THE FEATHERED GAME OF NORWAY. 149 



In the early spring the rype feeds on the tender buds 

 of the spruce-fir, which gives the flesh a peculiar fla- 

 vour, not disagreeable if there is not too much of it. 

 In summer it feeds on various grasses, and especially 

 on the Polygonum viviparum, called here rype-grds ; 

 in autumn and winter the food is principally wild 

 berries. The nest is made on the ground, generally 

 under a bush, and contains from ten to twelve eggs of 

 a ferruginous-yellow . colour, marked irregularly with 

 black spots. 



The alpine grouse (Tetrao alpinus, Nilsson). This 

 bird is generally found in the northern and central 

 alpine districts of Norway; it is also common in the 

 western fjelds, but much more so in Nordland and the 

 Dovre-fjeld than anywhere else ; it very seldom comes 

 near Christiania, and although it is pretty common in 

 the mountain regions of Sweden, it is not seen in 

 Denmark. 



A cock bird procured from Gudbrandsdalen in 

 March has the whole of the plumage white, except the 

 lateral tail feathers, which are black ; tarsi and toes 

 thickly covered with short white feathers ; a line of 

 black across each eye, which is always wanting in the 

 female ; thin, erect comb. Towards the middle of May 

 this species assumes the full breeding plumage, when 

 the head, neck, and breast are bluish-gray, streaked 

 with black. Two young birds captured in August 

 are ash-gray, streaked with black and yellow-brown. 



The fjeld-rype, as this bird is called in Norway, is 

 rather smaller in size than the dal-rype, and may be 

 distinguished from the latter in winter, when the 

 plumage of both kinds is white, by the black mark 

 across the eye. 



