Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2005, Qupperneq 62

60 GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (GAVIA IMMER) IN CIRCUMPOLAR FOLK ORNITHOLOGY
The great northern diver as a guard dog, according to Aron fra Kangeq (1822-1869) (From K. Thisted,
“Sáledes skriverjeg, Aron”, 1999).
ish Chaplain at Christiania (Oslo), John
Bowden, gives an interesting story about
the creation of the great northern diver:
“The peasants in Finmark believe that this
bird was first made without legs, but that
nature, becoming sensible of her mistake,
got into a pet, and flung a pair of legs
after it” (Bowden, 1869: 174). This story
is a well-known legend used about the oth-
er diver species in Sweden, Norway and
Finland (Sundblad, 1917: 153; Wessman,
1931: 624; Harbe, 1950: 115; Tillhagen,
1978: 329).
On the Faroes, according to Nicolai
Mohr, the islanders believed that the great
northern divers ”hatch their eggs under
their wings out at sea, since it has never
been seen flying, nor sitting on the land”
(Mohr, 1786: 37). The belief is also re-
peated by Jørgen Landt (1800: 261). This
belief, known about birds already since
ancient times, was indicated already by
Norwegian Henrik Hojer in the early 17th
century (Clusius, 1605: 102). It has also
been told in Norwegian 17th and 18th cen-
tury literature (Jensøn, 1646: 58; Pontop-
pidan, 1753: 131; Storaker, 1928: 225),
and is mentioned in Thomas Pennant’s
book British Zoology in 1776 (Greenoak,
1997: 15). According to the Scottish au-
thor Sir Robert Sibbald in 1684 it made its
nest under the water and also hatched out
its eggs there (Swann, 1913: 106). Other
strange stories about its breeding behav-
iour were passed on in the 18th and 19th
century bird literature (Strøm, 1762: 237;
Sundevall and Kinberg, 1885: 1068).
Emberdays
In the Norwegian calendar there are some