43 birds, besides 21 that are only casual visitors, and six which have been introduced by man. Every hour during our ride we saw them perched on rocks quite close to us or flying past with plain- tive cry or lively note. Some of the most beautiful birds in the world, having the most brilliant, the finest, and warmest plumage, are to be found in the far North. Of course, the greatest favourite and most valuable of all the feathered tribe is the eider-duck. Twice the nest is robbed of the down which the female plucks from her breast; then her stock is exhausted, and she calls her mate to assist in relining it. Should the robbery again take place the duck abandons the locality, never to return, but usually the robber is well satisfied already for a good nest will produce half-a-pound of down worth several shillings, and so elastic is it that the plunder from three nests is sufficient to stuff a quilt five feet square, yet may be com pressed into a small ball three inches in diameter We also saw in the swampy grounds, golden and king plovers, snipes and red shanks ; in the lakes, swans, ducks, and geese of various kinds; the snow-bunting enlivened the solitude with its lively note and one jer-falcon passed us at a rapid rate This member of the hawk tribe is peculiar to Iceland, and is a most remarkable bird. There is probably no bird in the world that can equal its speed on the wing ; five hundred miles is only a morning’s flight for this fleet traveller ! He can take his breakfast in his native wilds,with the sun high in the heavens, fly over to Scotland, dine on some unfortunate bird, sleep through the heat of the day, and return to Iceland long before sunset. Such is the flight of this powerful, swift- winged bird of prey. Reaching the Bruara (or Bridge) river, said to be the only river up the country—with one ex- ception—that has a bridge over it, we prepared to ford. The place selected was immediately above a singular waterfall shaped like a horse-shoe, with an immense rent two or three hundred feet long in the middle of it. Into this wedge-shaped gap in the bed of the river, the water rushes, falling some fifty feet with a noise like thunder. Over this chasm are fastened some planks, forming a rude bridge 20 feet long and 5 broad, which was covered by at least a foot of water. Some forty feet of the river had to be waded before the

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