Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/220

194 lower down. Wolves, however, were common about this place, and the birch-woods were full of their tracks. One night we had a great chase after a big fellow that had approached the steadings, toiled after him with the rifle about two miles up a hill-side, through knee-deep snow, but only had our labour for our pains, for he wouldn't let us come within shot. A little boy had had one threatening him the day before, on the road a mile or so away from the station, and had much ado to keep it off by shouting and throwing stones; and a friend, whom we met here accidentally, came suddenly on another, snarling and snapping in the middle of a lonely wood. Not being armed with any more trenchant weapon than a walking-stick, he politely retired backwards and stepped into a deep bog, from which he had considerable difficulty in extricating himself. Red Foxes were seen several times by the side of the road.

We had, unfortunately, to leave for home on the 16th of June, and were thus unable to wait for the nesting of many birds, whose eggs we could assuredly have procured but for want of time. Having given ourselves the least possible margin to catch the steamer at Christiania, we had to carriole nearly night and day to Lillehammer, where we took the boat down the Mjösen lake to Eidsvold, the railway terminus. Naturally, under conditions of this sort, there was very little recourse to the note-book.

The following are the notes we made on all the species of birds met with during our tour:—

Golden Eagle. Aquila chrysaëtus.—At Grut, in Meldal, we procured an unblown egg of this species, taken the year before from an eyrie in the neighbouring mountains, at which time both birds had been shot for the sake of the half-dollar which is paid by the Government for the destruction of all the larger birds of prey. The man who killed them paid a visit to the place before our departure, but there were no fresh tenants. This he did in the early morning, before anybody was up; we suppose because he was afraid we might cause him to be forestalled in the event of a future occupancy; we could not be vexed with him as he was hardly compos mente.

Merlin. Falco æsalon.—While I was slung over the cliff after the Rough-legged Buzzard on the Dovre, June 13th, a male Merlin flew past me, the only one observed.

Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus.—A nest was taken from a wood