156 THE NATUEALIST IN NORWAY. 



Pontoppidan entertained some singular notions con- 

 cerning this bird. He says, " Ardea id habetab omnibus 

 avibus diversum, quod intestinum ccecum unicum et sim- 

 plex obtineant singulce, cum alice aves geminum nadce 

 sint ; by which it comes to pass that a heron may 

 swallow an eel three times,, which has scarcely dis- 

 appeared before one sees the head and the whole body 

 pass out again ex podice avis, and this it does several 

 times, turning round and swallowing the eel again." 



The quail (Coturnix vulgaris). Professor Kasch, of 

 the University of Christiania, an eminent Norwegian 

 naturalist, states that he has seen this bird in Thele- 

 marken, an extensive district in the south of Norway. 

 It is rather common in the south of Sweden. 



The glossy ibis (Ibis faldnellus) is called here the 

 sort ibis, or black ibis, and is occasionally seen in the 

 north of Norway. 



The curlew (Numenius arquata) is common along all 

 the west coast of this country as far north as Nordland. 



The whimbrel (N. phceopus) is also common. It is 

 frequently seen in Norwegian Lapland, and on all 

 mountain morasses. 



The black-tailed godwit (Limosa melanura) is rarely 

 seen in Norway. It breeds in the Swedish island of 

 Gottland, where it nests in the coarse grass on marshy 

 ground, and lays four eggs of a dull olive- green, spotted 

 and blotched with dark brown. 



The bar-tailed godwit (L. rufa) is much more common 

 here than the preceding species, and is even found in 

 Norwegian Lapland. It migrates early in August, 

 wherefore it is called in Sweden Augusti-sndppa, or 

 August-snipe. Its Norwegian name is suggestive 

 viz., rustrb'd langncebbe, or rusty-red longbill. 



