BIRD LIFE IN ARCTIC NORWAY. 127 



The lovely Steller's Eider does not breed nearer than the 

 Murram coast, the north-west corner of Russia between Norway 

 and the White Sea, but it occurs in large numbers in the Varanger 

 Fjord in winter. We can recollect the time when this very rare 

 wanderer to the British coasts, then better known as Steller's 

 Western Duck, was, in our imagination, scarcely second in value 

 and rarity to the Red-breasted Goose, and even the Great Auk 

 itself. Now, thanks to Arctic exploration, we know much more 

 of its haunts and habits. An idea of the immense number to be 

 found east of the Taimyr peninsula and in Bering's Straits may 

 be gathered from the observation of Mr. E. W. Nelson, the 

 naturalist who accompanied the United States Revenue Cutter 

 'Corwin' in 1881, and also from more recent narratives of 

 exploration in those high northern latitudes. In the cruise of 

 the * Corwin,' Steller's Eider is said to be excessively common 

 on the north coast of Siberia and about Cape Wankarem in 

 August, in company with an equal number of King Eiders and a 

 few Pacific Eiders. The narrative states that " soon after the 

 expedition came to anchor off the native village the body of birds 

 arose from the estuary a mile or two beyond, and came streaming 

 out in a flock which appeared endless ; it was fully three to four 

 miles in length, and considering the species which made up this 

 gathering of birds, was enough to make an enthusiastic ornitholo- 

 gist wild with a desire to possess some of the beautiful specimens 

 which were filing by within gunshot of the vessel." 



It is interesting to know what are the small European birds 

 which succeed in braving the winter in the birch-woods of 

 Tromso; these are Parus borealis, the Lesser-spotted and the 

 Three-toed Woodpeckers, some Yellowhammers, Tree Sparrows, 

 Bullfinches, Mealy Redpolls, and Golden-crested Wrens, a solitary 

 Tree Creeper, and rarely the Long-tailed Titmouse; and amongst 

 the larger birds the Siberian Jay, one of the most amusing and 

 entertaining birds in the northern forests. The Common Sparrow 

 has succeeded in reaching Oxfjord, just south of Hammerfest, 

 but it is to be hoped will find the winter too cold to stay in those 

 high latitudes ; this has been the case in Greenland, where, from 

 the latest accounts, the Sparrow seems, from the damp and cold 

 climate, unable to hold its own. 



Some resident northern birds, as the Magpie, Lesser Spotted 

 Woodpecker, and the Northern Marsh Tit, and some others, show 



