YAi I '. VEh J, IHRAH r

3 9002 06750 0810

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bequest of
Ruth Walgreen Franklin
(Ruth Stephan)

TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN.

Post Svo, cloth gilt, price 10-*. Qd.j
A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND,
WITH NOTES ON THB FAUNA OP LTJLEA LAPMARK.
BT "AN OLD BUSHMAN,"
Anther of "Bush Wanderings in Australia,** "Ten Tears in Sweden," etc.

" "We trust that the *01d Bushman's' book may send many a true naturalist, and many a holiday maker
too, to the country that Lis book so well describes."— ^ader.
" As a book for general reading, * j4 Spring and Summer in Lapland' will be found one of the pleasantest
of the season. It is, however, as an ornithologist that he will be most appreciated by scientific men, and his
chapters on these subjects are filled with original observations that evince an earnest desire for truth as well
as unusual aptitude for this species of research." — Intellectual Observer.
•'The description of his being lost for nine hours at night in a snow storm ia distressingly vivid; we doubt
whether Defoe or George Elliot ever wrote anything finer in point of physical and psychological description.
There is an agonizing simphcit^, a depth, force and truth of detail which could hardly be surpassed, because
every touch is in the nature of the thmg." — Spectator.
"A volume which will be acceptable to the ornithologist and the Sportsman.'' — Observer.
"His notes abound in information."— jS^imi.
*' It was a good thought that took the ' Old Bushman ' on a hunting and naturalist's mission to Lapland.
His volume, teUiDg of the natural features of this district, and of the many animals that are almost its only
inhabitants, ie more full of new and solid matter than the majority of travel books, and therefore has greater
claims on the attention of men of science." — Examiner.
" There is no need to praise such books as this, which will attract and delight many readers. No review
does it justice." — Sta/ndard.
" These notes on Lapland wiU be very acceptable to lovers of Natural Histoiy, and particularly so to
students of ornithology." — Notes and Queries.
" As a chronicler of these facts, the * Old Bushman ' is strikingly conscientious. He has recorded nothing
¦which did not come under his own personal observation." — Saturday/ Review.
" Independently of the valuable zoological information, and the useful hints to sportsmen which are to be
found in its pages, the book abounds with iQustrative anecdotes, incidents of northern travel, the Author's
account of his being lost in the snow, and many other details of his experiences, render the * Old Bushman's *
work thoroughly worth reading."- ^i^entBum.
" What can the British sportsman require more ? Let him start at once to spend the * Spring and Sum
mer in Lapland,' and take the pleasant, carefully-written volume of the • Old Bushman ' in his pocket as—
neit to a circular note — his best travelling companion." — Daily News.

GROOMBEIDaE & SONS, 5, Paternoster Eow.

TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN

A DESCEIPTION

LANDSCAPE, CLIMATE, DOMESTIC LIFE, FORESTS,
MINES, AGRICULTURE, FIELD SPORTS,
AND FAUNA OF SCANDINAVIA.

BT
"AN OLD BUSHMAN,"
AVTHOB. OP " BUSH WAUDEHINGS IN AUSTRALIA," " A SPRING AND
SUMMER IN LAPLAND," ETC.

*' Here the dark woods with many a patriarch tree
In gloomy melancholy gaze on thee ;
Here rocks on rocks up-piled upon the strand,
Seem the vast structure of some giant's hand.
While high above, the lucid meteors glow,
And veins of iron in the mountains flow.*' — TEGIfXB.

LONDON:
GEOOMBEIDGE AND SONS, PATEENOSTEE EOW.
MDCCCLXV.

UiHKILD, P^^'I'^^R, IuOHDOS.

TO
MT OLD FRIENDS IN SWEDEN,
IN EEMEMBEANCE
or MANY A HAPPY DAT SPENT AMONG YOU,
AND AS A
SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
OP MANY AN ACT OP KINDNESS EECEITED,
THIS WOEK IS
BT "AN OLD BUSHMAN."

INTRODUCTION.

o»;o

The man who sits down to write a faithfal account of a
foreign country, in which he has resided for any length of
time, has, strange as it may appear, a far more difficult task
before him, than he who travels hastily through it, takes
as it were a bird's-eye view of the land and its inhabitants,
jots down in his note-book his remarks on men, manners,
and tlungs in general, and then gives to the world a de
scription of the country, and the people, as they appeared
to him during a flying visit; a description too often coloured
by hasty and erroneously formed opinions. It matters not
to him whether he gives pleasure to the inhabitants of the
country, which he may never see again, by a flattering
remark, or wounds their feelings, by an ill-formed opinion.
He finds fault with manners and customs, solely because he
is unused to them. He is too apt to jump at conclusions and
form ideas, which a closer study of the subject would often
convince him were wrong, and on this account too much
faith should never be placed, on thfe casual observations of
a mere traveller.
But if snch a man were likely to err by forming too
hasty an opinion, he is nearly certain to avoid falling into an
error from which a foreigner, "who has resided for some years

viii INTEODUCTION.
in the country, will perhaps find it difficult to escape. The
latter must necessarily have gained something like a par-
tiahty for the land (or he would not have remained in it) ;
he must have received many an act of kindness from, and
probably made many a good friend among, the people with
whom he has been so long associated, and it would be an
act of base ingratitude, to say nothing of its inconsistency,
if after having, as it were, eaten of their salt for so long
a time, he were to tum round and abuse his kind enter
tainers directly he left their board. But still, if a man once
undertakes the grave task of describing a country, and the
habits of a people, he has a public duty to perform, and
unless he can draw the picture with an impartial hand,
he had better by far leave it alone. To give praise only
where it is due, to avoid unjust censure, and above all, never
to sacrifice plain truth to flattery, should be his invariable
motto. Such, at least, shall be mine, and although I trust that
not a single remark in the following pages will wound the
feelings of a Swede, I hope that not one of my own country
men will ever have it in his power at a future day to say
he has been misled by my statements, or formed a dif
ferent opinion of Sweden and the Swedes ,from a perusal
of this book, than future experience wiU warrant him in
retaining. It is on this account that I set about my task with no
little reluctance, fearfal of being accused of partiality, for
candour forces me to confess that my heart warms towards
old Sweden. During more than ten years' residence in the
country, I have invariably received the greatest kindness from
all. From the first moment I set foot in the country, I was
treated far more like a friend, than a stranger, and if ever

INTEODUCTION. ix
I was reminded that I was not one of them, it was to
prove to me that the hearts of the good-natured Swedes
warmed towards the foreigner. " I charge you nothing,
because you are a stranger," was the reply of a good
doctor in Carlstad, who had attended me for three weeks
in a case of ague, to my question as to what was his
fee. This simple sentence spoke volumes. It would there
fore ill' become me to turn round and speak badly of the
inhabitants of a country, after having for so long a time
received daily proofs of their simple, warm-hearted kind
ness. Among people Hke these, it is indeed a man's own fault
if he cannot get on. I conformed as much as possible
to the habits of the people among whom I was thrown,
and was treated with uniform kindness and civility. I
endeavoured to comply with their manners and customs,
and did not — as too many English travellers are in the
habit of doing — go about abusing and finding fault with
trifles, or make invidious comparisons between this country
and England. I behaved with courtesy to the gentlemen,
with kindness and hberality to the peasants, and neither
were thrown away. If I wished for fishing, or shooting,
I never had the sUghtest difficulty in obtaining it, if I
went the right way to work; and if ever I have met
with any jealousy, it has invariably been at the hands of
my own countrymen.
A want of kindness and courtesy towards the stranger
is certainly not among the faults of the Swedes, and I can
pretty confidently say, that there are few other countries in
Europe, where an Enghshman is better received than in
Sweden. English travellers are exploring every comer of the

