Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2001, Page 133

ÚTBREIÐSLA OG TAL AV MÚSABRÓÐUR (TROGLODYTES) í FØROYUM
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even further back in time, are possibly of
some relevance in this context. In the sum-
mer of 1828, the German ornithologist Gra-
ba travelled all over the Faroes and made
careful observations, published in great de-
tail bul with only one reference to wren;
several singing birds at Vidoy on 1 July
(Graba, 1830:208). Five year later, during
the first week of June 1833, George Clay-
ton Atkinson, accompanied by an ornithol-
ogist of reputation, William Proctor of
Durharn, visited the Faroes en route to Ice-
land. Atkinson's diary, recently published
for the first time by Seaton (1989), includes
an, according to the author, imperfect list of
about 35 species of birds which does not
include the wren; though cats were report-
ed to be particularly common. This might
simply be an omission, but, like Graba, the
two Englishmen surely must have been
most familiar with the wren frorn their re-
spective home countries. However difficult
it is to interpret these two anecdotal obser-
vations they could indicate that the wren
had some poor years around 1830, or that
the wren has not always been as numerous
as it is today. For Orkney it is claimed that
the wren has not changed significantly
over the past two hundred years (Booth et
al., 1984). No such claim can be made with
regard to the Faroes.
However, it seems quite possible that
some recent changes in the distribution of
breeding wrens have taken place. Many
settlements have, as described above, un-
dergone changes and rather than erecting
new stone walls around the infields and
building new bams of stones the old ones
are being pulled down and replaced by
more modern arrangements. Several local
people claim in interviews that wrens were
more abundant around settlements before
World War II than they are today. A shift in
breeding distribution from infields to out-
field inland areas and sea cliffs is perfectly
possible as several colour-banded wrens
have been found to disperse even between
island (pers.obs.; though cf. Cramp,
1988:528). So far no change in wren num-
bers on the sea cliffs and in the outfield
breeding grounds have been documented.
Conclusions
The wren is widely distributed all over the
Faroes being particularly abundant on
small islands in association with seabird
colonies. The total breeding population is
estimated to be between about 600 and 850
pairs but, considering annual fluctuations
in the order of at least 15-25% and a prob-
able underestimate of numbers on sea cliffs
and in some inland districts, it is suggested
in some years to be just short of a thousand
pairs. No periodic or long-term trends are
discemible, though years with exceptional-
ly low numbers may have occurred from
time to time. Furthermore, a decrease in the
proportion of pairs breeding in built-up ar-
eas may have taken place.
Acknowledgements
The field-work was supported by grants from the
Swedish Natural Science Research Council, Letterstedt-
ska foreningen, Stockholm, Dansk-svensk samfunds
fond for kultur och vetenskap, Copenhagen, and Kungl.
Fysiografiska Sallskapet i Lund. I sincerely thank Dr.
Dorete Bloch, Professor Ame Nørrevang, Dr. Pehr H.
Enckeil, Mr Søren Sørensen, Dr. Lars Lundqvist, and
Ms Herdis Joensen of Mykines for assistance in various