201 



bftfds were observed in the valley of the Maalselv and on the banks 

 of the Altenelv, in the summer of 1872. 



Abundant in the more thickly populated districts, such as Alten 

 and Tanadalen; in the remote coastal region it is also met with 

 on some of the fishing grounds, through not on all, and generallv 

 but a single pair is observed in one spot. At the mouth of the 

 Porsangerfjord, I found it on Tamsø and Kistrand, but it did not occur 

 at Gjæsvær, near the North Cape. 



Individuals have at long intervals been found wintering on the 

 south coast, near Stavanger, for instance in 1871—72. 



The University Museum was presented with an albino, shot 

 in the neighbourhood of Christiania in July 1872. 



In May 1871, a specimen of the form M. Yarrclli, Gould, 

 was presented to the Bergen Museum by my friend Mr. Friele; it 

 hadbeen shot in the neighbourhood of the town, where this form 

 has been observed several times. In the present example, the 

 back was wholly black, the feather tips of the rump and upper 

 tail coverts gray. 



Motacilla fl av a, Lin. (forma nigricapilla, Bonap,). 



Common in all fertile and grassy spots round Tromsø, in the 

 Valley of the Maalselv, and in Alten; I found it on the Porsanger- 

 fjord as far out as Kistrand, but not nearer the coast, and it 

 does not occur at all on the most northern fishing-grounds. In 

 like manner, it occurs in East Finmark. 



Every where in Finmark, I found, besides the normal black- 

 hooded males, several other males (possibly immature examples) 

 with the crown of a light bluish green and a faint white super- 

 ciliary stripe: it was plain, however, that such individuals could 

 not belong to the true Motacilla flara: they merely indicated a 

 transition stage approaching to it. In some few of the females, 

 shot at the same time (middle of June), the crown was of a uni- 

 form greyish green, a white stripe being distinjctly visible above the 

 eye. The gradual fading or wearing off of the colours in the course 

 of the summer, would seem to acc^m^oj^he difference in plumage. 



Motacilla alba, Lin. 