X INTEODUCTION.
globe, men now " scamper through " lands, which twenty
years ago they knew only on the map, and I have
no doubt that more than one traveller who has " done "
Sweden, has given the Enghsh his opinion of the country
and its inhabitants. But strange to say, the only book
I know which gives anything like a correct idea of
the country, and more especially of that talismanic attrac
tion to the British wanderer, its " field sports," is Lloyd's
"Northern Field Sports," and as that book was written
some years since, and Sweden has, hke all other countries,
undergone a considerable change since that date, I make
no apology for introducing this little work to the Enghsh
reader ; believing that many a brother naturahst and
sportsman, would run over and enjoy a ramble in this land
of " flood and fell," if he only knew how easily such a trip
might be performed, and had something like an accurate
idea of what sport he was likely to meet with, and what
treatment he would receive at the hands of the inhabi
tants. I may here observe, however, that I do not flatter my
self that the contents of the following pages are altogether
new or original. Of course I have been much indebted to
others, for the information which they contain. Without
Agardth's and Ljunberg's statistics, I could never have
completed my task, and without the aid of Nilsson I should
never have been able to lay before the reader, so complete
an account of the Scandinavian fauna as I have done. I
have, however, added much matter which has come under •
my own personal observation, and, whenever I have
quoted anything I have taken as much pains as I
could to ascertain its correctness. I therefore confidently
think that the reader may pretty well rely upon the

INTEODUCTION. xi
truth of everything, which he reads in the foUowing

We have no booh in England that I know of upon
the Scandinavian fauna, which is, perhaps, as rich as that of
any country in Europe ; and I think, therefore, that the
chapter relating to this subject will be found the most in
teresting in the whole book, giving, as it does, a complete
list of every mammal, bird, reptile, and fish met with at the
present day in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland,
with the locaUties which each frequents, and notices of the
habits of the rarer species.
For a great part of the matter contained in the chapter
relating to the statistics, and general description of the
country, its mines, and its forests, I am indebted to
" Agardth's Statistics," a masterly and carefully compiled
work, which ought to be in the library of every Swede.
Much of the chapter relating to the agriculture of the
country, is from my own personal observations, during a ten
years' residence among farmers in difl'erent parts of Sweden,
and I beg here to observe that the opinions which I give
are solely my own. I have certainly received a httle assist
ance in the calculations, but nothing more. Many friends
ofiered to revise this chapter for me, but I would not
allow it ; and if any of my ideas or surmises are wrong
or iU founded, the whole fault rests upon my own
shoulders. My chapter on the domestic life of the Swedes is just
what I found it myself, and I have given what little informa
tion I was able from my own experience respecting the
field sports of the country.
I have done my best to render my book amusing as well
as instructive. My " Spring and Summer in Lapland " gave

xii INTEODUCTION.
a good, but perhaps succinct, account of the fauna and field
sports of that country, and my " Ten Tears in Sweden "
-will, I trust, do the same as regards Sweden. I have taken
equal pains with both, and, as in my Lapland book, so in
the following pages, I have stated nothing for which I had
not a good foundation.
But I must observe that if the reader expects to hear
of perils and dangers incurred in the chase of the bear, or
of extraordinary bags of game, or catches of salmon, he
wiU be altogether disappointed. I never kiUed a bear all
the time I was in Sweden, and as for my game book and
fishing journal, I should be ashamed to show them to any
brother sportsman.
But this has been my own fault. I could, I dare say,
with very Uttle trouble, have been in at the death of a bear,
and I have lived in the vicinity of many excellent trout
streams, without troubling myself much about the fish that
were in them. Not that I am less fond of the sport than
any other Englishman who has been bred to a country life.
My time, however, has always been otherwise occupied, in
studying the fauna of this magnificent land; and, except
just when the snipe and ducks were well in, I seldom cared
to fire a shot at any other bird than a rare specimen. Still
my occupation of coUecting has taken me from Falsterbo
Eeef to Quickiock, Lapland, and thrown me much among
sportsmen of aU grades. I have seen the country in
various districts, and at different seasons. I have had good
opportunities of studying the habits and dispositions of
the lower classes, in my various coUecting rambles, and I
have read the character of the higher orders in that most
searching of aU tribunals, the privacy of the domestic
circle.

INTEODUCTION. xiii
With this preface I introduce my new work to the British
naturalist, sportsman, and traveller ; and if my " Ten Years
in Sweden " is only half as well received as my " Spring
and Summer in Lapland" has been, I shall be perfectly
satisfied, and deem that my time and trouble have not been
thrown away.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAHB
The Area of Scandinavia  1
Money ............ 4
Weights and Measures .... .... 6
Population  7
Divisions of Sweden .  9
The CLiMiTE  10
Vbset ATION — Limits of Trees and Cereals  18
The Soil and Surface of the Land  23
Metals and Minerals  .25
The Iron Mines  26
The Gellivake Iron Fields  26
The Forests  32
Export of Timber  46
Agricultural Statistics  51
Export of Corn  54
Number of Cattle in the Country  68
Commerce and Manufactures . "  62
Merchant Navy  64
Sea Fisheries  66
Game and Skins as a Source of Eevekue to the Country . 70
Eailways  71
Postal Arrangements  72
The Eivers and Lakes  73
The Government  76
Eeligion . . . •  • . 76
Universities  81
Laws  82
The Swedish Army ... ... . . 86
The Navy . . . •  89
Annual Expenditure op the Country . . . . 90
Taxes  . .90

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE II. PiGB
Advice to Travellers  92
Gothenburg  93
Advice how and -where to Settle in the Country . . • 9*
Expenses of Living in the Country ... . • .96
Carlstad  . 98
Hints to Sportsmen  99
My Mode op Life  102
Description op the General Habits op the People . . ¦ 110
Education  . . 119
Domestic Habits op the Swedes  121

CHAPTEE III.
Devoted altogether to the Agriculture of the Country . 124
CHAPTEE IV.
On the Swedish Field Sports and Fishing, ¦with Short Notices
of all Game, Animal or Bird, Indigenous to the Country,
AND the Localities they pebquent  166
CHAPTEE V.
A List op every Animai, pound in Scandinavia,' Finland, and
Denmark, Sclentipically Arranged, ¦with a Short Descrip
tion of Each.
Mammals  207
Birds  . 249
Birds op Spitzbergen  439
Birds of Greenland  , . 444
Eeptiles  451
Fishes  168

TEN YEAES U SWEDEK

o>«o

CHAPTEE L

G-eneral Statistical Account of the Country — Its Q-eographioal Limits —
Climate — Population — Vegetation — Mines — Forest — Agriculture —
Mauufacturea — Commerce — Govemment and Eeligion.
The entire area of the Scandinavian continent, including
Sweden, Norway, and Lapland, may be computed at about
13,798 geographical square nules, or 292,700 square Enghsh
mUes, of which Sweden contains 170,000, and is conse
quently nearly three times as large as England and Wales
together. The whole continent is under one government,
ruled by the same king, although Sweden and Norway
have separate parHaments, that of the former being called
the " Diet," of the latter the " Storthing." Norway is
much more democratic in its principles than Sweden, and
I beheve the laws are freer. The two countries hold
much the same relative positions towards each other as
England and Scotland, and about the same kind of feehng
exists between the inhabitants of either country.
It has often struck me that there is a general resem
blance between these four countries, and the manners of
the people. The featm-es of the Norwegian landscape
are ¦wilder and more barren than that of Sweden. The
Swedes more resemble the English in many points of
their character, the Norwegians the Scotch. Both nations
appear outwardly to be on very good terms with each
other, although they really, I believe, bear one another

