AN ORNITHOLOGICAL 'I OUR IN NORWAY. 455 



Lagopus albus. — Abundant on the heather and crowberry- 

 covered hilly ground, clothed with thin birch wood, at the N.E. 

 end of Tromso, and occasionally seen in other parts. The males 

 look particularly handsome when standing on a hillock and 

 crowing their " gap gap garararrr," the red comb, bright chestnut 

 head and neck, and white body showing up very well. It was 

 curious to find at that date the males with their body-feathers 

 still white, while the hens were brown ; but this is evidently a 

 provision of nature for the safety of the latter. I saw a great 

 many birds on June 14th ; all the cocks that I saw had only the 

 head and neck and a few feathers on the back coloured ; the 

 females (there were three I felt quite sure of) had all the upper 

 parts brown, of a much darker and duller shade than the cocks. 

 On the 15th we saw a few in the Tromsdal, all cocks, and all with 

 white backs, save for a splash or two of colour. 



Eudromias morinelliis. — After waiting patiently for the snow 

 to melt a little, we went up the Floifjeld on June 21st, and 

 managed to reach the top after a hard and troublesome climb. 

 The height is about 2500 feet. The chief difficulty was encoun- 

 tered about half-way up, in the shape of broad bands of snow, 

 — slipping, melting, and rotten, — lying on or at the foot of steep 

 places. These were quite impassable, and we had continually to 

 alter our course, until we found some narrow place, or some spot 

 where an open torrent had burst through. We reached the 

 shoulders at last, after passing some very steep ground, and found 

 uncovered ground sloping easily, rocky, or stony in places, and in 

 others covered with last year's yellow grass, creeping birch 

 lying as close to the ground as ivy, lichen, a little Empetrum and 

 Vaccinium, and patches of brilliant purple Saxifraga oppositifolia. 

 After this we were cut off from the top by large snow-fields, some 

 too much undermined in places to be safe. But by crossing 

 three or four long slopes of hard snow, carefully choosing our 

 route, and taking advantage of some ridges of ground peeping 

 out, we got to the top at last, and were rewarded by a magni- 

 ficent view. We looked across the fjord and the islands, spread 

 out like a map, and down the bending Tromso Fjord and the Rys- 

 trommen, along which the ' Erling Jarl ' was steaming south- 

 wards. Beyond was a waste of snowy mountains, the rugged 

 peaks of Bensjordfjeld being especially fine. White cloud-bars 

 were wreathed along the mountains, showing up as well against 



