10 PARTIAL MIGRATIONS. 



Again : " Wo Imd jiist crossed a morass on our way 

 from Quickjock to Arieplog," writes the llev. Petrus 

 Laestadius, the celebrated La|)laud missionary, " when we 

 saw at a little distance a great many black-looking birds 

 perched in the trees. At first we thought they were 

 crows ; but on a nearer approach found them to be 

 Capercali, which had collected together in very unusual 

 numbers, like a flock of crows or jackdaws. ... In the 

 afternoon of the same day (Gth May), we returned by 

 the same route ; but when we came to our Capercali 

 region, not a single one of those we had observed in the 

 morning was to be seen. My companion, the catechist 

 Lars Pehrsson, an experienced Jdgare, said they were 

 Flytt-Foglar, or migratory birds, which do not remain in 

 one place. 



" It is a remarkable circumstance with the Capercali," 

 the reverend gentleman goes on to say, " that it, as every 

 one hereabouts maintains, should ' flytta,' or migrate. 

 Instinct teaches it to take a certain course, and it there- 

 fore, for years together, almost disappears from the country. 

 People assert that in misty Aveather it sometimes proceeds 

 riaht out to sea ; and when it becomes exhausted, falls 

 into the water and perishes. They also say that when it 

 flies westward, in the direction of the fjiills, one soon 

 gets it back again ; but if, on the contrary, it takes an 

 easterly course, it will never more return, and in conse- 

 quence there will be a great dearth of l)irds for a long 

 period to come." 



Once more: "With us," says M. Nordholm, in his 

 work published in the middle of the last century, 

 treating of the methods resorted to in Jemtland (a 

 portion of Norrland) for the capture of wild animals, 

 " both Capercali and Black-Cock are very irregular. One 

 sometimes sees great numbers of these birds, but after a 

 short period they nearly all disappear, whilst at other times 