2 TEN TEAES IN SWEDEN.
iio very hearty good will. Still I do not think that there
is any likeUhood, at present at least, of any serious break
out between them. Upon my asking an old Swedish friend
in a general way his opinion of the Norwegians, I received
the foUo-wing laconic reply : " There are two things they
can do very well, deal in horses, and pack herrings ;" and,
doubtless, the Norwegians have much about the same
exalted opinion of the Swedes. Of Norway, however, I
know Httle or nothing. Sweden was my home during my
residence in the north, and it is of Sweden and the Swedes
alone that I shall speak.
The general features of the two countries (save that
Norway is far less fertile, and more mountainous) and the
habits of the people are much alike. One language ¦wiUpass
current in both, although there is a considerable difference
in the pronunciation. The scenery of Norway is much
grander, and the salmon rivers in that country are de
cidedly better than any we have in Sweden, at least they
are far better kno^wn to the British fishermen, although
for trout fishing I fancy one country is about as good as
the other. As for shooting both countries are much alike.
The same game abounds in both, and if a man is camped
near the great dividing feU range between the two countries
I don't believe it matters a pin on which side he were sta
tioned. Of course knowing Sweden, I should prefer the
Swedish side, and I may here remark that everything is
much dearer (nearly 100 per cent.) in Norway than in
Sweden. The people, as far as I could see, are prouder,
and I do not believe the peasants are so accommodating
(certainly more grasping) than in Sweden.
The total area of Sweden itself is 3868 Swedish square
mUes (or 8046 geographical), with a relative population of
about 1000 inhabitants on each square Swedish mUe.
Norway has an area of 2761 Swedish square miles, -vnth a
population of about 550 on each square mile.
The only foreign possession belonging to Sweden is the
Uttle island of Saint Bartholomew in the West Indies, with
about 3000 inhabitants.

STATISTICAL ACCOUNT. 3
According to Agardth the total area of Sweden is 3868
Swedish square miles; although its actual surface, on
account of its mountains and valleys, is much larger. Of
this about 498 Swedish square miles, or one-eighth part, is
taken up by lakes, etc. (in Norway the proportion of lakes
is as one-twentieth).

Lakes ....

Swedish
square miles.
. 498

Meadow and cultivated land

. 247

PeUs and barren plains

. 1500

Forests ....

. 1623

3868
According to Hahr's chart, the whole area of Sweden,
including lakes, forests, etc., but exclusive of islands, is now
80,826,056 tunnland or Swedish acres.
In 1656, under Charles Gustavus, the whole Swedish
territory extended over 12,470 Swedish square mUes; and
in 1856 (200 years after), under Oscar I., it was reduced to
about one-half, or 6625 Swedish square mUes.
The surface of Sweden is not nearly so mountainous as
that of Norway. The highest mountain in Sweden is SuU-
telma, in Lulea Lapland, about 6342 feet above the level of
the sea. The highest in Norway is Skagastolstend, about
8670 feet high. More than one-half of Norway Ues higher
than 2000 feet above the sea, and one-thirty-eighth of the
whole land is covered with perpetual snow. While on the
contrary in Sweden only about one-twelfth part of the whole
country lies at so great an elevation, and about one-third of
the whole land Ues less than 300 feet above the sea, and
south of the Dal river there is not a mountain 2000 feet
high. From Falsterbo Eeef, the most southerly point of
Sweden, to the North Cape (which, however, lies in Norway)
it is about 1200 Enghsh mUes as the crow flies, and the mean
breadth of Sweden is 200. It is divided on the east from
Eussian Finland by the large Tomea, Munio, and Tana

4 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
rivers ; from Norway on the west by a clearly defined fell
range running right do-wn between the two countries as far
at least as the Lake Famund, where, strange to say, it
branches off' to the east, wanders through Sweden to the
south, foUo^wing the west coast of the Lake Vettern, thence
through Suraland down into Scania, passes under the
Baltic into the Island of Bornholm, where it again rises in
Eittarknekten (500 feet high), one of the highest
mountains in Denmark, the last of the great Scandinavian
fell range.
On all other sides Sweden is encircled by seas ; by the
Bothnia and the Baltic on the east, by the Cattegat and
North Sea on the south. Its extent of coast is 620 Swedish
mUes. It extends from 55° 20' to 69° 4' north latitude ;
and from 28° 26' to 41° 50' east longitude.
As I shall, especially in the present chapter, often have
occasion to refer to the Swedish money, weights, measures
and distances, I insert the following table (as they now
stand) for a guide to the reader, adding that -within the last
two years, eleven alterations have taken place, especially in
the weights and measures. SWEDISH MONET.
The money in circulation is calculated by —
Eix-doUars, Eixmint (rqr. rmt.).
Eix-doUars, Banco (rqr. bco.).
SkUlings (sk.), both rmt. and bco.
Ore (6.)
2 Ore are about equal to 1 skilling.
48 SkUUngs (100 ore) about equal 1 rqr. rmt.
1 Eqr. Emt. and 24 sk. about equal 1 rqr. bco.
The Norwegian currency is rather different, more like
the Danish.
In exchanging EngUsh money (and Bank of England
notes or gold can be always changed in Gothenburg or
Stockholm, and often in the country), the pound sterUng

STATISTICAL ACCOUNT. 5
should realize 18 rqr. rmt., or 12 rqr. bco. The exchange,
however, is varying, and I never yet obtained the full ex
change, rarely, however, less than 17 rqr. rmt. and 50 6.
I may add now that an English bank is established in
Gothenburg, the traveller or English resident in Sweden
will in future be far more independent of the money
changers on the Gothenburg Bourse, who have till now had
a pretty good monopoly in their hands, and discounted
English bills quite as if they were conferring an obligation
on the seller, when they knew at the time that their own
Swedish money was valueless in England.
Formerly fusty old paper notes as low as 3 o. were in
circulation. You now never see a paper note under 1 rqr.,
and these, ¦with others for large sums up to 100 rqr., are
in general circulation.
The old Swedish copper money was very curious. I
have in my possession an old copper coin of 1731, value
about 2s. 6d., 10 inches square, weighing about six
pounds. Every note is clearly and properly stamped -with its value.
I beheve all the banks are pretty safe, but I fancy it would
be as well for the traveller to procure Gothenburg or Stock
holm notes, and by all means to have them as new as he
can. When changing a large note, he will always find the
changer anxious to slip in as many ragged old notes as he
can. Eefuse these at once, for perhaps up country they
won't pass. Norwegian notes are as well refused also, for
although they wUl pass on the border to-wns in Wermland
and no doubt are as good as Swedish paper, they are often
refused, and are always difficult to change. Moreover, such
is the desire of the Uttle dealers here to turn a penny, that
I have actually had commission charged me on changing a
Norwegian note worth about 10s. in a little Swedish town
not far from the frontier.
But I cannot find much fault with this, for I recollect
once on my passage from Gothenburg to Hull by one of the
English boats, I wanted to pay my fare to the captain, an
Englishman (whose business of course lay quite as much in

6 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Sweden as in England), in Gothenburg notes, which I had
just procured there in change for English money at the rate
of 17 rqr. and 24 sk. to the English poimd. He refused
to take my Swedish money unless I gave it to him after the
rate of 19 rqr. to the pound. Unfortunately I had only
one pound English money, which I wanted to take me up
to London, so I was obliged to comply -with his demand.
" Punch " used to have some joke about the " Great
! Eastern " being the greatest " screw " in the world, and I
think this captain should have commanded her.
LONG MEASUEB AND gUPBEPICIAL.
This table is copied out of Lloyd's "Northem Field
Sports," and has undergone no alteration since that Book
was ¦written :
1 Swedish foot is equal to ll^^ inches EngUsh.
38 Swedish feet equal 37 feet EngUsh.
5416 Swedish feet equal 1 English mUe.
1 Swedish ell (aln) is equal to 2 Swedish feet.
1000 Swedish ells equal 649 English yards.
1 Swedish mile or 18,000 Swedish eUs equal 6 miles 1140
yards EngUsh,
1 Swedish square mile is equal to 324,000,000 Swedish
square eUs.
1 Swedish square mile is equal to 23,142|- Swedish tunnland.
10,000 Swedish square miles equal 440,666-^ EngUsh
square miles.
1 Swedish tunnland (or acre) is equal to 14,000 Swedish
square eUs.
100 Swedish tunnland equal 122^^ EngUsh acres; 75t^o
Irish acres ; 96tV Scotch acres.
COEN MEASURE. _
The decimal system is now in general use, and aU the
French weights and measures, with their names, ¦wiU pro
bably be soon adopted. The cubit measure is now univer
saUy used in measuring corn, grain, etc.

