NORWEGIAN BIRD NOTES 



varying torrents rush into one vast black cup of 

 rock, the deeps of which may be seen only in 

 glimpses when the veil of spray is for a moment 

 wafted aside. Into this roaring chaos a little 

 dipper, bearing food in her bill, and looking 

 strangely small and insignificant against the 

 colossal wall of water, disappears at regular in- 

 tervals, soon to emerge and to beat her steadfast 

 flight down the short river which leads to the lake. 

 It is impossible to see the nest, but imagination 

 can easily picture the mossy dome perched on 

 the dripping ledge faced by the dense curtain of 

 perpetual spray. In this strange nursery the 

 little dippers first see the light, and here they 

 await the coming of the food-bearer, who punctu- 

 ally bursts upon them through the curtain, ir- 

 radiated by rainbow gleams of green, red, and gold, 

 which shuts them out from the unknown world 

 beyond. 



From the foot of the waterfall the ground 

 falls in an easy slope, where trees are set at in- 

 tervals — mostly silver birches and hazels — after 

 the manner of trees in an orchard. Many birds 

 flit hither and thither — fieldfares are busily engaged 

 in feeding their clamorous young ; spotted fly- 

 catchers dart from dead, overhanging boughs, re- 

 turning sentinel-like to their posts ; a gleam of black 

 and white through the leaves marks the position of a 

 pied flycatcher ; and from the rocks of the tur- 

 bulent little river ring incessantly the cries of the 

 sandpiper and the redshank. Now a sound 

 coming from the summit of a denser cluster of 

 silver birches attracts the attention. It rather 

 resembles the deep " tween-tween " of the green- 

 finch, but with care it is easy to detect a differ- 

 ence in the quality of the present note from that 

 of the more familiar cry. Besides, hitherto we 

 have found no sign of the greenfinch in the lands 



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