154 BY BLOSS. 



on the upper branches of which Dal-Ripa were often to 

 be seen perched ; that an acquaintance of his was accus- 

 tomed, morning and evening, to lie in ambush near to 

 this tree ; and when the birds came to feed, he shot them 

 with his pea-rifle. 



In winter tlie Dal-E-ipa is sometimes shot when "treed" 

 in the night-time by means of " Bloss," or torchlight. 

 " One would have supposed," says M. Falk, " that 

 these birds, which, when flushed in the daytime from the 

 ground, always settle there again, would also pass the 

 night upon it; but this is not the case. Here (Risiiter, 

 Wermeland), where I reside, are extensive aspen woods 

 near the lake Rada. Some years ago, when great numbers 

 of Dal-Ripa visited us, it was customary for the people 

 to shoot them after dark, when perched ou these trees, 

 where they were readily seen. I contend, therefore, not 

 that the Dal-Ripa never pass the night on the ground, 

 but that this is not always the case. The probability is, 

 that they roost both on the ground and in the trees." 



We are further informed by Professor Nilsson that 

 when at Bratteforss, in Norway, he was told by the 

 inhabitants that they were accustomed in the winter to 

 shoot the Dal-Ripa by torchlight in the night-time when 

 roosting in the willow bushes." 



Although many Rijja fall to the gun in the several 

 ways described, the number is inconsiderable as com- 



settlers, and to the Finns in |iaiticular, of which the latter, owing to war 

 and famine in their native laud, were not slow to avail themselves. 

 Hence large tracts of the forests in question, as also of those in Dalecarlia, 

 go by the designation oi Finn-Skogar or Finn Forests. To this day, indeed, 

 one meets with distinct colonies of these Finns, or rather their descendants, 

 scattered up and down in the wilderness, which, if not already known to 

 be such, may be easily recognized by the people retaining many of 

 the customs of their ancestors, whose language, besides, some nf them 

 still sneak. 



