142 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND.. 



in the grass before the latter can fly, and shoot the 

 old males when they are moulting and have lost 

 their pinion feathers. I was, I must say, rather 

 disappointed with the duck-shooting here, for, 

 owing to the want of bulrushes, reeds, and other 

 high covert, the young birds so soon become wild 

 and take .to the open water that they generally 

 rise out of shot ; I could, however, manage to bag 

 ten or twelve strong flyers any evening early in 

 August. This was a very bad season for butterfly 

 collecting, owing to the high wind and cold dull 

 days on the fells ; and the rarest fell butterfly, the 

 Colias Boothii (which they call here the "verdandi," 

 and which appears to be confined to only one fell 

 range in this neighbourhood), did not show. I 

 remarked, however, that most of the butterflies 

 had disappeared by August 1st. I only heard 

 thunder once up here — in fact, they say that a 

 thunder storm is of rare occurrence. About 

 August 13th they were in the middle of the hay 

 harvest. The cows and horses were turned out 

 into the forest about the middle of June, and 

 would probably remain there till early in Septem- 

 ber. The barley was quite green when we left, 

 and it appeared very doubtful to me whether it 

 would ever ripen. About the second week in 

 August the weather cleared, and on August 21st 

 we left Quickiock, improved in " limb, wind, and 



