216 



12 



designation could be easily applied to hybrids which, though yet unknown, may possibly, nay 

 probably do exist. 



"The hybrid origin of this bird was unquestionably first pointed out in the year 1795 by 

 Amtmand Sommerfelt, who, in the ' Topographisk Journal f. Norge,' part 14, p. 50, gives an 

 excellent description of two specimens from the districts bordering on the Mjcesen (Eidsvold, Biri). 

 These individuals, which were clearly male birds in winter dress, are recorded as a ' Blanding af 

 Aarfugl og Bype' (hybrid between black game and Btarmigan). This, too, is the first time the 

 bird is found mentioned by a native author. 



"In 1823, an individual was described by Bastor Sommerfelt (afterwards rector of the parish 

 of Saltdalen) in the ' Mag. f. Naturv.' 1st series, vol. ii. This individual, also procured from a 

 district bordering on the Mjcesen (Toten), was a male in summer plumage. 



" The first individual preserved in any Norwegian collection was a male in winter dress ; it 

 was sent to Brofessor Esmark from Eceraas, in 1837. In the course of the next thirty years not 

 more than half a dozen individuals are known to have been observed ; they were all males pro- 

 cured from the south of the country (Christiansand Stift, Bergen Stift, Hamar Stift). 



"Brom 1870-73 the University Museum has been so fortunate as to obtain six new speci- 

 mens, but all male birds. One of them was a young individual in autumn plumage, the rest 

 being in the normal winter garb. Bive were procured from the south-eastern tracts of the 

 interior (Gudbrandsdalen, Osterdalen) ; the remaining bird was shot in Saltdalen (65° nearly), 

 north of the Bolar Circle, the most northerly point at which it is known to have occurred (the 

 skeleton only of this individual is preserved). 



" No female of this hybrid has hitherto, I believe, been met with in Norway. 



" Of the habits of the Eypeorre scarcely any thing is known from Norway. Of six indi- 

 viduals which I have had an opportunity of examining the last few years in the flesh, five had 

 evidently been caught in snares set for Btarmigan. Now, most of such snares being set on the 

 fell-sides in the birch-belt (on the southern fells, from 2500 to 3400 feet above the level of the 

 sea), it would seem to be a resident at the same altitude as its male parent (Lagopus). The 

 sixth individual was transmitted from Saltdalen, in Nordland, by Mr. Berbom, who had killed it 

 in winter amongst Btarmigan. Here the locality was a mountain-ridge, covered with a growth 

 of birch, and distinguished by round rocky elevations, small mosses, and tarns. In this spot 

 there is always a good supply of Btarmigan and black game, whose respective ranges in northern 

 latitudes sometimes coalesce ; and apparently there was no lack of pairing birds for either of the 

 two species. 



"The crop and stomach of an individual shot in Gudbrandsdalen, December 7th, 1870, 

 contained a number of fragments of a Salix (some of them 15 millimetres in length), fragments 

 and numerous berries of Myrtillus nigra, tops of Calluna vulgaris (about 30 millimetres in length), 

 and a few leaves of Arctostaphylos alpina. That of another individual (December 6th, 1872) was 

 filled with the tops and seeds of Carex stellulata, amongst which were found a few berries of 

 Oxycoccos palustris and Juniperus communis, some of the latter being unripe. In the specimen 

 last procured (Bebruary 28th, 1873) I found leaves of Vaccinium vitis idcea, the fragments and 

 buds of a willow, and of Myrtillus nigra. 



" Of these several descriptions of food, Arctostaphylos alpina indicates a habitat of considerable 



