SIDE I.IGHTS ON BIRDS 



forms of wild life grow warier in habit and fewer 

 in number as the years go by. Sometimes in the 

 winter from the point wiiere we stand a giant moose 

 may be seen to emerge from the forest edge, or 

 the view of a herd of reindeer may be caught as 

 they traverse the distant snow-field. The lynx 

 and the bear still exist ; indeed, a fine specimen 

 of the latter was shot by the farmers in the moun- 

 tains that face us, during the present year, and 

 foxes of giant size are not uncommon, but the wolf 

 once numerous, has been exterminated, and the 

 colonies of the beaver grow fewer and fewer. 



In the case of the birds, it becomes clear as we 

 journey that they are not spread broadcast over 

 the land as they are in garden-like England ; rather 

 do they seek certain places, some happy valley 

 with sheltered homesteads, fields and woods, and 

 here they concentrate, returning year after year 

 to rear their young. 



Such a place truly is the Stryn Valley, and 

 one may safely say that the bird-lover may 

 traverse the whole continent and find no spot 

 richer in number and variety. 



From the farmhouse at Gorvan, which lies 

 midway between the estuary of the lakes, a 

 score or more different species may be marked 

 during the smoking of a pipe on the little balcony 

 that faces the hihs. From the right, where the 

 green and white torrent of the river rushes through 

 the pines and silver birches, the piping of the 

 redshank and the sandpiper may be constantly 

 heard ; now a broad-winged heron flaps overhead, 

 or a pair of mergansers, their white-lined plumage 

 conspicuous, go by. Over the hills, coming from 

 the inaccessible crags where it nests, the dark 

 form of the raven may be made out, or the higher- 

 soaring hawk, but the latter, with the exception 

 of the kestrel, seems to be rare. At the edge of a 



192 



