116 
WILD NORWAY. 
perched upon big rocks, or on the topmost branches 
of the birches. Guided by their anxiety, my eyes 
presently rested on the nest: a mere circular hollow 
containing a young bird (newly hatched) and two eggs, 
the latter “ chipping.” The youngster was prettily 
mottled with grey and black, shaded fawn-colour, with 
dark eyes, short, dusky bill, and blue legs. While 
examining the nest, which was surrounded by mire and 
moss-pools, Ivar signalled, and on looking round I 
observed a fox squatted on his haunches like a dog, 
on a big rock some seventy yards behind me. Before 
a ball-cartridge could be slipped in, he whipped round 
and disappeared, the last I saw being the swirl of a 
bushy brush. On the fell-edge we chanced on a red¬ 
shank’s nest, coming suddenly over a ridge upon the 
sitting bird ; and (about ten o’clock) among the topmost 
belts of scattered pines woodcocks were flighting hither 
and thither with a curious chic-chic sort of cry. 
A small loch, about four miles further east, yielded 
larger trout, and others each had some specific cha¬ 
racters of their own ; but in none of them hereabouts 
did we succeed in killing char, which are so abundant 
further north. 
II. Bird-life by the Riverside. 
On the evening of June 22nd, after finishing my 
water, having killed one sixteen-pounder, which came up 
with splendid dash just as I had reached the foot of the 
lowest pool for the third and last time, I spent an hour 
or two seeking for the nest of a pair of mergansers that 
always frequented a certain spot. In a long strip of 
