SIDE IvIGHTS ON BIRDS 



chattering ; pipits and wagtails thread their way 

 through the herbage, turning to right or left 

 to snap a fly ; willow-wrens flit from branch to 

 branch, and now and again a hooded crow alights 

 with down-stretched legs, coming familiarly to 

 the spot as though it were a home. Sometimes, 

 on the face of these buildings, nesting boxes are 

 placed, thus giving the place the appearance of a 

 hostelry for birds, of which they are never slow 

 to take advantage. 



Of the trout fishing which awaits the man 

 who is prepared to break away from the beaten 

 tracks, and to accept for a few days at a time the 

 somewhat crude hospitality that an unmhabited 

 saeter affords, this is not the place to expatiate. 

 But for the bird-lover as well these isolated regions 

 have many charms. On one island, for example, 

 we find the reed-bunting nesting in close proximity 

 to the ryper. The ryper is a true grouse, and as 

 it rises from the heather and brags down in the 

 clustering willows by the edge of the lake, the 

 familiar " go-back, go-back," brings the mind 

 back at once to the moors of Ilkley or Blubber- 

 houses. The ryper's nest is possibly of somewhat 

 neater construction than that of our own red 

 grouse, but if it were not for the conspicuous 

 bands of white on the wings of the former, the most 

 devoted " splitter" of species might be hardly 

 put to it to detect a difference in the birds them- 

 selves. 



In these casual notes we have made no attempt 

 to cover the Norwegian fauna which may be met 

 with even in the course of a holiday ramble, but 

 we trust we have been able to show that the land 

 of the Vikings is by no means the birdless desert 

 which certain recent writers have made it appear 

 to be. 



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