152 TRACKING. 



of a hurricane. If I say that in this pack there were 

 nearer three than two thousand, that number will be 

 rather under than above the mark. 



" Speaking generally," M. Earth continues, " I have 

 not found what the people in Lofoden and elsewhere have 

 told me, as to the shyness or tameness of the Dal-Rip;i, 

 being dependent on a clear or misty atmosphere, cold or 

 mild weather, wind or rain, sufficiently corroborated by 

 my own experience to enable me to comprise it within 

 any general rule ; but one thing is certain, that however 

 wild the birds may have been during the day, they 

 always become tamer on the approach of evening ; as also 

 that their "shyness increases as the winter advances ; 

 so that in the months of January and February the 

 ' packs ' cannot often be approached within three hundred 

 to four hundred paces. It is likewise certain that the 

 Dal-Ripa, when met with alone, is always tamer than 

 when several are in company, and that the wariness of 

 the pack increases in proportion to the number of indi- 

 viduals of which it is composed." 



With the exception of the few Ripa that I killed 

 with a pea-rifle when wandering, as said, amongst the 

 fjalls in summer, my shooting has been altogether 

 confined to the forest, where in the winter time I very 

 frequently met with Dal-Ripa, and that chiefly amongst 

 birch and willow bushes near to lakes, rivers, morasses, 

 or other open places. But having usually other game in 

 view, it was seldom that I took the trouble to follow them. 

 Had I, however, devoted time to the purpose, it is possible 

 that, even here, a fair bag might have been made. I do 

 not remember having ever shot more than three brace in 

 anv one day. 



On observing the tracks of the Dal-Ripa in the forest, 

 our plan was to follow them in silence until we sighted 

 the birds, and then to shout them on the ground, or on 



