106 
WILD NORWAY. 
luxuries brought in the knapsacks. The rough wooded 
slope swarmed with fieldfares, whose conspicuous nests 
studded the birches. These birds continue nesting over 
a very long period. In the Sogne-Fjord I found eggs 
just “chipping” in May, and both there and in Tele¬ 
mark young were hatched out early in June (on the 
3rd) ; yet in Lapland, as late as July 23rd (though 
some young birds were already on the wing), I had no 
trouble in finding several fresh clutches of eggs. We 
also found here (June 19th) two nests of redwing, both 
built among the moss 
at the foot of gnarled 
birch stumps, and each 
containing six eggs; also 
two nests of willow-wren 
and one of redpole. A 
sad episode occurred 
while we sat smoking 
our pipes. One of our 
friendly little wagtails 
was tripping along the 
shore, not fifteen yards 
away, when, from be¬ 
hind, a merlin swept down and carried him off before 
we could interfere. 
Going afloat again, we observed two of the big 
divers; but, though they sat quite embayed, and 
I was anxious to secure one, they beat us easily, dis¬ 
appearing without a ripple and not reappearing till 
quite a quarter of a mile outside the boat; while at 
straight-ahead swimming we soon found they could 
give us fifty yards in a hundred. The pursuit took 
