Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2005, Page 65

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (GAVIA IMMER) IN CIRCUMPOLAR FOLK ORNITHOLOGY 63
elogue of 1732, Carl Linnaeus noted from
the Kvikkjokk mountains that “diver necks
are used for rnaking karpuses” (Linnaeus,
2003: 152). A karpus is a kind of cap or
hood protecting the ears and neck. Also
the Norwegian bishop J. E. Gunnerus has
described, in an article from 1761, how
such karpuses were made from the necks
of divers (Granlund, 1953: 128-129). It
was usually the black-throated diver that
supplied the skin.
The skin of the great northern diver has
been utilized in the Arctic. Richard K. Nel-
son (Nelson, 1969: 255) mentions loon-
skin parkas among Alaskan Inuits made of
this species, made entirely from the neck
skin and feathers. They were said to be
waterproof and very warm. The skin of
the great northern diver and other species
has been used until today by the Inuits in
North America (Hoyo et al., 1992: 168).
Heads of the great northern divers were
carried by Eskimos as talismans (Green-
oak, 1997: 14) and also used on the bird
skin blankets that were exported to Europe
from Greenland in the early 20lh century
(Freuchen and Salomonsen, 1958: 40).
Its skin has actually also been used
in Scandinavia. According to Leem, the
coastal Sami of Finnmark used the skin of
the great northern diver for manufacturing
caps (Leem, 1767: 71). From Ranen in
Norway, Iver Ancher Heltzen mentions in
1834, that its skin is very thick, and that
he has seen it used for covers on chairs.
The birds were usually captured in fishing
nets (Heltzen, 1981: 97).
As to Iceland, ornithologist Bjarni Sæ-
mundsson wrote in 1936: “[The great
northern diver] is of little economic value;
[...] its feathers are hard and the bird itself
rare, so trying to collect its eggs wouldn’t
give much in one hand, also because of
the great distances. Mostly it is killed for
taxidermal reasons, in the spring, as many
would like to have a specimen of the bird
in its breeding plumage” (Sæmundsson,
1936: 671-672). The great northern diver
is now regarded as vulnerable in Iceland
(Náttúrufræðistofnun íslands, 2005).
Other use
An interesting feature in this whole story is
the fact that the great northern diver seems
also to have been caught alive in Green-
land in former times and used as a “watch-
dog”, i.e. tied with a rope around its legs
or neck and put somewhere high up (e.g.
on a house-top or roof), “on guard”, so to
speak, as it made loud sounds when it saw
someone approaching, and thus warned
the owner of coming visitors (Frederiksen,
1980: 70; Thisted, 1999: 154-156).
Conclusion
The great northern diver has played a sig-
nificant role in the traditional environmen-
tal knowledge of the various people living
within its range. Of course its impact has
been greater in North America, where
the species is common in the boreal and
sub arctic areas. It has there been of great
importance from economic, symbolic and
cognitive aspects. However, its size, loud
voice and its behaviour have also attracted
the people on the island and coastal socie-
ties of the northern Atlantic sea. It has
been a well-known bird both in Norse and