NOTES FKOM DIAEY KEPT AT QUICKIOCK. 119 



fells into the Quickiock river was still frozen over 

 as hard as a rock. 



B y the end of the month the thaw seemed to set 

 in, and we now began to see many bare places in 

 the snow. For about a fortnight it was next to 

 impossible to get into the forests at all, except just 

 in the morning, when the frost was on the snow. 

 The new snow, however, which melted as it fell, 

 had the same effect on the old snow as the spring 

 rain in Wermland. On April 30th the sun rose at 

 half-past three and set at half-past eight. On the 

 28th we got our bow nets in order, and set them in 

 the ice at the mouth of a small backwater leading 

 out of a large shallow lake. The fish did not run 

 well at first and no wonder, for the river in some 

 places, where it was only four feet deep, was frozen to 

 the very bottom. Every prospect this of an early 

 spring ! But we now began to hear the roar of the 

 waterfall in the fell river close to the house more 

 distinctly every day, which proved that the ice was 

 gradually melting at the bottom. 



Early in May many of the smaller migrants 

 arrived, and large flocks of snow buntings, shore 

 larks, and bramblings covered all the bare patches 

 which the snow had left. 



The thermometer varied in the day now from 

 4 to 10 warm of Celsius (about 40 to 50 Fahren- 

 heit), but at midnight was often as low as 10 



