Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1981, Blaðsíða 132

140
The Collection of Wild Birds’ Eggs and Nestlings in Sweden
has been reported from Graso in Uppland (Sjobeck, 1948, pp. 36 f.).
As a rule, however, a somewhat smaller nesting-box was cons-
tructed, which could be placed in a living tree, either by being
hung from a lopped-off branch or by being tied to the tree with
withies. Generally, somewhat larger boxes were made for mergansers
than for goldeneyes, but the size was usually 0.5 m. At the top,
a hole was cut in the side through which the bird could enter and
this hole was sometimes also used for the removal of the eggs. Other-
wise, they could be removed through the lid, which consisted of a
board or a tuft of grass. The bottoms of the boxes also consisted
of a board or—especially in northern Sweden—of two sticks pla-
ced crosswise, on which rested the layer of mull prepared for
the female bird to sit on. The box was usually made of a sawn-off
tree trunk with the bark peeled off. If it was difficult to make
the box sufficiently large, it could be made in two halves tied
together with withies. Barrel-shaped boxes were also to be found,
as August Strindberg observed in the Stockholm archipelago in the
1870s. He writes that “in the middle of the trunk there is a snuff
keg, which a fisherman has knocked the bottom out of and hung up,
so that the eider [Strindberg was mistaken on this point, as the
eider builds its nest on the ground] will lay eggs in it for him, and
the eider is stupid enough to do so every year” (Dagens Nyheter
1874, quoted by M. Rehnberg in Stockholms skargdrd, 1956, p. 40).
The nesting-boxes were naturally placed near water and it was
important that the hole should point in the direction of the water.
There were often large collections of nesting-boxes, for example,
along the rivers in the northernmost part of Sweden. Each peasant
might own 30—40 or more. A somewhat unusual arrangement has
been reported from Tornedalen, where, at a place in the neighbour-
hood of Jukkasjárvi, seven nesting-boxes were placed one above
the other on a pole (Dagens Nyheter, 8 January 1934).
These nesting-boxes are known by various dialectal names in
different parts of Sweden, including stomme, stut and stryte, all of
which seem to refer to the material—the end of a log or the
like (cf. Elmevik, 1965). We know of them far back into the past
through several accounts, the earliest of which is Olaus Magnus’