Birds. 3043 



fresh tracks of a bear (which must have crossed the snow that morn- 

 ing), to see which for the first time in the wild fjeld was by no means 

 an indifferent matter. 



The Pine Grosbeak (Pyrrhula enucleator). I procured two spe- 

 cimens of this bird while in Norway, a male and a female, both in 

 excellent plumage : 1 was not fortunate enough to see one alive; and 

 I learned on inquiry, that they are by no means numerous, a devoted 

 ornithologist and a thorough field-naturalist having assured me that 

 he had only seen the bird alive twice. 



The Robin (Erythaca rubecula). An Englishman would soon miss 

 this great favourite, the children's pet, and the tamest and best-beloved 

 of all our pretty songsters : 1 had often looked for him in vain, and 

 had concluded that he never penetrated so far north ; and it was not 

 till two months after my arrival in the country, that I one day heard 

 his well-known voice, and saw his red breast, as he hopped from twig 

 to twig. He looked so thoroughly English, that I quite hailed him 

 as a countryman, and felt sure that he must understand English better 

 than Norsk. I quite pitied his hard fate, and wondered whether he 

 flew farther south, or braved the ice and snow and piercing winds of 

 a long Scandinavian winter. 



The Blue-throated Warbler (Phcenicura suecica). This pretty 

 little bird, so rare in England, seems to be much more frequently seen 

 in Norway : though arriving from southern latitudes, and bearing the 

 appearance of an inhabitant of sunny climes, he annually visits the 

 valleys of Norway. I did not see him there myself, but I was assured 

 by several persons, on whose judgment I could rely, that he was by 

 no means an uncommon visitor; and, indeed, I see it mentioned in 

 Yarrell, that Mr. Hewitson himself saw r it there. It seems very 

 strange that a bird which is essentially a denizen of w 7 arm countries 

 should make its appearance annually in so northern a land, whilst it 

 is never seen in the south of Sweden or Denmark, and but very rarely 

 in Eugland. Possibly it may be that the climate is not unsuited to 

 him in the summer months, as from the almost continual presence of 

 the sun, the air is not chilled by night ; and consequently in the 

 valleys the temperature is at all times warm during summer, and very 

 often oppressively hot : indeed, it is a very common observation, that 

 it is hotter during summer in Norway than in Rome. From this I 

 must entirely dissent : I have been in Rome in May, when the Corso 

 was quite deserted, aud I dared not walk down even the shady side of 

 the street on account of the heat; but in Norway, though I often 



