. Neville Wood's magazine, The Naturalist, for 1838, furnished the late Mr. Yarrell with a good many specimens and some further observations on the birds of Iceland, the latter of which are embodied in his wellknown History of British Birds. But neither Mr. Atkinson nor Mr. Proctor penetrated far into the interior of the island. In 1833, their researches were confined to the neighbourhood of Reykjavík, or, at most, to the south-western portion of Iceland, and in 1837, Mr. Proctor visited only the district of Myvatn, and the interesting, though inhospitable, islet of Grimsey. In 1846, * Nearly two years ago Mr. Proctor was kind enough to place in my hands, with liberty to use them as I thought proper, the original journals which he kept on each of his voyages, and they have been of no smail service to me. Mr. Henry Milner, attended by Mr. David Graham, of York, traversed the whole island from Eyafjörör, by way of Arnavatnsheiði, to Reykjavík, and formed a collection of Icelandic birds and their eggs, but he has never published any account of his experiences. Others have, I believe, done the like, and last year (1862) my friend Mr. G. G. Fowler, in company with Mr. Shepherd, spent the summer in Iceland, and from him, as also from Mr. Milner, I have privately derived considerable information respecting its birds. Of my own visit I need say little. In 1858, I passed more than three months in the country, accompanied by that unwearied explorer and talented naturalist, the late Mr. John Wolley, but with the special object we had in view (that of solving, if possible, the moot point of the Gare-Fowl's present existence), we had few opportunities of learning much, from our own general observation, respecting the ornithology of Iceland. Abroad the case has been different. Numerous have been the works published which relate to the zoology of Iceland. From the middle of last century, when Anderson's posthumous Nachrichten von Island called forth Horrebow's celebrated Tilforladelige Efterretninger von Island, through later years, in which appeared Brünnich's Ornithologia Borealis, Olafsen and Povelsen's Reise igiennem Island, Olavius' Oeconomisk Reyse, and Mohr's Forsög til en Islandsk Naturhistorie, the stream has been flowing almost uninterruptedly till the present time. But I must especially mention the various works of Friedrich Faber-known almost everywhere in Iceland, even now, as "Fugl Faber "-and particularly his Prodromus der isländischen Ornithologie, which contains the result of a year and a half's close and careful research. Though the progress of knowledge in the last forty years has of necessity invalidated some of the author's remarks, the extreme value of this little book is not to be questioned for a moment. I may say that, on two or three almost trivial points, I can myself bear witness to Faber's minute truthfulness. In the German ornithological magazine, Naumannia, for 1857, there is contained an excellent series of papers by a very trustworthy traveller, Dr. Theobald Krüper, recording the observations on the birds of Myvatn and its neighbourhood, made by him during a visit thither in the preceding summer. These are all the more interesting, though, perhaps, to us English the less instructive, as the district was one of the chief scenes of Mr. Proctor's labours, already mentioned. Lastly, I must mention that, in 1860, M. G. Benguerel, a Swiss gentleman, made a prolonged tour in Iceland, and, as he was good enough himself to tell me, formed a considerable ornithological collection, a brief notice of which he subsequently communicated to the Society of Natural Sciences at Neuchatel, in whose Bulletins it will be found; while, simultaneously, Herr William Preyer, accompanied by Dr. F. Zirkel, was performing a similar expedition, the account of which they last year published. To this, their Reise nach Island, the first-named of these gentlemen appended a systematic review of Icelandic vertebrate animals. It undoubtedly contains by far the most complete notice of the birds that has been published since Faber's time, but I am bound to express my opinion that the writer has not shown sufficient discrimination in its compilation. The only work of an Icelander on the ornithology of his own country, that I am aware of, is a short and unfinished treatise by the late Jonas Hall-, grimsson, who died in the prime of life about twenty years ago. It appeared in a periodical bearing the name of Fjölnir, published at Copenhagen in 1847, edited by my friend Prof. Halldór Kr. Friðriksson, and my introduction to it I owe to my friend Cand-Theolog. Eiríkur Magnússon. It contains a list of forty species of Icelandic birds, with brief but useful notes upon them. However, it extends no further than the end of the order Gralla, and I can, therefore, only express my hope that before long some native of the island may arise to complete the work, or, better still, be patriotic enough to give his fellow-countrymen a yet fuller account of the birds which are met with around them. The following is a list of authors and their writings, which may be usefully consulted by any one wishing to make himself acquainted with the Ornithology of Iceland, so far as it is known. It has no pretensions to being perfect, and it must be remembered that much additional information on the subject is to be gathered from works, the scope of which is general instead of special, as are these here enumerated : JOHANN ANDERSON: Nachrichten von Island, Groenland und der Strasse Davis, &c. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1747. 8vo. G. C. ATKINSON: Various observations on the birds of Iceland contributed to Mr. Hewitson's Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds. G. BENGUEREL: "Voyage en Islande," Bulletins de la Société des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel, V. p. 445. Neuchatel, 1861. 