370 MR. J. H. gurney’s ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORWAY. 
ground to stumps of trees placed in their cage. They are not 
nearly so hardy as Bubo ignavus, and mind the cold more. 
I made the following notes on these Snowy Owls in confinement. 
When they want to drink they have a power of putting back the 
facial bristles from the beak in such a way as to partly conceal the 
eyes. The tongue is large and the mouth pink, and they can turn 
their heads round quite independently of their bodies, so as it were 
to face backwards, and do it without in any way ruffling the feathers 
of the neck. On a warm day in August, the hen was to be seen 
raising her wings, at the same time lowering the head and moving 
it from side to side with a low crooning note, indicative of pleasure 
and a desire to breed. The plumage of the head seems to be the 
last part to moult. The cock would sometimes hoot in the day- 
time. 
The Capercaillie, termed in Norwegian a “Tiur,” is found in the 
valley and down to the margin of Lesje lake, and is fairly common 
according to Micha, the station-master. H. saw three fly across 
the lake ; and I stumbled on a cock as he was feeding in a marshy 
place by its edge, where there were a great many Birch, a tree 
the “ Tiur ” is rather partial to. II. has also seen others, and they 
are not rare, though not easy to shoot. There is an old story about 
the Capercaillie that after death it swallows its tongue, which seems 
to be truer than it sounds ; for that organ is generally retracted so 
far by the hyoid bones, as to become nearly invisible when sought 
for.* The Norwegian Bishop, Pontoppidan, says Capercaillies bury 
themselves in the snow in winter, and that the Foxes find this out 
and kill them. 
The Black Grouse (Aarfugl. Male, Aarhane. Female, Aarhone) 
likes moist places, and can be sought for among the Birch trees, and 
especially where it is marshy. The Willow Grouse ( Lag opus albus, 
Skovripa) is not to be met with here : they will be found higher up 
the mountain where trees cease and the “fjeld” begins, but are not 
so common as they used to be, and neither this species nor the 
Black Grouse are easy to flush without a dog. H. put up ten 
Black Grouse on August 17th, and about seven more on September 
4th. In Christiania Museum there is a Blackcock assuming 
Greyhen’s plumage, which is much rarer than the converse, of 
which also there are examples. 
* Cf. Beckmann, ‘Field,’ December 31st, 1864. 
