Habits of the Kingfisher. 25 1 



immediately set out on an excursion. We first ascended a 

 hill, about 800 feet in height; but were disappointed in not 

 finding so alpine a vegetation as might be expected. The 

 more remarkable plants were O'robus sylvaticus, A'rnica mon- 

 tana, //ieracium boreale and maculatum, Habenaria albida, and 

 Paris quadrifolia. The general vegetation resembled that of 

 Britain much more than at Christiansand and Arandal. From 

 the summit of this elevation an extended prospect lay before 

 us of barren and bare hills, like volcanic billows ; on some 

 of which lay snow even at this season, though they did not 

 appear to be of any remarkable elevation. 



We left Egersund early the next morning, and arrived at 

 Stavanger at one : the country and botany were of a similar 

 character, but rather more fertile. Stavanger is situated on 

 a fiord studded with islands, and, with its old cathedral, pre- 

 sents a very picturesque aspect. The rocks around were 

 chiefly gneiss ; but on the north there appeared mica slate. 

 On the summit of a small hill of the latter rock we found a 

 great boulder of gneiss : unfortunately we had no rule or 

 string to measure its exact dimensions; but, calculating by the 

 height of a gentleman who stood by it, it must have exceeded 

 18 ft. in height, and was rather broader than high, though 

 resting on a base of not more than 5 ft. or 6 ft. We left 

 Stavanger the next morning : the hills became higher and 

 higher as we proceeded northward, and the country was very 

 bare. When about half way, we saw the great glaciers of 

 Folgefurd at a distance of fifty miles, like an immense sheet 

 of ice hanging in the air. About seven o'clock in the even- 

 ing we beheld Bergen, enthroned amidst high and bare 

 mountains, and gladly, amidst assembled crowds, with all 

 the honours, landed in the largest city in Norway. 



{To be continued.) 



Art. II. Notes on the Habits of the Kingfisher. 

 By Charles Waterton, Esq. 



" Perque dies placidos hiberno tempore septem 

 Incubat Halcyone pendentibus aequore nidis." 



Ovid. Met. lib. xi. 



When the delicious season of spring sets in, I often get up 

 into the topmost branches of a wide-spreading oak; and 

 there, taking the Metamorphoses out of my pocket, I read the 

 sorrows of poor Halcyone. A brook runs close by the tree, 

 and on its bank I have fixed a stump for a resting-place to the 



e O 



