3044 Birds. 



preferred driving by night, I have never been prevented by the hot 

 weather from travelling or shooting, or taking other exercise. 1 may 

 here observe, that, though fully prepared for it, nothing seemed so 

 strange and astonishing to me, when first I reached Norway, as the 

 total absence of darkness or even dusk at night. In Christiania the 

 people were walking about the streets at all hours ; and during about 

 two months, I never saw a candle, and could see plainly to read and 

 write, during the very short period of time from the setting to the 

 rising sun : it was literally broad daylight, without intermission, for 

 nearly two months : for when the sun did set, it merely dipped below 

 the horizon, and then rose again. The birds, too, seemed never to 

 know when to go to roost ; they were singing at all hours ; when the 

 sun was shining far above the horizon at 10 and 11 o'clock, p.m. 

 They must have been puzzled ; and indeed, I think, that like the Nor- 

 wegians themselves, they sleep through the long and dark winters, 

 and make the most of the short, but brilliant summers, by resting as 

 little as possible ; and then, only at such times and in such places as 

 they happen to be, when thoroughly tired. 



The Common Partridge (Perdix cinerea). I had thought the par- 

 tridge to be so hardy a bird, as to be found in every climate ; and was 

 surprised to hear that he was a rara avis in Norway, and never pene- 

 trates beyond the extreme south of the country. As I was never on 

 land in Norway, south of Christiania, and I understand the partridge 

 never reaches higher north than the latitude of that city, of course I 

 never saw him. I cannot comprehend that law of nature which ena- 

 bles a bird, as the blue-throated warbler, whose habitat is essentially 

 a warm and southern land, and whose appearance at once bespeaks 

 him to be delicate, to penetrate into the heart of Norway ; whilst it 

 forbids the partridge, who can brave our frequently severe winters in 

 England, to visit beyond the extreme south of the country. 



Alfred Charles Smith. 



Old Park, Devizes, 



February 5, 1851. 



(To be continued). 



