SYRNIUM LAPPONICUM. 171 



Having walked for a couple of hours without a ' bay/ as they would 

 say in the Highlands, and having seen nothing but a little Siberian 

 Titmouse [Parus cindus], which 'tehee, tehee, teheed' its ill-omened 

 note, I turned homewards; for night was coming on more quickly 

 than usual. I called and whistled the dog ; but it was his duty and 

 his habit to take a very wide beat, and I was not surprised that he did 

 not come. A few minutes afterwards, I heard an unusual kind of yelp 

 in the distance, and then a succession of barks in a peculiar high 

 key, which I had not known him adopt on any former occasion ; for, 

 you must know, that a Squirrel, for instance, is 'bayed ' with a very 

 different kind of bark from a Capercally, and you at once can recog- 

 nize what kind of game these dogs are after. I said to Ludwig he 

 was either after some great Owl, or was caught in a snare. After a 

 run of nearly a mile over very rough ground, I began to ' stalk,^ and 

 there are so many dead twigs that it requires great care. But I was 

 still some little distance from where the dog was barking, when a 

 small Owl flew up fi'om that direction, and perched in a Scotch fir 

 only a few feet from my head. I had not seen this kind of Owl be- 

 fore ; but I knew that Strix Tengmalmi was a Lapland bird, and I 

 had little doubt that one was now before me, though it was too dark 

 to see it distinctly. I drew back a considerable distance and fired ; 

 but the large shot and the night were against me, and the bird flew a 

 short way, and settled close to Ludwig, but flew again before 1 had 

 time to go up and give him a second barrel. The dog did not run 

 up as he usually does when he hears a shot, but continued barking. 

 Approaching him cautiously, with no inconsiderable amount of cu- 

 riosity, I saw ' Halli ' standing quite patiently in a footpath, with a 

 Capercally snare round his neck. Calling Ludwig to join in the 

 laugh at my dog's expense, and with every mark of approval of his 

 good judgment in standing quite still and calling for my assistance, 

 I proceeded to liberate him, not without some little deprecation of the 

 setter of the snare, whom I Avell knew. Just then I saw a great pair 

 of wings give two or three noiseless flaps, as their owner lightly 

 settled in a neighbouring tree. Ludwig had scarcely uttered his im- 

 pressive " See ! see \" when I fired my only remaining barrel at the 

 place where I guessed the bird was. Relieved from all doubt as to 

 my success, as he fell head foremost down, I sprang forwards and 

 scarcely glanced at the banded wings and grey back of my victim, 

 before I turned up his face that I might indulge my joy without risk 

 of a mistake. It was indeed Strix Lapponica ! Ludwig danced 

 with exultation, and stroked the bird's head and back, calling him 

 by aU the names and titles he could think of — ' Stora Lapp-Uggla,' 



