Fróðskaparrit - 31.12.2000, Page 31

SNJOFUGLUR (PLECTROPHENAX NIVALIS) TIL MATNAIØKINUM RUNT SUBARKTIS 3 5
Fig. 2. Snare board with horse hair snares from Vilhelmina, Lapland (Nils Eriksson, ULMA 21019)
Mynd 2. Snara við lykkjum av faksi úr Vilhelminu, Lapplandi.
ing the snow bunting. According to Zetter-
berg (1925: 124), it was captured during its
spring migration with a snare board fitted
with upright horsehair snares (Fig. 2).
Seeds were spread around the board. The
birds that were caught were killed with
sticks. Snare boards seem to have been
used in many parts of northern Sweden
(Kjellstróm, 1995:273-274; EU 17 790;
ULMA 1846:2; ULMA 884:686; ULMA
8452; ULMA 10 107). Snare boards of a
similar sort are known from northern Fin-
land (Sirelius, 1919: 103; Itkonen, 1941:
24). Snare boards have also been used for
the same purpose in Shetland. Snow
buntings there were caught in corn-yards
with horsehair snares fixed to a snaa fowl
brod, as the board was locally known on the
Fair Isle (Fenton, 1978: 522). The same
kind of snare board is known from other
parts of Europe, such as the Balkan Penin-
sula, where it has been used to trap song-
birds (Gunda, 1979: 120-121). According
to Knud Leem (1767: 256), the Sami of
Finnmark caught snow buntings with
snares of hair taken from a cow’s tail.
The snow bunting could also be caught
with a kind of deadfall made from a door, a
cover, or something similar, which was
then supported by a stick (Kjellstrom,
1995: 274). Enclosure traps have also been
used. A record exists from Stensele in Lap-
land to the effect that a grain sieve was used
for the fall (Fig. 3). A string was tied to the
stick. When the birds gathered to eat the
seeds scattered under the trap, one could
capture them by pulling the string (EU
4193).
In Banffshire, peasants shot the bird with
a gun. Its meat was a welcome change to
their rather monotonous diet. The peasants
would lay down a line of oats on which the
snow buntings came to feed. Then the gun-
men would open fire. The women first