STATISTICAL ACCOUNT. 7
1 Swedish tunna or barrel of corn is equal to Q-^ cubic
feet, or 4>-\^ bushels English.
1 English bushel is equal to 1 762 Swedish cubic feet.
The Swedish tunna is di-vided into 8 fjerdings, 36 kappa, 56
kanna.
LIQUID MEASUEB.
1 Swedish ankar is equal to 15 Swedish kanna.
1-i^ Swedish kanna is equal to 1 gallon English, or in round
numbers 1 English gallon is equal to 1^ Swedish kanna.
1 Swedish kanna is equal to 2 stocks, 8 quarters, 32 jungfru.
91^ kanna is equal to 1 EngUsh hogshead.
WEIGHT.
VictualUc is the standard weight of the country, and the
Swedish weights have lately been much simplffied. The
present weights are —
1 skalpund Swedish (sk.) victualUc is equal to 14-t-f- ounces
English avoirdupois.
1 centner or c^vrt. (ctnr.) is equal to 100 Swedish skalpund.
32 Iod equal 1 skalpund.
2 Iod equal 1 uns (ounce) Swedish.
The old Uspund (20 skalpund), and skeppund (20 lispund)
are no longer in use.
1 skeppund or 400 skalpund equal 300 avoirdupois or 320
victualUc weight.
The total population of Sweden at the present day may
be reckoned in round numbers at 4,000,000 or 500 on each
geographical square mile. These are all of the old Scan
dinavian race, if we except a few foreign settlers, 10,000
Fins, 5000 Laps of MongoUan race (in Norway I beUeve
there are 10,000 Laps), and about 1000 Jews.
The female sex, o^wing, it is said, to the wars in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, predominate over the
males at the rate of about 1059 to 1000. The population of
1863 was just double that of 1767.
As may be supposed in such a country the population is

8 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
very unequally divided, and the southern provinces are just
ten times more populous than the northern ones. The
eighteen pro-raices lying south of Dalaroe, 60° north latitude,
deducting the lakes, contain 2389 geographical quadrilateral
miles, and their population in 1860 was 3,228,178, - or
1357 to each geographical quadrilateral mile. While the six
northern pro-vinces whose area, exclusive of lakes, is 4839
geographical quadrilateral nules, contained only 631,550 in
habitants, or 130 to each geographical quadrilateral mile.
Thus Malmo Land in the very south had 3478, whilst
Norhotten, the most northerly province, had only thirty-
nine inhabitants to each geographical quadrilateral mile. The
proportion of the married people on land is about thirty-
three per cent. In towns not more than twenty-five per
cent., and in Stockholm not more than twenty-two per cent.
Stockholm is the capital town of Sweden, and the only
one of any size. Its population in 1861 was 116,496. Next
to this is Gothenburg, which has the principal English and
American trade, ¦with 38,504 inhabitants ; Norrkoping with
20,228; Malmo with 20,149; Carlscrona with 18,523; Gefle
with 11,219, and aU the rest with under 10,000.
About one-eighth of the whole population reside in
towns ; the other seven-eighths, or 3,500,000 are scattered
over the country in villages, hamlets, or detached buildings.
Out of 100 children born between the years 1856 and
1859 in Stockholm forty-two were iUegitimate; in the other
towns seventeen ; inland only seven (but this I think is too
little, at least in the country where I resided) .
So in the moral scale Stockholm appears to stand lower
than any town in Sweden. It is singular that in Stockholm
there appears to be a larger proportion of women over the
men than in any to-wn in Europe. In Stockholm French
fashions, I beUeve, are more in vogue than English.
Most of the Swedish to-wns are weU built, though still
a great deal of wood is used in building (and in this country
especially on land, I fancy a wooden house is better adapted
to the climate than a stone one, as being much warmer).
They are kept clean, lighted with gas, but usually ill-paved.

GEOGEAPHICAL LIMITS. 9
owing to the nature of the country ; the environs of many
are picturesque in the extreme.
The Swedish -villages are generally ugly, and never built
¦with any regularity. As everything must be kept under
cover during ¦winter, we never in the middle or north of the
country see a well-fiUed stack-yard or a good straw-yard.
The farm-houses are stuck here, there, and every where
¦without any regularity, the outhouses often in a dilapidated
condition, and so many buildings attached to each farm-house
that two or three will almost form a smaU viUage of them
selves. The churches, generally large, often standing far
from the village, are usuaUy painted clean white : and in
the ¦winter when the whole landscape is buried beneath a
sheet of snow, a northern village has a most chilling ap
pearance. Some of the wooden churches are very curious, and
the old belfry ¦with its single bell (or clock as they caU it
here) is often detached. In each northern burial ground is
a dead-house, where, during the winter all the corpses are
deposited till they can break the ground to dig the graves
in the spring.
Sweden is divided into three great lands and twenty-
four provinces : — Swedish
square miles.
1. Swea Eike, or Middle Sweden, with an
area of ..... . 954
2. Gota Land, or South Sweden . . 844
3. Norrland, or North Sweden . . . 2070

3868

Swea Rihe is divided into six provinces — Upland, Loder-
manland, Westmanland, Nerike, Wermland, and Dalecarlia.
This is the richest land in Sweden both for iron and timber.
The scenery of this district is magnificent.
Gota Land is divided into ten provinces— Eastern Gotland,
Western Gotland, Smaland, Blekinge, Skane, Halland, Bohus
Land, Dalsland and the Islands of Aland and Gothland.

10 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
This is by far the most fertile and populous part of Sweden.
The country is flatter and more open than in any other
part, is much better adapted to agriculture, and much of
it lying on the coast, the cUmate is milder than in the
interior. Norrland is di-vided into eight pro-vinces — Gestrikland,
Helsingland, Herjedalen, Jemtland, Medelpad, Angerman-
land, Westerbotten, and part of Lapland.
This is the wildest, barrenest, and yet, perhaps, the most
picturesque part of Sweden. It is little adapted to agricul
ture, but is in many parts rich in minerals, which cannot,
however, in the present state of the country, be rendered of
much use to man. The forests are large, but inaccessible in
many places. The timber gradually seems to become poorer
the further north we travel ; and in the very north the land,
save that it affords a scanty sustenance to the few inhabitants
that are scattered over its surface, appears to be of very Uttle
value to the rest of the country.
The Gli/mate. — As may well be expected, in such a diver
sified and wide- stretched land, the climate is very variable ;
and the north, the middle, and the south of Sweden have each
a climate of their own. The diff"erence of the mean yearly
temperature in the south of Sweden and the north (Lund
and Enontekeis) is 10° 04' : in Norway, between Christi
ania and the North Cape 4° 1'. Still the Swedish climate
may be considered as healthy, and, for its high northern
latitude, mild. In the south and south-eastern provinces it
differs Uttle from that of many parts in north Scotland. The
cold is never very severe in the winter. There is rarely any
sledging. The spring comes on at least a month earlier
than in the midland districts (where the snow generally lies
on the ground tfll far into AprU), and by about AprU the
spring sowing in the south is usually finished. The country
in the south is open, and many of the woods have a true
English character. The soU in some places is rich and good,
but there are many large open sandy plains and turf mosses,
and wide barren tracts of heather mark the spot where the
southern forest once stood. The mean yearly temperature

