122 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



willow, studded with lakes and bogs where the migrants from the 

 south come to nest and hatch out their young. In this notice, 

 however, we have to deal solely with that part of Norway within 

 the Arctic circle. Some knowledge of the birds which resort 

 thither, and of the exquisite beauty of the fauna and flora, cannot 

 fail largely to enhance the interest and pleasure of the traveller, and 

 it is particularly on these grounds that this little work should be in 

 the hands of all who intend to visit the land of the midnight sun. 

 Prof. Collett divides Norway into three natural zones : — 



I. The coast district and island belt up to the North Cape. 

 II. The deep fjords of the Arctic Ocean, and river basins in 



East Finmark. 

 III. The interior plateaux. 



The further north we travel on the Norwegian coast we find 

 that, although the species decrease, the number of individual 

 birds increase, and nowhere perhaps is bird life more richly 

 displayed than on the furthest shores of Europe facing the Arctic 

 Ocean, in — 



" A land that is lonelier than ruin, 

 A sea that is stranger than death." 



One of the most remarkable of the many bird-rocks is the 

 Svaerholtlubb, a little to the east of North Cape ; it is perhaps the 

 largest and most densely populated station in the world, and is 

 almost exclusively occupied by the Kittiwake. Here are concen- 

 trated millions of birds on cliff- walls about 900 feet in height. 

 Prof. Collett calculates that for every breeding pair (with entirely 

 white head) there are eight to ten young individuals, distinguished 

 by the black ring on the nape, which are not breeding. This 

 enormous colony of Kittiwakes appear to subsist chiefly on small 

 crustaceans, enormous masses of which are moved to and fro by 

 the currents and form the food of Rudolph's Whale and the 

 gigantic Sibbald's Whale. 



It is remarkable that several pelagic species found in the 

 more open parts of the Atlantic and the Faroes do not nest 

 anywhere along the Norwegian coast-line, such as the Storm and 

 Fork-tailed Petrels, the Gannet, and the Manx and Greater 

 Shearwater and Fulmar ; these, although occurring more or less 

 off the coast, do not breed. 



On scattered lands within the mystic circle of the Arctic Seas 



