FIELD NOTES IX NORWAY. 7 



peculiar hurried way of singing, as if it were anxious to get to 

 the end of its song as soon as possible. At Hjerkinn it was very 

 common also, both in the birch scrub and even in the dwarf 

 willow and juniper scrub above the birch limit on the fells. I 

 found a nest here with eight eggs, and sat down b} r it to blow 

 some of them. The old birds at once came up and hovered 

 angrily round me, often within a yard of me, though the eggs 

 were not at all incubated, the female also quite forgetting her 

 usual anxiety for concealment. Not only they, but every other 

 Bluethroat within hearing of this excited couple, hurried up also, 

 until I must have had about a dozen scolding within ten yards of 

 me at once; the moment I rose, however, they all vanished, like 

 Roderick Dhu's warriors, " where they stood." The nest was 

 made of the finest grasses, and placed in an open space in the 

 birch wood, under a branch of trailing juniper. 



Robin, Erithacus rubecula (L.) — An Englishman, familiar with 

 the way in which this bird courts the society of man in his native 

 country, is surprised to find it shunning man altogether in Norway, 

 and taking up its abode in the densest pine woods. It seems not 

 uncommon, but very impatient of approach. 



Whitethroat, Sylvia rufa (Bodcl.) — I did not find this bird 

 at all plentiful ; in fact, I only saw two at Lillehammer. 



Lesser Whitethroat, S. ciorruca (L.) — Though I did not 

 find this plentiful, I saw it much oftener than the last. One was 

 singing at Naersness, on the Christiania Fjord, on May 9th. I 

 saw several near Lillehammer, one at Laurgaard, and two on the 

 Dovre Fjeld. I shot one of the last (as it is a bird more generally 

 seen at low altitudes) in order to be quite sure. It was singing 

 cheerfully, and flitting uneasily, as its manner is, from birch to 

 birch, near Hjerkinn, about 3800 feet above sea-level. 



Blackcap, S. atricapilla (L.) — I only remarked one, which was 

 in full song, at Naersness on May 9th. 



Golden Crest, Regulus cristatus (Koch). — Very abundant in 

 conifer-growth at all altitudes. 



Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita (Vieill.) — Most abundant 

 everywhere in fir-growth; I only noticed one on the Dovre 

 Fjeld. 



Willow Wren, P. trochilus (L.) — Equally common with the 

 last in the lowlands, but differing from it in being just as common 

 at high altitudes, where it is found not only in the birch woods, 



