TEEATMENT OF POACHERS IN NOEWAY. 3 



The eider duck is not allowed to be killed north of 

 Throndjem (Drontheim) at any time of the year. 



The following incident may be mentioned as charac- 

 teristic of the treatment of poachers in Norway. An 

 Englishman travelling in this country found on his ar- 

 rival at a certain post- station that no horses were in 

 readiness for him. The postmaster, however, hinted that 

 some good wild-duck shooting was to be had on a neigh- 

 bouring sheet of water. Now most Englishmen are 

 fond of sport, and the one mentioned was no exception 

 to the general rule, so he sallied forth for a raid on 

 the wild ducks. Arrived at the water's side, the 

 traveller found a boat almost inviting him for an 

 excursion ; so getting into it, he paddled himself into 

 the middle of the small lake, where he managed to 

 bag several brace of wild ducks. The trespasser was 

 not fated to get off scot-free, for, on returning to land 

 with the spoils of the chase, he found an enraged 

 bonde, or peasant, awaiting him, who vehemently de- 

 manded how he dared to shoot his wild ducks. A 

 visit to the nearest foged was threatened, and a " heavy 

 fine " was mentioned. The Englishman began to have 

 visions of imprisonment, with, of course, a sudden and 

 disagreeable termination of his journey ; but, on asking 

 what the "heavy fine" was to be, the farmer sternly 

 demanded six skillings, a sum rather less than three- 

 pence, English money. The Englishman paid the fine, 

 and carried off the wild ducks. 



THE WILD ANIMALS OF NOEWAY. 



Norway forms the western half of the Scandinavian 

 peninsula, and contains 121,800 square miles, of which 

 only a small portion is in a state of cultivation. The 



B 2 



