NORWEGIAN BIRD NOTES 



stump alone. After setting the captive free and 

 replacing the stone we are pleased to see the 

 mother, who from her expostulations has plainly- 

 mistaken our intentions, at once re-enter, and 

 we can only trust that the cripple, notwithstanding 

 its early misfortune, may prosper and live to 

 make some return for the maternal devotion. 



We leave the little valley of Stryn with regret, 

 but as our aim is to explore some of the more 

 remote lakes in the hills with the view of testing 

 the trout fishing we cannot remain longer. Our 

 next stop is at Loen, and here, in a birch wood 

 on the mountain side, we catch our first glimpse 

 of the green woodpecker. Most of the familiar 

 species are to be met with here, including the 

 pied flycatcher and the fieldfare. In the early 

 morning a whitethroat sings incessantly in the 

 bushes beneath the window, and sandpipers and 

 redshanks call from the banks of the estuary. 



Many birds, however, which one might well 

 expect to meet with are conspicuous by their 

 absence. House- and sand-martins are fairly 

 common, but we see one example only of the 

 swallow, and none of the swift. The twite is 

 constantly seen, but the grey linnet and the lesser 

 redpoll evade our attention, if they are present 

 at all. Of the tits, too, we find no trace of the 

 blue, although we rarely travel far without falling 

 in with both the great and the coal tits. The 

 fieldfare is, of course, the representative thrush, 

 but we see no single example of our own song 

 thrush, and but two of the English blackbird. 

 At Loen we find a solitary specimen of the robin, 

 the only bird of the kind, with one exception, that 

 we meet with during our tour. Chaffinches are 

 common, and the brambHng, in suitable places, 

 scarcely less so, but a single pair of bullfinches 

 alone reward our search, and we see nothing 

 whatever of the common crossbill. 



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