154 THE NATURALIST IN NORWAY. 



its nest in a hole in the sand, or by the side of a stone, 

 and lays four eggs of a yellow- gray colour, marked 

 with black spots. Nilsson says, " Kottet dr smakligt" 

 that is, ' ' Its flesh is savoury.-" 



The oyster-catcher (Hcematopus ostralegus) is common 

 on all the Norwegian coasts up to the North Cape. It 

 arrives here as early as February, and migrates in 

 October. Its food consists of mussels, which grow to 

 an unusually large size in Finmark, and oysters. In 

 opening the mussel or oyster, the bird is sometimes 

 captured alive by the closing of the bivalve' s shell. 



The sanderling (Calidris arenaria) is occasionally 

 seen during the summer months in Finmark; it has 

 been shot near Tromso, the capital of Norwegian Lap- 

 land. When migrating it is seen in the south-west of 

 Norway, keeping company with the little stint, dunlin, 

 and knot. Nilsson asserts, on the authority of a 

 brother naturalist, that the eggs are glossy, and of a pale 

 green colour, marked with blood-red spots and streaks. 



The white stork (Ciconia alba) is occasionally seen 

 in the south of Norway. It arrives in April and mi- 

 grates in August. Norwegian country people have a 

 peculiar reverence for this bird, and think themselves 

 fortunate when it makes its nest on their houses. It is 

 believed that a house will never be consumed by fire 

 which has a stork's nest on the top of it. It is a 

 common saying in Germany that a stork will not build 

 its nest on the house of an individual that has not paid 

 his tithes to the clergy. Pontoppidan alludes to this 

 popular superstition : " Les cigognes sont favorables 

 au clerge, car elles ne veulent point s&journer dans 

 aucune mile d'Allemagne ou Von ne paye point de dime 

 aux ecclesiastiques." 



