4 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



FIELD NOTES IN NORWAY IN 1881. 



By the Key. H. H. Slater, F.Z.S. 



Member of the British Ornithologists' Union; Vice-President of the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 



The following field notes were accumulated during a five 

 weeks' visit to Norway in the spring of lssi. Of this time, 

 May !Jth to 10th were spent at Naersness, on the Christiania 

 Fjord ; May 11th to '22nd at Lillehammer, on the Miosen Lake; 

 May 24th to :Ust at Laurgaard, in the Gudbraudsdal ; June 1st 

 to 7th at Fokstuen, on the Dovre Fjeld; June 8th to 11th at 

 Hjerkinn, the next station to Fokstuen : we then returned to 

 Christiania by the Foldal. 



I was much struck by the scarcity of birds of prey. I do not 

 think that I saw nearly so many as I should have done in an 

 equal length of time in any tolerably uninhabited part of Scot- 

 land, or the north of England. The cause of this, to a great 

 extent, is the reward which a short-sighted Government has 

 placed on the heads of all the larger Raptores ; owing to which 

 they are ruthlessly hunted down by the peasant-. 



But there is a phenomenon in connection with this class of 

 birds to which we have no parallel in England. At varying 

 intervals of years the Lemming makes its appearance in countless 

 numbers, overrunning the whole country; simultaneously the 

 numbers of the birds of prey are hugely increased, so that birds 

 which are usually rare, such as the Snowy Owl and Jerfalcon, are 

 then found on the fells not uncommonly. That these should 

 make their appearance in greater numbers when suitable food is 

 so plentiful, is intelligible and natural, but when we find that 

 birds like the Capercaillie and Willow Grouse, and others, which 

 have no interest in common, apparently, with the Lemming, are 

 more plentiful in " Lemming years," it becomes rather difficult to 

 see the connection between the two circumstances. Yet Herr 

 Collett informs me that such is undoubtedly the case. 



There seems to be some uncertainty how the new Game Laws 

 will affect the naturalist collecting in Norway, but my experience 

 leads me to believe that they will make but little, if any, difference 

 to him. Undoubtedly no foreigner has now any right to carry a 

 gun without a license on crown lands (such as the Dovre Fjeld); 

 but I took out no licence. Norwegians do not take for granted, 



