148 THE NATURALIST IN NORWAY. 



are brilliant red-brown, the feathers are very close, and 

 as smooth and glossy as satin. 



With respect to the qucestio vexata as to the moult 

 or change of feathers of the rype, I must say, that 

 after a careful examination of specimens obtained in 

 every month of the year, I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that a moult does take place in the spring, but 

 the change of the red-brown plumage to the snow- 

 white is a gradual growing of the feathers, and not a 

 moult at all. One circumstance is interesting, namely, 

 that from October to mid-winter the feathers on the 

 tarsi and toes become thicker ; a most beautiful provi- 

 sion of nature, when it is considered that at that time 

 the bird is always either walking in or nestling in the 

 snow. It is said that the rype is white in winter, so 

 that it may resemble the snow in which it lies, and 

 thus escape the notice of birds of prey. 



Pontoppidan mentions a singular circumstance re- 

 garding the rype : ' ' When the first snow begins to 

 fall with an east or north-east wind, whole flocks of 

 rype are seen in the Bergen Stift, but when the first 

 snow comes with a west or southern wind, very few 

 are seen there. " 



In Norway the rype is shot with a small-bore rifle 

 as it nestles in the snow'; large numbers are also 

 taken in snares. A bonde will capture as many as five 

 hundred or a thousand in this manner ; they are 

 brought to market in cart-loads, and are sold at a shil- 

 ling English per brace. The best way to cook them 

 is to place them in an iron stewpan over a slow fire, 

 with a lump of butter in it, and baste them with sour 

 cream ; cooked in this manner they are juicy and ten- 

 der, but if roasted in front of a bright fire, they are 

 dry and tough. 



