Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2004, Qupperneq 241

EIN SØGULIG LÝSING AV BÚSETINGINI HJÁ GRÁSPURVANUM í FØROYUM
OG STØÐU HANSARA í DAG
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censuses were interrupted due to unfavour-
able weather conditions. We invariably fol-
lowed the same procedure by starting at one
end (or opposite ends when more than one
observer participated) and slowly walking
through the settlement. All parts of the set-
tlements were visited and all house spar-
rows heard or seen were recorded. Special
attention was paid to gardens with lush
vegetation, plantations, cemeteries, com-
mons, older buildings, warehouses, farm-
houses, sites where domestic fowl was kept
and fed, and open ulility patches of ground
wiih more or less disturbed vegetation. Be-
sides, in order to avoid counting the same
birds more than once, we watched out for
sparrows flying in or out of sections of the
settlement already visited. This was greatly
facilitated by the sntallness of many settle-
ments (often < 100 m across) and/or by the
facl that the settlements are often located
along one main street running parallel to
the seashore. This, of course, did not apply
to some of the largest settlements, which
have a more complex structure. Thus, Tórs-
havn had to be surveyed over a period of
time and possible effects of movements of
birds between the different subareas cannot
be evaluated.
We recorded the sex of each bird (usually
not possible for flying birds) and whether
it was observed alone, as one of a pair or
in a flock. The house spaiTow is a gregari-
ous and semi-colonial species and even
in relatively small settlements, there was
often more than one aggregation of birds.
Males were easily located as their calls
were readily heard also in drizzle and light
rain, while the silent females were more
difficult to spot. Already before leaving a
settlement, we made a preliminary estimate
of the number of pairs present taking into
account the prevailing circumstances. We
have made no specific attempts to evaluate
the accuracy of our counts but in some in-
stances we were able to make preliminary
comparisons between observers and found
a reasonably good agreement and hence
consistency. The counts and subsequent es-
timates should therefore allow us to com-
pare settlements and years. Throughout
the sludy, we made a point of obtaining in-
formation on birtls and wildlife in general
and the house spatTow in particular (espe-
cially year of colonization and changes in
number) by interviewing local, preferably
elderly people in the field and through pub-
lic media (newspapers, radio, and TV). For
each settlement, we also noted the presence
of grown-up gardens and plantations and
farming activities. Data on area was ob-
tained from the Maplnfo computer program
using topographical electronic map for the
Faroes (scale of 1:20,000). We also have
had access to unpublished data collected in
1981 (see Bengtson and Bloch, 1983).
History of colonization
Fig. I shows in some instances the pre-
cise, or more often the approximative, year
of fírst colonization of house span'ow for
some 40 settlements for which information
is available.
The southern islands
Suðuroy (164.6 km2) was the first island to
be colonized by the house spaiTow on the
Faroes. This was in the winter of 1935-36