ALTEN, HAMMERFEST, &C 477 



Accordingly, after a very good supper on fine salmon, just 

 out of the river, we made beds of skins on the floor, and con- 

 trived, after the fatigues of the day, to get a pretty good night's 

 rest, in spite of the musquitoes, which, from the proximity of 

 the river, were very numerous. 



8tL — We managed to make a pretty good breakfast 

 on the remains of our provisions, with the addition of some 

 coffee, and then started off into the forest. Our guide was a 

 wood-cutter, who carried a sort of wooden horn, called a Lure, 

 which he blew from time to time, to call in the stragglers of 

 the party. These instruments are much used in the south of 

 Norway and Sweden, for the purpose of calling cattle from the 

 woods. In Finmark they are, I believe, little known. The 

 one in question had been brought by our guide from the vici- 

 nity of Roras, of which place he was a native. When heard 

 at a little distance, the note is not unmusical, especially when 

 repeated by the mountain echoes. One of the party shot a very 

 pretty species of owl,* somewhat resembling a miniature Stria; 

 nyctea; several specimens were afterwards met with. It 

 appears to be almost diurnal, like our S. Brachyotus. 



I was not a little startled, whilst gathering a plant near the 

 river side, by the sudden rising, within a yard of me, of a fine 

 cock of the woods (Tetrao Urogallus). Shortly afterwards 

 I heard several shots, and on rejoining my companions I found 

 they had succeeded in bringing down a female, and several 

 half-grown young ones. In the course of the day several 

 other young males were shot, but we were unable to procure 

 one in adult plumage. The only other living creatures we 

 saw in the woods were a few of the common squirrel. A dead 

 lemming having been picked up, led to a conversation with our 

 guide on the subject of their occasional appearance in immense 

 numbers ; he described to us a visitation of this kind, which 

 he had witnessed some years ago in the south. I thought this 

 a good time to make some inquiry as to the truth of the 

 oft-repeated story that the reindeer eat these animals ; and 

 accordingly my friend Mr. Woodfall was kind enough to 

 question him very closely on the subject. He stated that he 

 had never seen the reindeer eat the lemming, as there are but 



* I have since learned from Mr. Gould, that this bird is Strix funerea, Gmelin 

 (T. Hudsonia, Wilson). 



NO. V. VOL. IV. 3 Q 



