160 THE NATURALIST IN NORWAY. 



The curlew sandpiper (Tringa subarquata). This 

 bird, which connects the snipes with the sandpipers, 

 is common during the summer months in the northern 

 parts of Norway. It only visits the south when mi- 

 grating. Migrates in the company of the knot. Its 

 breeding-grounds are in the north and north-east. 

 Nilsson says that it breeds in the south of Sweden. 

 This is likely enough, as Temminck asserts that it 

 breeds in Holland. Most probably, however, only a 

 few of this species breed in Holland and southern 

 Sweden, while the greater number proceed to the 

 north. 



The purple sandpiper (T. maritima), like the pre- 

 ceding, is common during the breeding-season in 

 Norwegian Lapland ; Professor Rasch has met with it 

 here as late as November. Professor Keilhau, another 

 Norwegian naturalist, found this species common in 

 Spitzbergen and Iceland. Its favourite habitat here is 

 the naked rocks on the coast, which are covered at 

 high-tide. Now, these rocks are called in Norway 

 fjcere, and as the purple sandpiper is supposed by the 

 Norwegian fishermen to resemble a mouse, muus, as it 

 stands on the bare rocks, it is called here the fjcere- 

 muus. It breeds in East Finmark, where it makes its 

 nest on the high plateaux of the fjelds, and lays four 

 eggs of a yellowish-gray, marked with light brown 

 spots. 



The knot (T. Canutus) is common during the breed- 

 ing season in Norwegian Lapland, Greenland, and Ice- 

 land. During the early autumn, the young birds of 

 the year are seen in flocks in the south of Sweden. 

 When migrating, they pass through Sweden, instead 

 of Norway, to more genial climes, instinct, no doubt, 



