SPOET IN NORWAY. 



Ranunculus glacialis, called by the peasants " rein 

 flower," is a great favourite with it. This beautiful and 

 delicate little plant seems to be the advanced guard of 

 the flower world towards the regions of perpetual snow. 

 It is found on the very edge of the glaciers, and is as 

 pale as the melting snow itself. Its bud has a reddish 

 tinge, like to that which the rays of the setting sun 

 cast over a boundless waste of snow. It is a lovely 

 flower to be placed so high up out of ken of the 

 civilised world. No insect seeks for honey within its 

 corolla ; no butterfly ventures up to these ice-bound 

 regions. It is peculiarly the reindeer's flower. They 

 will even scrape the snow away with their hoofs to find 

 it; and wherever the hunter sees the "rein flower" 

 is untouched, he may take it as a sign that there are no 

 deer in the neighbourhood. 



Besides ' this, the bitter Gentiana lutea, called in 

 Thelemarken " rein sorrel ;" Dryas octopetala, or " rein 

 grass;" the Cerastium, the Rumex digynus, and the 

 buds and leaves of the dwarf birch, Betula nana, 

 are eagerly devoured by them. But in winter the rein- 

 deer moss is almost their sole food, and of this nature 

 has bestowed a plentiful and inexhaustible supply. 



During the winter the herds usually graze only 

 where there is snow. The largest and strongest bucks 

 go in front, and scrape away the snow with their hoofs ; 

 for, being deprived of their only natural means of 



