288 SPORT IN EUROPE 



time the hunter who wishes to do the thing- thoroughly will occupy 

 a hut built in some sheltered nook of the fjeld where it is not likely 

 to scare the deer. 



Of late years the numbers of the wild reindeer have sadly 



diminished from the following causes ; the increase in tame herds, 



which are beginning to invade even the sanctuary of the 



ID£CrC3.S6 of 



„ . , Hardano-er-Vidde, and of which the wild animal cannot 



Reindeer. ^ 



long endure the vicinity ; the existence of gangs of 

 poachers, who do not respect the close season ; the facility with which 

 excellent single-barrelled and even magazine rifles can be procured 

 in Norway at prices ranging from ^3 to 305., and, coupled with this, 

 the fact that the high fjelds are State or Crown lands, and that every 

 native has the free right of sporting over them, although aliens have 

 to take out a ^12 licence for the same privilege. 



The red deer of Norway may be dismissed with a comparatively 

 short notice, inasmuch as all the best forests are held on lease, chiefly 



by Englishmen, and their total average yield is under 



The Red 1 • 1 • 11 -t-i 



1 50 stags a year, wriicri is, nevertfieless, too many, i he 



shooting of hinds is strictly forbidden, except to the 



farmers, who have the right of killing at any time of year deer of 



either sex which damage their crops, a privilege which is often grossly 



abused. Not a great many years ago it was believed that red deer 



were to be found only on the islands off the west coast, and especially 



on the large island of Hitteren, but it has been ascertained that they 



exist sparsely in several localities on the mainland, from a little north 



of Stavanger to within a hundred miles south of the Arctic circle. 



The red deer of Norway, although frequently seen on the open moor. 



