A THOUGHTFUL PROVISION. 137 



in summer, and comes to the neighbourhood of 

 Christiania in autumn, where it takes up its winter 

 quarters. 



The brambling (F. montifringilla) is called in Nor- 

 way the tyerg-fink, or mountain finch ; it is very 

 common during the summer months in the fjelds of 

 Norwegian Lapland. Migrates. 



The greenfinch (F. clitoris) also breeds in Finmark. 

 It only partially migrates. 



The -house sparrow (F. domestica) is as common in 

 Norway as it is in England. In the streets of the 

 towns, on the house-tops, along the quays of seaports, 

 this familiar bird is to be met with ; and even hopping 

 about the Lapp's tent, which is pitched in one place 

 to-day to be removed to another to-morrow. Sparrows 

 congregate in all parts of the country, unmindful of 

 the cold, and seem to be ubiquitous ; in winter they 

 depend almost entirely for their subsistence in this 

 country on the sheaf of corn which is fixed to the top 

 of a pole, and is erected near the homestead in coun- 

 try districts. Tidemand, the well-known Norwegian 

 artist, has represented this scene in one of his pictures. 

 It is Christmas-time, and the ground is covered with 

 snow, which is deep and frozen hard. A group of 

 peasants have gathered round the pole, with the sheaf 

 of corn attached to it; the chubby peasant children, 

 rosy in looks and strong in frame, have cakes in their 

 hands, and are entering into the spirit of the scene 

 with great glee. Sparrows and other small birds are 

 flying about, ready to make a descent on the pole when 

 the human creatures have departed. 



The hedge sparrow is not so common in this country 

 as the house sparrow ; it does not visit the far north, 



