Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1981, Blaðsíða 138

146
The Collection of Wild Birds’ Eggs and Nestlings in Sweden
reported by J. Nenzen as early as the beginning of the 19th century
(Drake, 1918, p. 9). E. A. Virtanen has devoted an interesting study
to this state of affairs and, in doing so, has adduced parallels from
Russian Karelia. The same rules applied to boxes in growing trees
and to set boxes. On the death of the owner, the boxes might be
divided between his sons, in groups around various lakes or water-
courses (Virtanen, 1934 and 1940). On the other hand, judging by
the collected traditions, the special development of the right of
ownership which Sven Andersson described from the Áboland
archipelago in Finland (Andersson, 1945) does not seem to have
existed in Sweden. There, the right of ownership was divided among
different members of the family, who had to look after the boxes
and who individually disposed of the eggs collected.
The eggs could be eaten boiled, like hen’s eggs, but, as a rule,
they seem to have been used as ingredients in pancakes. Nordholm,
writing in Jámtland, mentions these dishes, as well as “egg cheese”
(Nordholm, 1749, p. 51). “Egg milk” was common, especially in
Norrbotten and among the Lapps, and the eggs of wild birds could
be added to the dough when baking thin, unleavened bread (Sjuls-
son, 1979, p. 147; Montin, 1749). A report from Tárendo in Norr-
botten mentions that a festive dish at midsummer consisted of the
hard-boiled eggs of wild birds, crushed and mixed with butter
(communication from Birgit Laqvist, 1934).
Obviously, the collecting of eggs—if we take a broad view of
the circumstances—could not play a major part in the peasant’s
economy. However, there is evidence that it was not altogether
without significance. C. U. Ekstrom, who was a discerning topo-
grapher, says, on the basis of his experience in the Sodermanland
archipelago, that “the collecting of eggs .... is an important item
in the individual economy of the islander” (Ekstrom, 1828, p. 214).
A report from the northernmost part of Vármland says that, if it
were not for the nesting-boxes, “the people in the mountains would
go short of eggs, for there are no domestic fowls up there”
(Schroder, 1890, p. 125). In Ángermanland, too, the goldeneye was
called “the poor man’s chicken” (Rehn, 1967, p. 105). Petrus Laes-
tadius uses a different metaphor when he writes: “This [the nesting