AN ORNITHOLOGICAL TOUR IN NORWAY. 443 



of the houses for them to nest in. But they were the last we 

 saw on our way north. We noticed the Cuckoo (in song), Meadow 

 Pipits, Wheatears (one singing from a roof-ridge), Grey Crows, a 

 Magpie (which had a nest in a birch tree), an Arctic Tern at 

 roost on a boat's gunwale, a Mallard, and a pair of Grey-lag 

 Geese, which flew over "honking" loudly. We got to Tromso on 

 the morning of the 13th, and remained there until the 23rd. 



Tromso is a low green island lying in the Tromso Fjord, and 

 (the fjord on the east and west is very narrow, and in places reduced 

 to a sound not more than 500 yards across) has the appearance of 

 being surrounded by snow-clad mountains. It is about ten kilo- 

 metres long by about four at its widest point. The low ground 

 along the shores, consisting of pastures and a few cultivated 

 patches, is very narrow, except on the west side, where two large 

 green points bulge out ; a good deal of their surface is covered 

 with willow swamps and open bogs. Inland the island is covered 

 with birch woods, except the north end, which rises rather higher 

 than the rest, the top of which is broken ground, without trees, 

 the ground being clothed with ling, Empetrum, moss, lichen, &c. 

 The sides of this north end are for some reason drier than those 

 of the other parts of the island, and the snow melts from them 

 more quickly, perhaps because they are more open and less 

 thickly wooded. They abound with dry heathery banks, and, 

 naturally, the Willow Grouse is more abundant at this end of the 

 island. On June 14th, along a little bend in the coast facing due 

 north, a huge snow-drift still lay unmelted at the sea-level. When 

 we arrived on the 13th the birch-woods were still much encumbered 

 with snow-drifts, and it was not easy to get about in them. The 

 birch-trees (about 8 to 10 ft. high on the barer parts, and perhaps 

 25 ft. high elsewhere) were then only just bursting into leaf, or 

 had their leaves half-opened in sheltered places; the dwarf 

 willows were in the same condition. Under foot in the woods 

 were mosses, lichens, and some few taller plants shooting up ; in 

 other places the dead birch-leaves lay thick, pressed flat by the 

 weight of winter snow. For about four feet up, the stems of the 

 birches were bare and white; above that height they were gar- 

 nished with a good deal of dark lichen. This produced a curious 

 effect in the woods, the trees having a bare-legged appearance. 

 Five days later the trees had come on considerably, and the birch- 

 woods were beautifully green, with a delicate fresh colour; and I 



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