CLIMATE. 11
of Lund in Scania lying in 55° 42', at an elevation of sixty
feet above the sea may be reckoned at 7° 28' C*
In Lund the longest day is 1 7h. 28m., and the shortest
6h. 15m. In Christiania, in Norway, the mean yearly tem
perature is -I- 5° 36'; in Gothenburg, -t- 7° 97'; in Copen
hagen, -1- 7° 92'.
In the middle of Sweden the -winters are long and severe ;
but, strange to say, the climate appears to be altering, for I
often hear the old hands regret that we rarely have now one
of the old-fashioned Swedish -winters.
It certainly does appear that, of late years, the -winter
sets in later, and lasts longer into the spring. The summer
is deUghtftd when it fairly sets in, but the spring itself is
not so pleasant as in England, for there is very little inter
regnum between -winter and summer here, and the spring in
the midland and northern districts is often only a long thaw.
In 1864 the spring was exceedingly backward, and we had
no real summer weather up to June 1st. We generally had
— 2° C. of frost at night in Wermland. The oats were not
planted tUl about the middle of May ; the potatoes scarcely
tUl June, and on June 1st the trees could hardly be said to
* In Sweden the Centigrade (or as it is also called, from its author,
the Celsius) thermometer is used. In England that of Fahrenheit.
9° F. =; 5° 0. The way to convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade is to deduct
o-l oo "Cl  QO vy K
32, then multiply by 5 and divide by 9 ; thus :  '—.  ^^-^ = 100° 0. If
you want to convert Centigrade into Fahrenheit you must multiply by 9
and divide by 5, and then add 32 ; thus : \ + 32° = 212° F.
The addition and subtraction of 32 is owing to that difference in the freezing
point of the two scales. As F. stands for Fahrenheit, so C. expresses Centi
grade, or Celsius. The following table shows some of the corresponding
points after two grades ; —
212 F. equals 100 C.
200 „ „ 93.33 „
140 „ ., 60 „
100 „ „ 37.77 „
60 „ „ 15.55 „
50 „ „ 10 „
32 „ (freezing point) „ 0 „ freezing point.
0 „ „ 17.77 „

12

TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

be weU in leaf, and yet we had an excellent harvest. The
summer is either very dry and hot or very rainy.
The yearly downfaU of rain, snow, and hail appears to be
scarcely one-fifth so heavy as in tropical lands, but rather
greater on the west coast than on the east. According
to Forsell, in the middle of Sweden, in an average of
thirty-sis years, it did not exceed, 1 7| inches yearly. The
hottest month is July, and the coldest is February.
The mean yearly temperature at Stockholm in 59 20 ,
128 feet above the sea, is reckoned at -{¦ 5° 7', and the cold had
once been kno-wn there as great as — 32° C. In Stockholm the
longest day is 1 8 Jh. ; the shortest 5h. 54m. At Umea the mean
yearly temperature is + 2°, and at the North Cape the same.
I insert a table of the lowest and highest temperature in
every month for the last seven years after centigrade kept
at Gardsjo, Wermland, lying in 59 1° north Iat.

JANtTAET.

PEBEtTAET.

1857

— 20

+

5

1857

—

12

r 8
1858
— 8
--
8
1858
—
14
-
- 5
1859
— 5
7
1859
—
9
- 7
1860
— 16
--
3
1860
—
27
h 4
1861
— 22
--
5
1861
—
10
-1
r 7
1862
— 20
4
1862
—
21
- 4
1863
— 15
+
8
1863
—
6
+ 8
MAECH.
APKH,.
1857
— 11
+
10
1857

6*
-1- 14
1858
— 22
+
12
1858
—
4
+ ir
1859
— 13
+
8
1859
—
6
-- 16
1860
_ 15
+
7
1860

6
-- 13
1861
— 16
-h
8
1861
—
4
-- 17
1862
— 20
+
6
1862
—
7
-- 17
1863
— 14
+
10
1863
—
0
+ 11
MAX.
JUNE.
1857
— 6
--
25J
1857
+
10
-\- 26
1858
— 4
20
1858
+
13
+ 29i
1859
— 2
--
25
1859
+
15
+ 28i
1860
— 0
--
18
1860
+
8
-\- 26
1861
— 3
--
19
1861
+
14
+ 27
1862
- 7
--
22
1862
+
11
+ 28
1863
— 0
+
17
1863
-\-
13
+ 24
CLIMATE.

13

JUIT.

AUGUST.

1857

+

14

+

23

1857

+

18

+ 29

1858

+

15

-t-

29

1858
+
13
4- 27
1859
+
15
--
27
1859
+
15
-f- 27
1860
+
8
27
1860
+
13
+ 21
1861
+
14
26*
1861
+
15
-\- 22
1862
+
9
+
25
1862
+
14
-\- 23
1863
+
10
+
27i
1863
+
16
+ 24
SEPTEMBEE.
OCTOBEE.
1857
¦^-
8
21
1857
-1-
5
+ 15
1858
13
--
20
1858
—
4
+ 15
1859
8
--
20
1859
—
5
+ 15
1860
--
10
--
21
1860
—
5
+ 11
1861
--
5
"
17
1861
+
6
+ 15
1862
--
2
--
21
1862
+
1
+ 16
1863
+
11
-t-
18
1863
2
+ 15
NQ-VTEMBEE.
DEOEMBBE.
1857

11
+
11
1857

9
+ 9
1858
—
13
+
10
1858
—
14
+ 6
1859
—
5
+
11
1859
—
20
-- 6
1860
—
12
+
10
1860
—
23
-- 2
1861

15
-t-
8
1861
—
9
-- 6
1862
—
3
-f
7
1862
—
8
-- 5
1863
—
1
+
7
1863
—
11
+ 10
In Wermland when the thermometer falls as low as Zero,
Fahrenheit, I used to fancy it cold, but anything under that
(and it rarely exceeds — 25° C), I could very well stand
with a good pea-jacket and gloves. I once felt it as cold as
— 26° C. in Wermland, but I do not ever remember it
colder. The -winter usuaUy sets in about the beginning of
November, but we are sure to have frosts and thaws before
the real winter comes on, about Christmas.
The spring is late, and when there is a deep snow it
lies on the ground in Wermland often till the middle of
April. In the middle of Sweden we may reckon the four winter
months to be December, January, February, and March.
Spring — ^April and May. Summer — June, July, August.
Autumn — September, October, November.
The winter is certainly a dull, dreary, monotonous season
14 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
¦ — eighteen hours dark to six hours dayUght, and it is often
impossible to get into the forest for weeks on account of the
snow, and if you can, there is scarcely anything to shoot. Of
aU gloomy forests commend me to a northern pine forest
late in autumn or -winter. Before the frost sets in, these
northern forests have a dreadfully aguish feel. Scarcely a
bird of any kind is to be seen, and the only sound we hear is
the measured fall of the woodman's axe, or the chattering of
flocks of crossbills, as they flit from cone to cone in search of
food. We hardly ever see a game bird at this season, except
it may be a few black cock perched on the highest tops of
the birches. All nature out of doors seems to be -wrapped in
a deep unwaking slumber. The sledging now is often, how
ever, first-rate, and bleak as the prospect may be without,
there is nothing cold within doors. Every country house is
now thrown open ; glad reunions of families and social meet
ings of friends celebrate this festive season. The tinkling
of the sledge bells ring cheerily through the frosty air, and
nowhere are the hospitable rites of old Father Christmas
more strictly observed than in these northern cUmes. The
¦winter is, however, a busy season in the middle and north of
Sweden for the forest-owner and farmer, and good sledging
at this time is all important to the Swede, who has any tim
ber to get out of his forests or iron ore to transport fi*om the
mines. In a sno-wy winter the tops of the fences are scarcely
apparent above the frozen snow. Gates are all thrown off
their hinges ; high roads are now little heeded, and short
cuts are made across the country for sledging over the snow
and frozen lakes as straight as the crow can fly.
In 1862 we had a bad winter in Wermland, without
any snow (and this is always bad for the rye, but it is
worst of all when it snows a Uttle, then thaws and freezes) ;
and in 1863-64 no snow fell till early in February
and our deepest faUs of snow were in the middle of
March. The new moon in January came in on a Saturday
with sharp cold, and as is usually the case here with a Satur
day's new moon, the weather was the same for three months.
The cold, however, was never very intense, rarely more than

