PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 15 



ing, to be much richer in sea fowl than the 

 southern coast of Sweden ; but the wild " Skar 

 Gard," or cluster of rocky islands that skirt the 

 northern shores of Scandinavia is the peculiar 

 home of these birds, which resort, eyery spring, 

 in countless thousands, to their breeding haunts 

 on the western and northern coasts ; whilst the 

 immense swamps and morasses, and innumerable 

 inland lakes with which the whole of Scandinavia 

 is studded, afford secure shelter and breeding- 

 places for every species of inland aquatic birds. 

 In the very south of Sweden, where the oak, the 

 beech, and the hazel usurp the place of the pine 

 and the fir, kings of the northern forest, the 

 different species of warblers find a home as con- 

 genial to their habits as the groves and planta- 

 tions of England; and as regards the general 

 fauna of this part of the country, it differs but 

 little from that of Britain. The severity of the 

 northern winter is here but little felt, and the 

 spring migrants make their appearance nearly as 

 early as in England, and generally a fortnight 

 earlier than they are to be seen in the midland 

 districts, where snow frequently covers the ground 

 in the end of April. 



In the midland districts, where pine and fir 

 forests of boundless extent rise on high stony 

 ranges, intersected with plains and valleys of 



