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CHAPTEE XIII. 



THE BIEDS OP NORWAY. 



Notes on the Birds of Norway. The Eagles. The Hawks, etc. 



LITTLE has been written concerning the birds of this 

 country. Pontoppidan published a rambling account 

 of some of the birds of his own land, but it is so gar- 

 nished with the marvellous, and the worthy bishop 

 was so credulous in believing the most improbable 

 stories, that little reliance can be placed in his remarks. 

 Nilsson, the eminent Swedish naturalist, has made 

 certain allusions to the birds of Norway in his f Scan- 

 dinavinsk Fauna/ but he wrote especially of Sweden, 

 and his remarks concerning the feathered tribes of 

 the sister country are " like angels' visits, few and far 

 between." Professor Kasch, of the University of 

 Christiania, has published a detailed list of Norwegian 

 birds, in a magazine that is published monthly at 

 Christiania, but it gives but a meagre account of the 

 habits, or anything else, of even the most rare birds of 

 his country. The fact is, literary men in Norway have 

 the will, but not the means, to publish scientific works. 

 Your true Norseman reads eagerly the works of Dan- 

 ish authors, he puzzles his brains over Shakespeare, 