8vo. M. TH. BRUENNICH: Ornithologia Borealis, &c. Hafniæ, 1764. 8vo. EDWARD CHARLTON : "On the Great Auk," Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, IV. part ii. p. 111. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1859. 8vo. J. W. CLARK: "Travels in Iceland," Vacation Tourists in 1860. London, 1861. 8vo. FRIEDRICH FABER: Prodromus der islaendischen Ornithologie. 1822. 8vo. Kopenhagen, Supplement to the above. Isis, 1824, p. 792.* Jena. 4to. Ueber das Leben der hochnordischen Voegel. Leipzig, 1826. 8vo. "Beitraege zur arctischen Zoologie." Isis, 1824, st. 4, 7, 9; E. FAIRMAIRE: "Liste des espèces d'oiseaux recueillies par l'expédition du Prince Napoléon," &c., Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, VI. p. 191.* Edinburgh, 1857. 8vo. These I myself have not seen. J. C. H. FISCHER: "Der faroeische Zaunkoenig," Journal fuer Ornithologie, IX. p. 14. Cassel, 1861. 8vo. PH. GLIEMANN: Geographische Beschreibung von Island. Altona, 1824. 8vo. JONAS HALLGRIMSSON: "Yfirlit yfir Fuglana á Íslandi," Fjoelnir, IX. Ár. p. 58. Kaupmannahoefn, 1847. 8vo. JOHN HANCOCK: "Remarks on the Greenland and Iceland Falcons," Annals of Natural History, II. p. 241. London, 1838. 8vo. "Note on the Greenland and Iceland Falcons," Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 2nd ser. XIII. p. 110. London, 1854. 8vo. W. J. HOOKER : Journal of a Tour in Iceland, &c. 2nd ed. London, 1813. 2 vols. 8vo. NIELS HORREBOW: Tilforladelige Efterretninger om Island, &c. Kjoebenhavn, 1752. 8vo. THEOBALD KRUEPER: "Der Myvatn und seine Umgebung," Naumannia, VII. Heft i. p. 33, Heft ii. p. 1; "Die Inseln des Myvatn," idem, Heft ii. p. 33; "Ornithologische Miscellen," idem, Heft. ii. p. 436. Leipzig, 1857. 8vo. FREDERICK METCALFE: The Oxonian in Iceland, &c. London, 1861. 8vo. N. MOHR: Forsoeg til en Islandsk Naturhistorie, &c. Kjoebenhavn, 1786. 8vo. ALFRED NEWTON: "Abstract of Mr. J. Wolley's Researches in Iceland respecting the Gare-Fowl," Ibis, III. p. 374. London, 1861. 8vo. On the Zoology of Ancient Europe, &c. London and EGGERT OLAFSEN: Reise igiennem Island, &c. Soroe, 1772. 2 vols. 4to. Kjoebenhavn, 1780. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1784. 3 vols. 4to. OLAUS OLAVIUS: Oeconomisk Reyse, &c. Leipzig, 1862. 8vo. "Ueber Plautus impennis," Journal fuer Ornithologie, X. pp. 110 and 339. Cassel, 1862. 8vo. WILLIAM PROCTOR: "Notes on an Ornithological Tour in Iceland," Naturalist, "Clangula Barrovii a Native of Iceland," Annals of Natural History, IV. p. 140. London, 1840. 8vo. Various observations on the birds of Iceland, contributed to Mr. Yarrell's History of British Birds. JOHANNES REINHARDT: "Om den islandske Svane," Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift, II. p. 527; "Om Gejerfuglens Forekomst paa Island," idem, p. 533. Kjoebenhavn, 1839. 8vo. These I myself have not seen. JAPETUS STEENSTRUP: "Et Bidrag til Geierfuglens Naturhistorie," &c., Videnskabelige Meddelelser for Aaret 1855, p. 33. 1856-1857. 8vo. Kjoebenhavn, CHARLES TEILMANN: Forsoeg til en Beskrivelse af Danmarks og Islands Fugle, &c.* Ribe, 1823. 8vo. F. A. L. THIENEMANN: Naturhistorische Bemerkungen, &c. Leipzig, 1824 (?). 8vo. WALTER CALVERLEY TREVELYAN (?): Historical and Descriptive Account of Iceland, &c. 4th ed. Edinburgh, 1840, Copenhagen, 1842. Fol. J. C. C. WALTER: Nordisk Ornithologie, &c.* OLAUS WORM: Museum Wormianum, &c. Lugduni-Batavorum, 1655. Fol. From a consideration of the above-mentioned works, or at least of such of them as I have examined, coupled with my own personal experience of the country, I am inclined to believe that Iceland offers a field of considerable promise to the ornithologist; and though it is not to be at all expected that any previously undescribed species of birds will reveal themselves, yet many possessing great interest commonly frequent both the coast and the interior. Besides which, it is not beyond the bounds of probability that one or two of those whose places of retreat during the nesting season, if not altogether unknown, are still shrouded in much mystery, may be found breeding on some lonely Icelandic "heiði." Of these I might mention the Knot, and the Sanderling, and perhaps even the Grey Plover (Squatarola helvetica) -though this latter bird, of almost ubiquitous occurrence, does not seem hitherto to have been met with in the island-as likely to reward the search of some future investigator. The character of the Avi-fauna of the country, as might have been expected from its geographical position, is essentially European; just as that of Greenland has American tendencies. Indeed, dismissing from our consideration the species of purely Polar type, which are common to the whole Arctic region, there are, as far as my knowledge extends, only four or five which make Iceland their home without inhabiting some other part of continental Europe. These are the Iceland Falcon, the Northern Wren (which, however, does occur as a resident in the Færoes), the Iceland Ptarmigan, the Iceland Golden-eye, and the Harlequin Duck. The first is by most ornithologists of the present day recognized as distinct from the true Gyr-Falcon, and though the differences between them are but slight, I believe no one has ever observed the characteristics of the Scandinavian form in an Icelandic specimen. The second has been but lately separated from our own Common Wren, which is a bird as well known throughout the greater part of the Continent as in this country, but I believe the separation is deserved. The third, the Ptarmigan, certainly differs in some respects very considerably from the bird which occurs in Scotland and Norway, and much more nearly * These I myself have not seen. |