CLIMATE. 15
— 10°, but now and then in the night the mercury would fall
as low as — 16° C.
In the middle of February, when we were filling our ice
houses, I measured the ice in our lake twenty inches thick,
and the frost in the ground on March 10th was nearly two
feet. The ice rarely gets much thicker when it is once
covered -with a pretty deep coating of snow.
The -winter landscape in the forest district, especially
when seen from a distance, is often very pretty, the dark
foliage of the pines standing out in bold reUef from the white
covering of snow which surrounds them. It is, however,
when the beech trees burst suddenly into leaf in the early
summer that the beauty of this country is reaUy at its height.
I suppose that it is owing to its contrast with the cheerless
monotony of the -wintry landscape, but it is certain that no
one except the man who has passed a -winter in the north can
form the least idea of the glad and joyous feelings -with which
summer is hailed by the inhabitants of these northem climes.
Sudden as is the change in autumn, when the biting
east -wind comes howUng over the dreary waste of Siberia, a.nd
the landscape is buried beneath the snow drift, it is no less
sudden when the mild west -wind of May comes with healing
on its -wings and the summer migrants appear as the glad
harbingers of spring. A few duU misty days with warm -wind
and rain, and the whole face of the country changes as if by
magic. The green rye appears as the snow rapidly melts
away, the first bea sippa or wood anemone (which is here
hailed with as much deUght as the httle -violet at home) raises
its innocent head on some sheltered woodland bank. The
trees burst suddenly into leaf, and no one who had seen the
country a little while before could beUeve that so much beauty
lay hidden beneath the waste of snow. Now all again is activity
and bustle out of doors ; animal as well as vegetable Ufe aU at
once wake up from their winter slumber, and for six months
the farmer, sportsman, and naturalist have not a day to spare.
When I first see the Uttle white wagtaU, I know that
spring is not far off, and in the south this is the sign for the
farmer to commence ploughing. We are sure, however, to

16 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
have a Uttle more -winter even after this, but in about a
fortnight, when the yeUow wagtail arrives and we hear the
deep trumpet note of the crane from the wild open mosses,
the last struggle between -winter and spring is nearly
over. Some little time before this I have observed the black-
throated diver high in the air flying round and round as if
taking a bird's eye -view of the country, to see if there is any
open water in which he can pitch. Within about ten days
from this I am certain the lakes wiU break up, and it is won
derful when the ice once begins to crack, how soonit altogether
disappears. The action of melting has been gradually, but
imperceptibly, going on at the bottom, and all at once we
see open water at the sides. The ice then suddenly breaks
up, and if there should chance to be a Uttle wind, especiaUy
from the south, the lakes will soon be all open water. Still I
never fancy that spring has really set in tiU I hear the
monotonous flute-like call note of the ortolan bunting from
the fence by the green rye. The other spring migrants have
often deceived me, the ortolan bunting never.
What an interesting and beautiful study is the migration of
the feathered race ! The very operations of the husbandman
and the sportsman are in a great measure regulated by
them, and the more attention we pay to this subject the more
regular we shall find their appearance, and many a useful lesson
both in the botany as well as the rural economy of a land,
may be learned by observing the habits of birds and noticing
their migration to and from each particular district.
Man's constant companions in every out-door occupation,
cheering him with their plumage and their songs, affording
him often a principal means of subsistence, it is little wonder
that the study of the feathered race should be a favourite one
with all, and to that man whose time is happily and quietly
spent in the forest and the fields, it gives one of the fimest
zests to rural Ufe.
The foUo-wing table of the arrival of some of our spring
migrants into three different latitudes of this continent may
not be uninteresting to the naturahst. Of course it only
indicates about what time they arrive, and cannot be

CLIMATE.

17

depended upon to a day, even to a week, but it gives an idea
of what time they generaUy appear.

Lark Golden Plover .
Ring Dove
Stock Dove
Kite Woodcock
White WagtaU .
Wheatear CurlewStarhng .
Redstart .
Crane Swallow .
Martin .
Yellow Wagtail
Cuckoo
Shrike
Wryneck .
Swift
Whinchat

Scania,
55° 50'.
10th March
22nd „
23rd „
23rd „
23rd „
22nd „
1st AprU
7th „
10th „
29th Feb.
22nd April
23rd „
3rd May
3rd „
5th „
7th „
20th „
12th „
23rd „
7th „

Wermland, 59° 12'.
llth March
10th April
20th „
25th „
10th „
20th „
17th „
22nd „
5th May
20th April
6th May
27th April
7th May
10th „
10th „
18th „
24th „
16th „
28th „
12th „

Norhotten, 66° 25'.
1st April
6th May

4th
15th

23rd „
10th „
10th „
30th „
30th „

30th 15th

The reader, if he chooses, -will find a description of a
spring and summer in Lapland in my little work bearing
that title ; and as for the -winter there, it would require a
much greater share of fortitude than I possess to shut myself
up for seven months with nothing to do and nothing to
gaze on but a dreary waste of snow, merely to see what a
Lapland winter was like. At Vardohuus, the most nor
therly fortress in the world, hard by the North Cape, the
sun never sinks below the horizon from May 21st to the
21st July, and is never seen from the middle of November
till the end of January.
In Tomea the longest day is 21 J hours, the shortest but
2

18 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
2^. It does not, however, seem that the cold is so much
more intense up at the North Cape than in the forest some
degrees further south.
It is curious that, owing to the higher average tempera
ture and greater summer heat than in other lands in corre
sponding latitudes, many deUcate plants will grow in
Scandinavia at a paraUel where in Asia and America aU
vegetation ceases.
The oak grows in Norway as far north as 63° along the
coast ; in Sweden as far on the east coast as Gefle in 61°,
but on the west coast not further than 59°.
The oak cannot be called a very common tree here, and
only two species are indigenous to Scandina-via — the com
mon oak {Quercus pedunculata, L.), and the damask oak
{Q. sessiflora, L.) This is by far the rarest of the two.
Wheat, cherries, and apples wUl ripen as far north in
Norway as Trondtheim, 63-i-°; in Sweden, up to Hemosand,
62i°. The beech grows up in Norway as far north as Laurvig,
59° ; in Sweden it ceases at 58°, and it rarely grows at an
elevation of more than 600 feet above the sea.
Grapes, mulberries, and walnuts will ripen in fitting
localities in the South of Sweden and in Gotland. In the
southern Norwegian valleys grapes and almonds have occa
sionally ripened.
The southern division of Sweden lies in the cold tem
perate vegetation zone, the northern division in the Sub
arctic and Polar zone.
The pine flourishes at an elevation of 1400 feet above
the sea, and ceases to grow about 2800 below the limit of
perpetual snow ; and the fir ceases to grow at an elevation
of 1000 feet above the sea, and does not flourish higher than
2900 feet below the snow region. Strange to say, at
Quickiock, which seems to be a perfect oasis in the Lap
desert, both fir and pine grow up the feU sides some hundred
feet above the village, which itself hes more than 1000 feet
over the sea. The pine Umit appears in Sweden to be 59°
north Iat., but the fir ceases at 58°.

