THE LAF-SKRIKA. 339 



Wermeland would seem to be about its limits to the south- 

 ward ; in my part of the country, at least, I never saw or 

 heard of it. It is not known in Denmark. 



Its favourite resorts are the recesses of the forest ; and 

 in my wanderings in Wermeland, seldom a day passed that 

 I did not meet with it. It is amongst the most fearless 

 of birds. Linnaeus relates that, during his travels in Lap- 

 land, it was not only bold enough to approach immediately 

 near to him and his companions, but actually to possess 

 itself of the provisions they were eating; moreover, that a 

 peasant, who was following his daily occupation in the woods, 

 happening to go near its nest, it was so daring as to perch 

 upon the man's hat. 



Though unable to corroborate to the full the great natu- 

 ralist's statement, I can myself testify to the extreme tame- 

 ness of this bird. In one instance, when our party were 

 seated at mid-day around a fire, it perched, in like manner 

 with a robin, within four or five paces of us ; and on another 

 occasion it settled on my Skidor, which were lying on the 

 ground almost immediately beside me, and with the most 

 perfect unconcern pecked away at some drops of coagulated 

 blood that had accidentally fallen upon those implements. 



It is of a rapacious disposition. Not unfrequently it 

 chases smaller birds, and often devours larger ones, such 

 as the black cock, the Ripa, the hazel-hen, &c., that are 

 captured in snares. It feeds likewise on smaller mammalia, 

 such as rats and mice, and on larvae and grubs ; and besides 

 these, on several kinds of berries, those of the juniper, the 

 bilberry, for instance. 



This bird breeds early in the winter months, in fact 

 and already in the month of May one sees full-fledged young. 



z 2 



