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WILD NORWAY. 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
WILD-LIFE IN FOREST AND FJELD. 
Studies of some Few of the Chief Typical Species 
Characteristic of the Scandinavian Fauna. 
Great forest-areas, no less than high mountain-alti¬ 
tudes, are everywhere unfavourable both to variety and 
abundance of animal-life. The comparative meagreness 
of the fauna of the high-fjeld region has already been 
alluded to—in Chapter VIII. and elsewhere. Nor are 
the deep forests at all more prolific; neither in Norway 
nor in Sweden has ornithological research reaped any 
due reward in these great coniferous regions, and I will 
waste no space in ascribing to the Scandinavian woods 
an interest beyond what they do possess. True, there 
are forest-loving forms. There are the woodpeckers and 
crossbills, with tits, creepers, goldcrests, and the like; 
there are the birds of prey and the owls—many of them 
interesting enough, as will be duly noticed. Still, one 
may wander for days through deep forests without 
seeing much sign of life beyond mosquitoes and ants, 
whose nests stand six feet high, and spiders’ webs on 
a giant scale that, in spring, resemble shambles. 
It is where the fj eld lowers to lesser altitudes, where 
