THE LAND OF FJELD AND FJORD. 
15 
in vain, there do occur those scattered oases of excep¬ 
tional interest, some of which are hereinafter described. 
These, in my opinion, are yet but little known, and 
their exploration offers the highest promise of ornitho¬ 
logical reward. Thirdly, there are the low-lying, 
sheltered valleys, where bird-life is hardly less varied 
than at home, where warblers sing, and the most tender 
forms find abundant insect-food and a congenial home. 
An essential element is found in the fact that bird- 
migration to Norway sets from the east, not from the 
west—that is, her feathered population arrives each 
spring rather by way of the Baltic and Russian terri¬ 
tories than across the North Sea. This fact also 
explains the presence in North Norway of several species 
which are scarce or unknown in the south, and imparts 
an eastern or east-Arctic quality to the feathered 
population. 
The Norsk avifauna is not of that northern type 
that the relatively high latitude would suggest. Its 
characteristic species are all birds of temperate tastes. 
This is explained by the influence of the Gulf Stream 
which, along the whole western coast, maintains an 
equable temperature and an ice-free winter sea. Com¬ 
pare the two sides of the Atlantic. Though opposite 
Bergen, South Greenland is smothered with glaciers, the 
like of which are not found in cis-Atlantic latitudes till 
one reaches Spitsbergen fifteen hundred miles north, 
and in Canada, the estuary of the St. Lawrence, 
though opposite the British Channel and north French 
coast, is ice-bound for half the year; yet Tromso and 
Hammerfest, two thousand miles north, rejoice in an 
open sea. 
