NOTICES OF NEW BuOKS. 265 
On the subject of birds, especially, Capt. Kennedy has a good 
deal to say, and moreover, more accurately. Indeed, we should 
be surprised if this were not the case, for we do not forget his 
acceptable contribution to the Ornithology of Berks and Bucks, 
which was favourably noticed in the pages of this journal ten years 
since, and which brought so much credit to the author, then an 
“Eton boy” of sixteen. 
To give the reader some idea of the author’s style, we may 
quote a few paragraphs from the book before us :— 
“The height to which wood grows in Norway is certainly great compared 
with Scotland, as the following particulars will show. The Scotch fir grows 
on the mountains of Norway to the great height of 2870 feet above the 
level of the sea, whilst the common birch exists to the altitude of 3300 feet, 
and the juniper and many smaller shrubs flourish at even a greater height, 
where grow also quantities of beautiful flowers and mosses. Oak and beech 
is very seldom seen in Norway; but the poplar, willows of various kinds, 
and the beautiful mountain ash are met with almost everywhere, excepting 
in the extreme north, where the ouly woods of any extent are of Scotch 
ar P60.) 
“For the botanist, I can imagine no more charming quarters than 
Kongsvold at which to stay, while he searches the Dovre-fjeld for specimens 
of flowers. Some of the rarest wild flowers in Norway are to be found in 
the neighbouring mountains, and weeks might be pleasantly and profitably 
spent in examining the plant-life of this wild region. It is stated that one 
of the first Norwegian botanists, the late Professor Blyth, discovered in his 
rambles over the Dovre-fjeld no less than 440 plants and ferns, 200 mosses, 
150 lichens, and some 50 species of Alga, which list ought to be a sufficient 
attraction to the botanist to linger here awhile.” (P. 122.) 
Off the Loffoden Isles on June 26th :— 
“‘ Hider-ducks in vast numbers were to be observed on all sides, and 
flocks of little ducks and gulls just out of the shell were following their 
parents among the tumbling waves. Skua gulls were there, too, in con- 
siderable abundance, and robbers as they are, these birds made a capital 
thing of it as they pursued the other species of gulls after their successful 
fishing, and, dashing at them with loud cries, caused them to disgorge 
whatever they had caught at once, which the Skua picked up before it even 
reached the water. Large shoals of mackerel were sporting on our 
starboard-bow ; and the fat bodies of their pursuing enemies, the porpoises, 
were now and then seen rolling over and over in the surf. More than one 
2M 
