Fróðskaparrit - 31.12.2000, Qupperneq 26

30
THE SNOW BUNTING (PLECTROPHENAX NIVIALIS) AS FOOD
and Bloch, 1990: 166). According to Sa-
lomonsen (1947: 220). both P.n. nivalis and
the Icelandic subspecies, P.n. insulae, are
common winter visitors in the Faroes.
Svabo’s account regarding its use as food
is very brief and general, and it furnishes no
contextual details, such as when? wherel
and by whoml Should we then regard his
account as plausible or should we view it
rather as an example of the kind of ghost in-
formation so common in general hand-
books containing ethnobiological data
(Svanberg, 1998)? These questions will be
addressed later in this essay. The study of
the cultural domains within which human
beings make use of wild birds is a task for
ethnobiology (Svanberg, 2000; Svanberg
and Tunón. 2000).
Small-bird species have been rather un-
common in the Faroes. Several of the small
birds seen nowadays are actually recent im-
migrants. Most of the species Svabo ob-
served in the Faroes were larger sea birds.
Both meat and eggs were readily available
from these sea birds, especially the puffin
(Fratercula arctica), the guillemot (Uria
aalge), the razorbill (Alca torda), the black
guillemot (Cepphus grylle), the great
black-backed gull (Larus marinus), the
lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus), the
herring gull (Larus argentatus), the kitti-
wake (Rissa tridactyla), the Arctic tern
(Sterna paradisaea), the Arctic skua (Ster-
corarius parasiticus), the great skua
(Catharacta skua), the dunlin (Calidris
alpina), the golden plover (Pluvialis apri-
caria), the whimbrel (Numenius phaeo-
pus), the greylag goose (Anser anser), the
teal (Anas crecca), the mallard (Anas
platyrhynchos), the red-breasted merganser
(Mergus serrator), the eider (Somateria
mollissima), the gannet (Sula bassana), the
cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), the shag
(Phalacrocorax aristotelis), and the Manx
shearwater (Puffmuspuffinus). With regard
to the oystercatcher (Haematopus ostrale-
gus), Svabo wrote that it is “regarded as
good food, and most people consider it a
useful bird in the outfields, especially since
it is the sworn enemy of the raven, and
chases it away with its sharp bill. It seems
therefore to need protection everywhere”.
In Svabo’s time, it was fully protected in
Húsar on Kalsoy. The inhabitants of the
other islands thought, however, that it
scared the sheep with its shriek. According
to Svabo (1959: 7-25), the islanders ate all
of these birds and/or their eggs. The great
auk (Pinguinus impennis) was also once
used for food in the islands (Debes, 1673:
130). During the 20th century, the fulmar
(Fulmarus glacialis) colonised the archi-
pelago. Nowadays, it is the most important
game bird in the Faroes (Olsen, 1998). Fi-
nally, according to Svabo, the fat nestlings
of the storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)
were burnt as lamps on Mykines - an inter-
esting ethnobiological note, since oil/fat-
rich bird nestlings have been used for the
same purpose in other parts of the world.
The Snow Bunting and Its Distribution
The snow bunting is known in the Faroes as
snjófuglur (Jacobsen and Matras, 1928:
352). This term was recorded as early as
1673 by Debes (1673: 124). Jakobsen
(1932: 849) has noted the name snawful in
Shetland Norn. In Iceland. the same bird is