214 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 

 bushes and fell birch, (Betula nana, J and especially 

 in the lower tracts, where the birch (Betula alba, J 

 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 which 

 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 be 

 most shy. They almost always are on the ground, 

 and very rarely perch in a tree; but, 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 



