168 SPOET IN NORWAY. 



an interest in natural history to pay attention to the dif- 

 ferent gradations and changes their plumage undergoes 

 at various seasons of the year, as may be seen in the 

 Zoological Museum at the University in Christiania. 



The migrations of the skov-rype from one part of 

 the country to another are very remarkable; that is 

 to say, where one year the sportsman may find an 

 abundance of these birds, the next he may scarcely see 

 a feather, and vice versa. As a case in point, a friend 

 of mine in crossing the Vlo Fjeld in 1860 found 

 the ryper very plentiful : in the autumn of the follow- 

 ing year, happening to be in the same neighbourhood, 

 he had every expectation of meeting with good sport ; 

 but, after beating a very considerable extent of the 

 fjeld carefully with his two dogs, he failed to discover a 

 single bird. The same thing happened to him else- 

 where ; and he tells me that some of his Anglo-Nor- 

 wegian sporting friends have noticed the same to be the 

 case in other parts of the country. 



The cross between the black game and the rype is 

 rare, much rarer than that between the black game and 

 capercalzie. This may probably be accounted for by 

 the feet that the rype is for the most part monoga- 

 mous, while the capercalzie and black game being both 

 of them gregarious, there is more chance of their coming 

 in contact with each other. 



The PTAKMIGAN (Fjeld-rype) is found on all the high 

 fjelds of Norway. It changes colour exactly in the 



