Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1981, Blaðsíða 143

The Collection of Wild Birds’ Eggs and Nestlings in Sweden
151
far more limited. Apart from Sweden, it must have occurred in the
interior or Norway, although information on this point seems to be
very sparse. However, egg-collecting is mentioned in a topographical
description of Gudbrandsdalen in 1785, which says: “The peasants
here have hollowed-out logs in the form of troughs, which they
hang in trees along the watercourses and in which waterfowl lay
their eggs. ... The peasant who watches over the box always
allows the bird to keep a few eggs and can collect from each box
30 eggs, besides the 5 or 6 on which the bird sits.” (Hjorthøy, 1785,
p. 36.) The egg-collecting box is found throughout Finland with
some local variations (according to a communication from Toivo
Itkonen and Ilmari Manninen in 1932). Detailed information on
the Swedish-speaking areas is provided by Andersson and Storá
(Andersson, 1945; Storá, 1966).10 As regards the Lapp population,
the reader is referred primarily to Itkonen (1934 and 1948). In
Estonia too, egg-collecting with the help of nesting-boxes was
common almost throughout the country (Leinbock, 1934). For the
islands formerly inhabited by a Swedish-speaking population, I have
received valuable, supplementary information and pictures from
Nils Tiberg. On Dago, there might be nearly 20 or so nesting-boxes
for goosander in the hayfield near the farm known as “the bird
farm”. Also on Runo, there were large numbers of nesting-boxes
for merganser, but nothing is known there about the collecting of
eggs.11 J. A. Friis saw nesting-boxes on the shore of Lakc
Páájárvi in Russian Karelia (Friis, 1872, p. 325). Moreover, they
were common among the Skolt Lapps (Paulaharju, 1921, p. 76
(picture); Manninen, 1932, pp. 306 f.) and among the Zyryans in
the Komi A.S.S.R. in the Soviet Union (Hofmann, 1856, pp. 43 f.
and 49 (picture; Manninen, 1932, pp. 266 f.). According to U. T.
Sirelius, they were also to be found “among the Ob-Ugrians, as
well as among several other northern peoples” (Sirelius, 1919, p.
224). Concerning an occurrence even further east, Eidlitz says: “In
the case of Siberia, however, I have not found any evidence to show
that nesting boxes were used in this way to collect eggs” (Eidlitz,
1969, p. 40).
By reason of its closed distribution and its universal homogeneity