10 PARTIAL MIGRATIONS. 



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Again : " We had just crossed a morass on our way 

 from Quickjock to Arieplog," writes the llev. Petrus 

 Laestadius, the celebrated Lapland missionary, " when \\e 

 saw at a little distance a great many black-looking birds 

 perched in the trees. At first we thought thry were 

 crows; but on a nearer approach found them to be 

 Capercali, which had collected together in very unusual 

 numbers, like a flock of crows or jackdaws. ... In the 

 afternoon of the same day (Gth May), we returned by 

 the same route ; but when we came to our Capercali 

 region, not a single one of those we had observed in the 

 morning was to be seen. My companion, the catechist 

 Lars Pehrsson, an experienced Jdyare, said they were 

 Flytt-Foylar, or migratory birds, which do not remain in 

 one place. 



" It is a remarkable circumstance with the Capercali," 

 the reverend gentleman goes on to say, " that it, as every 

 one hereabouts maintains, should ' flytta,' or migrate. 

 Instinct teaches it to take a certain course, and it there- 

 fore, for years together, almost disappears from the count i \ . 

 People assert that in misty weather it sometimes proceeds 

 right out to sea ; and when it becomes exhausted, falls 

 into the water and perishes. They also say that when it 

 flies westward, in the direction of the fjiills, one s soon 

 gets it back again; but if, on the contrary, it takes ;m 

 easterly course, it will never more return, and in conse- 

 quence there will be a great dearth of birds for a long 

 period to come." 



Once. more: "With us," says M. Nordholm, in his 

 work published in the middle of the last centun , 

 treating of the methods resorted to in Joint land (a 

 portion of Norrland) for the capture of wild animals, 

 "both Capeivali and Black-Coek are \ery irregular. One 

 sometimes sees great numbers of these birds, but after a 

 -Imrt period they nearly all disappear, whilst at other times 