CLIMATE. 19
The birch is the most northerly of all our European
forest trees. It grows upon the shores of the Frozen
Sea. It is the only tree in Greenland and Iceland, and it
flourishes in the East, aU over Siberia, and even in Kamt
schatka. It grows higher up on the fells than any other
tree, and in 66° north Iat., at an elevation of 2000 feet above
the sea. Where no other tree can grow, the birch reaches
the height of a man. About 400 feet higher than this, how
ever, some few bushes are met with, and the black stalks
of the dwarf birch {B. Nana) gradually dwindle to a creeper.
The cloud berry ripens at this elevation, but no higher.
And the glutton is met with even in these -wUd districts far
higher up than the bear. After this aU bushes cease to grow,
and the ground is covered only with a brown fell vegetation
of hchen and mosses. The only berry that can ripen among
the hchen is the crow berry {Empetrum nigrum) . The Laps
never pitch their tents higher than about 800 feet below the
perpetual snow region.
To say nothing of the beauty which the clear green
leaves in summer and the silvery stem of the birch in
¦winter add to the northern forest landscape, peAaps
there is no tree more useful to the inhabitants of the
north. For implements, building, and even for furniture,
it is greatly in request, and the outer bark, which is easUy
stripped off in the spring, is used for a variety of purposes,
from thatching houses down to sohng of shoes. And
no sole is so warm, or stands better against the snow, 'than
this. They are called "Nafver," and are sold in little
bundles of sixty strips for three rqr. They have one pecu
Uarity — that of never rotting. The birch bark, rolled up,
or even oblong pieces of fir bark, are much used here for
floating nets instead of corks.
Sallow, willow, and mountain ash, grow freely on both
sides of the Tomea River, far within the polar circle. The
alder is met with as far north as 63° ; the ash up to 62° ;
ehn, hazel, and Unden up to 61° north Iat.
Oats cease to ripen above 64° ; barley ripens as high as
67° north Iat.

20 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Of -willow the Swedish flora o-wns at least forty species,
twenty of which are pecuUar to Lapland, and one, the
Salix polaris, grows on Spitzberghen. This and the Salix
herbacea are the smallest plants in the world — perfect trees
scarce three inches high. And both grow higher up on the
fells than any others. '
The Swedish flora owns but two species of heather.
The Erica vulgaris, L., the common heather or ling,
and the beautiful Uttle cross-leaved heather {E. tetralix,
L.). The former is much the commonest and is met
-with everywhere, marking the place where the pine-
forest formerly flourished. In the olden time, forests
of fir and pine, covered aU the wide sandy spots where
nothing else would grow in the north. These forests were
burnt up in the wars which in the olden time were con
tinually raging among the savage inhabitants of this land,
and such as escaped the fire have since suffered more
severely by the axe and the necessities of man. The forests
have gradually disappeared, and nothing remains in their
place save wide-stretched "¦ heaths " or " hedas " of no ser
vice to any one. I never saw either the broom or gorse in
Sweden. The following table shows the order in which the com
moner Swedish trees come into bloom and leaf : —
1. The order of blooming of those trees which bloom
before the leaves shoot —
1. Hazle .... Hasseln
2. Alder .... Alen
3. Elm .... Aim
4. Sallow .... Salg
5. Several species of Willow PU
6. Swedish Maple . . Lon.
2. The order in which the different trees appear in
leaf : — 1. Gooseberry (Krushar) at the same time as
the Elm blooms

2. Red Currant

Vinhar

3. Bird Cherry

Hagg

4. Elder .

Flader

5. Mountain Ash

Ronn

6. White WUlow

Hvit PU

7. Alder .

Al

8. Apple tree .

Apple trad

9. Cherry .

Korshar

10. Guelder Rose

Olvon

11. Birch .

Bjork

12. Hazel .

Hassel

13. Ehn .

Aim

14. Hedgerow .

Njupon Busk

15. Pear . . . .

Paron Trad

16. Plum .

Plommon

17. Buckthorn .

Werrentorn

18. Alder Buckthorn .

Brakned

19. Lime . _ . .

Lind

20. Beech . . . .

Bok

21. Ser-vice.

Oxel

22. Trembling Poplar .

Asp

23. Maple .

Lonn

24. Oak ... .

Ek

25. Ash ... .

Ask.

21

The blooming of the hazel is the first appearance of
vegetable Ufe among trees, and the shooting of the leaves of
the ash the last. With the first we may reckon the com
mencement of the Northern spring, with thfe latter its
conclusion. After a careful comparison of five years, Bishop Agardth
gives the following as the medium time of -the leafing,
flowering, and shedding of the leaves of the following trees
in Wermland : —

GooseberrySycamore
Mountain Ash

Leafing.
14th April
18th „
18th „

Flowering.
4th April
25th „
28th „

Shedding.
28th Oct.
2nd „
16th „

22

TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

Leafing.

Flowering.

Shedding.

Bird Cherry

18th April

14th May

10th Oct.

Lilac

18th „

15th „

20th „

Raspberry

18th „

16th „

4th Nov.

Birch

20th „

15th „

8th Oct.

Horse Chestnut

23rd „

26th „

]9th „

Apple

23rd „

28th „

26th „

Aspen

26th „

5th „

24th „

Lime

10th May

18th July

20th „

Elm .

15th „

20th AprU

20th „

Ash .

20th April

10th May

20th „

Pine

1st July

Fir .

1st June
Juniper .
10th „
The vegetation of the Scandina-vian feUs, accord
ing to Thomee, may be divided into the following
regions : —
1. The Cereal Region. — On the west side to 1400 feet
elevation ; on the east side, 2200 feet.
2. The Forest Region. — On the west side to 2100 feet;
on the east to 2700 feet.
3. The Birch Region. — On the west side to 3100 feet; on
the east side 3500 feet.
4. The Divarf Birch Region. — On the west side, 4800
feet ; on the east side, 5200 feet.
The climate on the Norwegian or west side of the feU
range, owing to the proximity of the sea, is mUder than on
the east or Swedish side.
According to Meutz'er, the Umit of perpetual snow in
different latitudes may be taken as foUows on the Scandina
vian fell range : —
Under 59° N
„ 60°
„ 61°
Swedish or East Side.
Feet above
the Sea Level.
Lat. 6000
„ 5900
„ 5800
Norwegian or West Side.
Feet above
the Sea Level.
. 5800
. 5600
CLIMATE.

