38 Sweden, 



picked up on beaches, &c., may have been transpoited there by other 

 means than through tlie air. 



However, two specimens of the little auk {Mergulus alle, Nob.) 

 a bird which I should have as little dreamt of seeing up here as the 

 black guillemot, were killed during one winter (and both I believe 

 on the ice) on the Clar, a little north of Carlstad. How these 

 birds came here, and which way they were steering, is a mystery 

 to me ; one thing is certain, however, they came without the aid of 

 man. 



Of land birds we had every species inhabiting the middle of 

 Sweden, and one bird peculiar to the south, whose northern limits 

 end here, the melodious willow warbler {Sylvia hippola'is, Lath.). It 

 is superfluous, therefore, to go through the list. I will only add 

 that the rarest nests which I have obtained in this neighbourhood 

 have been those of the osprey {Pandion haiiaetus, Sw.) ; honey 

 buzzard {Pernis apivorus, Cu.) ; goshawk {Astur palumlarius, 

 Bechst.)j peregrine falcon {Falco peregrinus, L.) 5 kite (Falcomil- 

 vus, L.) J eagle owl {Strix luho, L.) ; Tengmalm's owl {Strix Teng- 

 walmi, Gm.) ; great black woodpecker {Pkus vmrtius, L.) -, nut- 

 cracker {Caryocatactes graculus, Nills.) ; crested tit {Parus cristatus, 

 L.) ; parrot crossbill (Loxia pytiopsittacus, Bechst.) ; common 

 crossbill {Loxia curvirostra, L.) I never took an eagle's nest by 

 the side of the Wenern, although I know that the white-tailed 

 eagle {A. alticiUa, Cuv.) breeds there. 



Till the last three severe winters and heavy snowstorms swept oif 

 all the partridges in Wermland, excellent partridge as well as black- 

 game shooting might have been obtained in many places on the 

 shores of the Wenern. The capercailie and hazel grouse are also 

 pretty common in many parts, and lots of foxes and hares, both on 

 the fast land and the little islands in the lake. 



Now let us proceed to the Ichthyology of this magnificent lake j 

 but, as a preface, let me say that the same pot-hunting spirit pre- 

 vails among the fishermen as among the shooters out here, and the 

 fish are so persecuted, swept off when they come up from the deeps 

 of the lake on to the spawning-grounds — taken ^\•holesa]e in nets 



