LARGE CAPTURES. 157 



he visited those parts. This number, however, was not 

 arrived at from actual computation, hut from the weight 

 of the feathers, each Ripa being supposed to furnish about 

 one oiince. AYe are further informed by Bishop Pontop- 

 pidan that the Ripa in his time were so very plentiful as 

 to be brought down to Bergen in thousands, and after 

 being partially roasted, were packed in firkins and 

 exported to other countries. 



In further proof of the abundance of E-ipa, I may 

 mention, on the authority of a Swedish newspaper, that 

 a Nybiicjgare, or squatter, during the past winter, 1865-6, • 

 captured and sold at the fairs of Gellivara and Jockmock 

 no fewer than 1 ,400 of those birds ! 



Laestadius also testifies to their numbers in Lapland, 

 and adds: — "What with their feathers and their flesh, 

 they are quite a treasure to the inhabitants of the cold 

 North. Many poor Lapps would die of hunger had they 

 not as a resource the Capercali in spring, fishing in the 

 summer, and the Ripa in winter." 



Besides Stockholm, Christiania, and other towns in the 

 Peninsula, many of the captured Ripa find their way to 

 Copenhagen, Avhere, in good seasons, " it is not unusual for 

 a single game-dealer to dispose of from 50,000 to 60,000 

 of those birds in the course of the winter." Considerable 

 numbers- are also sent to England. Tarrell informs us 

 that " in the spring of 1839, one party alone in Norway 

 shipped 6,000 to London, 2,000 to Hull, and 2,000 to 

 Liverpool; and in the year 1840 no fewer than 15,000 

 of these birds were consigned to a single dealer in 

 Leadenhall Market." 



Prom the foregoing account it will be seen that the 

 forest birds of Scandinavia — in which category are included 

 the Capercali, the Black-Cock, the Hazel-Hen, and the 

 Dal-Ripa — constitute no insignificant portion of the natural 

 wealth of the countrv, and of which the inhabitants are 



