Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/475

 Rh avifauna, and in some parts of the world they have been domesticated. Bratvær (Smölen) is just outside of Christiansund, a place situated about midway on the coast of Norway.

Although wild specimens, the four male eiders seen swimming in Fig. 6 were so tame that they were coaxed ashore by having food thrown to them. The three spotted individuals in the picture are birds that are in the process of assuming their summer plumage. We have in this illustration an excellent view of the character of the off-lying rocky islands of this region.

In Norway they do not have nearly the number of species of owls that we have in our avifauna here in the United States, but still they have a few interesting different kinds. As a matter of fact, in the former country only about six or seven species occur, while over forty species and subspecies are known to inhabit the latter. Of these one or two are common to both countries, as, for example, the well-known snowy owl, and others. Again the little Tengmalm's owl is a common form in Norway, and we have a subspecific race of it in our avifauna. While rambling through the pine forests of Ringebo, Gudbrandsdalen, Professor Collett frequently met with Tengmalm's owl and obtained photographs of it. One of the most interesting captured of this kind is shown in Fig. 7.

As every sportsman who has hunted through Norway knows, the most numerous and important game bird is the ptarmigan, there designated as the 'rype.' It occurs in great numbers, not only on the islands off the coast, but also in similar regions inland, that is, in the fjelds region, or the birch and willow belts. Moreover, they are extremely plentiful on the treeless island of Smölen, in the bailiwick of Nordmöre, where recently they have been hunted with dogs, though the former practise was to snare them.

Several species and subspecies of ptarmigan occur in different parts of the United States, principally in the northwest and through Alaska, while in Norway the common form prevails—the Lagopus lagopus of science. A beautiful picture of the nest of one of the latter is shown in Fig. 8. The site selected by the bird was among the roots of several gnarled and twisted birch trees, which are peculiar to the upper birch forests where alone they occur, for, strange to relate, these same birch trees grow quite straight and perpendicular in the lowlands, constituting a difference I am at present unable to explain. It will be noticed that there are but seven eggs in this nest, while a ptarmigan may lay at least three more to complete the clutch. Ptarmigans are white in winter, but tawny and mottled in their summer plumage, so when the female is sitting upon her nest she harmonizes very well with her surroundings. Professor Collett photographed this specimen while she was sitting, but he tells me the picture is not a success.