376 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



the rarest birds which are met with in East Fin- 

 mark, and the flycatcher, the bullfinch, the rosy 

 bullfinch, the greenshank, the wild swan, the 

 scaup duck, the gyr- falcon, the Siberian jay, the 

 three-toed woodpecker, thrushes, finches, and 

 warblers, breed here in great quantities. 



Respecting the climate of East Finmark, we 

 may divide the year into eight months of winter 

 and four months of summer. The winter sets in 

 generally early in October with cold, stormy 

 weather, and so sudden are the changes in the 

 temperature here that the thermometer often in 

 twelve hours will fall from freezing point to 24 of 

 cold (Reaumur), although the usual winter tem- 

 perature is between 15 and 20 R. Seldom does 

 it stand for a week more than 20 R., and this is 

 always followed by a northerly storm, although 

 in Varanger fjord 32 cold R. has been known. 

 Spring usually sets in early in May with mild and 

 beautiful weather, and by the middle of May the 

 snow begins to melt. The birds of passage arrive 

 about the middle of May, although the snow 

 bunting and rock pipit sometimes appear in the 

 end of April. During the cold, snowy, windy 

 weather, which always sets in just before the ice 

 begins to go in the rivers, the little wanderers 

 assemble in large flocks in the neighbourhood of 

 houses, where they endeavour to get a scanty 



