12 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



in the north. For instance, the sheldrake, bittern, 

 ruff, lapwing, black tern, black-headed gull, and 

 golden plover; and as all these, with the excep- 

 tion of the last-named, are southern species, this 

 fact may be accounted for by the increase of cul- 

 tivation. On the contrary, one or two other 

 species are gradually spreading themselves more 

 widely over the face of the country such as the 

 shore lark, Siberian tit, etc. Many of the summer 

 migrants do not appear in the same quantities in 

 each succeeding year. The nutcracker is a strik- 

 ing instance of this fact ; and in certain winters, 

 when the supply of fir cones and berries runs 

 short, fewer of the partial migrants are to be seen 

 in the midland forests. 



That the British fauna is far richer in accidental 

 varieties than the Scandinavian, is easily accounted 

 for by the fact of the former country being so 

 densely populated and closely examined, that it 

 is next to impossible for a strange bird to show 

 itself on the British shores without being at once 

 noticed. Whereas, such is the wild nature of the 

 Scandinavian landscape, and so thinly are the 

 habitations of man scattered over its surface, that 

 a rare bird may come and go, year after year, 

 without being noticed by any one. But that 

 Scandinavia is much richer in indigenous species 

 and individuals of those species, during the breed- 



