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WILLOW GROUSE. 
Scandinavia, from the very north of Finmark down to 
about 60° north latitude; it is met with in North 
Wermerland throughout the whole year, but never 
further south than Lake Fryken, unless indeed they 
are driven down by snow, when an odd one may 
even occasionally be shot in Bohns Land and Upland. 
They are not met with near Christiana in the summer. 
They never go up to the real fells or such rocks 
as rise above the limits of vegetation. When we 
go down from the fell tops we find the Dal Ripa 
first in that region which is clothed with willow 
hushes and fell birch, ( Betiila nana,J and especially 
in the lower tracts, where the birch f Betula alba,) 
first appears and forms low forests. Below this we 
rarely meet with them, and only when the young can 
fly- 
in this above-mentioned sub-alpine region the Dal 
Ripa in summer is usually found in valleys, mostly by 
the side of the little becks or mountain streams wLich 
run among the bushes and thickets. You always find 
them in pairs or families with the male and female 
together. You not only find them, according to 
Nilsson, in the interior of the country, but even on 
the coasts and islands. They crouch among the dwarf 
birch, willow, or heather, and rarely rise till you nearly 
tread on them. Sometimes, however, they rise very 
wild, and in the spring and autumn appear to he 
most shy. They almost always are on the ground, 
and very rarely perch in a tree; hut, although I have 
myself seen on more than one occasion the Willow 
Grouse, when frightened, perch in the birch trees, it 
is so rare an occurrence that many deny it. Their 
flight to me appears exactly to resemble that of the 
Red Grouse, and as they fly they utter a loud cackle 
