SCANDINAVIA 281 



or less artificial, and of which the details, whatever be the kind of 

 game bagged, have much the same features in all strictly preserved 

 localities. 



Let us consider, then, what Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, 

 can offer to the roving sportsman in the way of wild sport, and let 

 us take the shooting first. 



To beein with, some statistics rea^arding wild beasts and big 



game may not be out of place. Selecting 1896 as an average year 



of the last decade, we find that in that year rewards 



were paid by the Norwegian Government for the Statistics of 



Wild Beasts 

 destruction of 44 bears, 90 wolves, 7,0 lynxes, and 64 ^^^ gj^ 



gluttons or wolverines {G?//o borcalis). In Sweden Game, 

 rewards were registered for 75 bears, 116 wolves, 32 

 lynxes, and 145 gluttons. In the same year the official return of 

 big game killed in Norway gives us : 506 bull, and 485 cow elk — 

 total 991 ; 942 wild reindeer, and 138 red deer. Wild reindeer are 

 nowadays practically extinct in Sweden proper, but a few may still 

 exist in Swedish Lapland. The return of elk killed in Sweden used 

 to be about double that of Norway, but has been of late years of 

 little statistical value, inasmuch as the indiscriminate slaughter of 

 these animals, bull, cow, and calf, permitted by the old law, neces- 

 sitated fresh legislation, and for several years the time during which 

 elk might be killed was limited to fourteen days of September. By 

 still more recent enactments a close-time of three years' duration was 

 established, and this expires in the present year. Moreover, whilst in 

 Norway it is forbidden, under heavy penalties, to kill more than a 

 sino-le full-erown elk, bull or cow, on each "matriculated" farm 



