NORWAY 41 



time only four pairs, but one of the boys said * mange 

 hundrede,' so possibly all have not arrived at their 

 breeding-quarters . 



We found we could not get across the river in search 

 of more Fieldfares, so we started about ten o'clock for 

 Maristuen. 



On the way we saw a couple of Swallow-tail Butterflies, 

 one of which I succeeded in catching. The Skydsgut 

 called it ' Marien-fugl ' (Lady-bird). 



We stopped at Soeltnaasen for Alston to take a sketch 

 of the fine part of the valley, and again about an hour and 

 a half at Borgund, where Alston sketched the old church. 

 We also went into it ; it is a ' most rummy and original 

 concern,' as Alston described it in his diary. 



Between Husum and Hoag we saw a lot of Keindeer 

 horns on a cottage wall, but the sum asked was far too 

 much, fully up to Christiania figures. They first wanted 

 two dollars, then came down to one dollar each pair, 

 but we would not give them more than three marks, 

 and drove on. 



On the last stage, coming up the hill to Maristuen, we 

 saw our first Bluethroat, which I shot with the stick-gun, 

 its note having first attracted our attention. 



On this last stage also we met Knut Nystuen going to 

 Lserdal with a cart, and we are to see him at Maristuen 

 on Thursday. 



The snow has gone in a wonderful way. On May 18th, 

 nearly three weeks ago, we, on two occasions, passed 

 through deep drifts of snow which overtopped our heads 

 by fully 1J feet. Now there is scarcely any left, and the 

 hills have a totally different appearance. But snow still 

 lies in considerable patches, and at Maristuen the birch- 

 trees are only just budding, and everything is considerably 

 later. 



On our arrival at Maristuen about 6 p.m., we had a 



