84 SPORT IN NORWAY. 
occasionally be met with in the forests in the neigh- 
bourhood of Hidsvold. The Nordmarken forests used 
formerly to be great strongholds for feathered game ; 
but proximity to the capital, in a country too where 
the game-laws cannot be strictly enforced, has of late 
years considerably deteriorated them. Ryper are not 
found in this Amt. 
Fair woodcock-shooting may be had in the spring 
near Hidsvold, and in the autumn the Vormen swarms 
with ducks. 
Excellent snipe-shooting may be had on some small 
islands at the northern end of the Oyeren lake. They 
are mostly the solitary snipe. I have heard of as 
many as forty couple being lulled in the day. Of late 
the peasants have become rather tenacious, and the 
stranger may get warned off. They shoot themselves 
now-a-days (a few years back and they would never 
have dreamed of letting fiy at a bird on the wing), and 
have rather a good plan for beating the ground. Two 
persons take hold of a long and heavy rope, one at 
either end, and let it drag on the ground. The shooter 
walks in the middle. 
The end of July and beginning of August is the best 
time, just before they commence mowing. ‘The route 
to the Oyeren is by rail to Lille Strémmen, and thence 
by boat for about ten miles down the river. It is easy 
to get back to Christiania the same evening. 