Swedish (
)r East Side. Norwegian or West Side
Feet above
Feet above
the Sea Level.
he Sea Level
nder 62°
N.
Lat
. on the Do-vre Fell
5300
„ 63°
30'
»
5200
„ 64°
!3
, ,
4800
„ 65°
1}
4300
4500
„ 66°
3i
4600 ( in the valleys .
3900
„ 67°
}>
3400
„ 68°
J)
4100
3400
„ 70°
>3
up at Alton .
3600
„ 71°
}}
at the North Cape
2400
23
Horses are not met with above 67°. Meutzer gives the
most northerly hmit of the glutton and the lemming 70°.
The bear, wolf, lynx, otter, beaver, fox, martin, weasel,
squirrel, between 69° and 70°. Of the hare and stoat at 69°;
tame rein-deer 69°. Anywhere above the polar circle the
midsummer sun is to be seen above the horizon during the
whole night, but just within its limits it is necessary to
ascend an eminence to see it well. The southem limit of
the tame reindeer in Sweden is 64°, which now appears to be
the most northerly limit of the elk, but wUd reindeer are
met with on the Norwegian feUs nearly as low as 60°.
The whole of the Scandinavian continent lies upon a
mass of rock, the sharp and barren fragments of which after
having been pulverized by time, lie scattered aU over the
lower valleys and plains, covered over only in certain places
with a thin layer of earth or vegetation, so that the moderate
harvests of these northerly countries demand greater care
and labour than in other lands more favoured by nature and
climate. In the Scandina-vian rocks and mountains those
formations which are pecuhar to certain other lands,
containing coal and other valuable products and mine
rals, are wanting, and only in one place, Hoganoes, in South
Sweden, is there a bed of coal, and this of very moderate
extent. In Sweden we certainly do meet with mountains
24 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
piled in horizontal strata and layers, for example, Kmne
KuUe, Gotland, and Aland, but these are aU of the primary
formation, and own none of the newer geological or vegeta
ble productions. The principal ingredient of these Scandi
na-vian horizontal strata is chalk, and as chalk has a great
influence on vegetation, the tracts which lie in the vicinity of
these chalk formations are most fruitful and rich in vegeta
ble products. The land is, moreover, in many places scat
tered over with erratic blocks of stone, a memento of the
glacial period which these countries have passed through in
earlier ages ; and it is a wonderful fact, probably owing to
volcanic agency, which is still at work, that the water is by
degrees receding from some part of these coasts, and the
land gradually rising, which on the shores of the Bothnia is
computed at four feet in every hundred years. This reced
ing of the water gradually, however, diminishes along this
coast until we reach Skane, where it is no longer apparent,
but is again -visible in Halland and Bohus Land. In the
south of Norway, it is computed that the land rises ten feet
in every hundred years. But it is a singular fact that in
Skane, instead of the land rising, a directly opposite phe
nomenon is taking place, and on the coast around TreUeborg
the water is graduaUy encroaching upon the land. In 1749,
Linnaeus measured the distance here from the water's edge
to the " Stafsten" (a large stone set up a Uttle west of Trel-
leborg), and found it to be 357 Swedish ells, and ia 1847,
Professor Nilsson measured the same distance, and found it
tobe only 160 eUs, so that in ninety-eight years the sea
had encroached upon this coast 197 ells, or about four feet
every year.
Nilsson, in an excellent article on the geology of Sweden,
comes to the conclusion that in earher ages the Baltic was
all dry land, and Sweden was land-locked with the north of
Germany. This seems very probable from the fact of banks
which now Ue far out in the sea at a depth of twenty to twenty-
six feet below the surface of the water being completely
composed of land and fresh water deposits. The Baltic
which is surrounded by land on nearly aU sides, and has its

MINES. 25
outlet to the North Sea only through the three belts, can
scarcely be regarded as anything more than a large fresh
water lake. Its depth varies considerably, nowhere, how
ever, exceeding 145 fathoms, in many places not fifty. On
account of the fresh water which 253 rivers pour into it,
the water of the Baltic is one-fifth less salt than that of the
Atlantic, and there are no tides.
After some exceUent remarks on the geology of the land
and the formation of the Scandina-vian fells (which I much
wish Ihad space enough to insert fully), he concludes thus —
" If we now consider that the medium limit of perpetual
snow over Scandina-via between 60° and 70° north latitude is
not more than about 4500 feet above the level of the sea ; that
the medium height of the Scandina-vian feU range (of which
many square miles even now Ue within the perpetual snow
region) is about 4000 feet ; and that about one-fourth of the
whole Scandinavian continent lies 3000 feet above the level
of the sea, and consequently not more than 1500 feet below
the limit of perpetual snow ; so it will be easy to guess what
wiU be the result, if this gradual rising of the land progresses
yearly after the same rate as at the present day. We can,
then, easily reckon (if we take into consideration how much
the land has risen within a given period) how many thousand
years wiU elapse before the whole of Scandinavia is again
covered with glaciers, in case this elevation of the land stiU
goes on."
This is certainly a most interesting subject to the geolo
gist ; but as it is pretty certain that the country will remain
much in its present state, at least, tUl a reprint of this book
is called for, I think I may venture to go on with my task.
METALS A-ND MINERALS.
Gold is found in Sweden, but in very small quantities.
They are now turning their attention to the gold, which is
found mixed with the copper in the Falun mines, and I
believe the yearly return is something like 100 lb.
Silver is found in Sala mine in Westmanland and

26 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Ridarehytta in Orebro Land, which in 1861 gave a return
of about 2207 lb. Kongsberg, in Norway, is, I beUeve,
one of the richest silver mines in Europe.
Iron, however, forms the principal mineral wealth of this
country, and the richest iron mines which are being worked
lie in Wermland, Westmanland, Dalame, and Upland.
The yearly produce of the iron mines is on the increase, and
in 1861, according to Malmstrom, was computed as fol
lows : — Pig Iron (Tack lern), 3,885,000 cwt.
Wrought Iron (Stang lern), 3,408,000 cwt.
Manufactured Iron and Steel, 593,000 cwt.
The price of iron for the year is settled among the great
mine owners at the -winter markets; and in 1864 the price
of pig or cast iron was fixed at 3 rqr. 50 6. (above 3s. lOd.)
per cwt., free on board at Arboga, a little north of Carlstad.
The ordinary price of wrought iron here is about 7s.
per cwt. In 1855 the produce of the iron mines in Great
Britain was thirty-five times richer than those of Sweden.
The value of the Swedish iron seems -within the late years
to have faUen; and in 1860 Swedish iron was quoted
in London at £10 10s. per EngUsh ton, but stUl Is. 3d.
higher than EngUsh iron.
Sweden is very rich in iron ore, but unfortunately much
of it lies in districts which cannot be worked for want of
communication. Up at Gellivare, in Lulea Lapland, there is
a very rich iron field, and much of the ore Ues on the surface
of the ground. As this name is well kno-wn, a short account
of the great Gelhvare iron mines may not be uninteresting
to the EngUsh reader. It can hardly be caUed a mine, but a
mountain of malm-rock, lying above the surface of the ground.
In 1819 it gave a return of 9000 skeppund of ore (one skep
pund in the old weight was equal to 400 Swedish pounds) ;
in 1839 it rose to 17,398 skeppund, but in 1849 the return
was only 6223 skeppund; 1859, 3200 skeppund; and in
1860, only 450 skeppund.
This mountain was first discovered in 1 730. It was first
worked in 1736 by a Captain TingnaU, but Uttle was done

MINES. 27
on account of the cOst of transporting the ore on reindeer
to Stromsund's iron furnace. About the end of 1790
the mountain was purchased by an iron founder named
Hermelin. In the neighbourhood there were many locali
ties fitting for the erection of furnaces and forge hammers ;
for instance, Wassero An, half a Swedish mile from Gelli
vare, Wuosko Backen, and Nattavara, five Swedish miles
from GeUivare. Hermelin did not avail himself of any of
these, but endeavoured to transport all his ore down to the
furnaces on the coast of the Bothnia; but want of labour
and expense of transport beat him.
In 1800 the Swedish Govemment took the affair in hand,
and in 1817 a committee was appointed to examine and re
port on the best means of transporting the rich ore, which
is to be found not only in Gelhvare, but also in Afner Kalix
and Jukkasjarvi, and they made their report in 1818. They
proposed to join the rivers Lina, Angesa, and Kalix through
a Une of canals; and thus transport the ore down on a
large scale. I may add, that Gelhvare lies within a short
distance of the river Lina, in about 67° north lat., and about
200 miles to the east of Neder Kalix on the Bothnia. Other
engineers approved of this plan of forming canals, but they
suggested that furnaces should be built a,nd the ore smelted
in the neighbourhood. In 1,827 Herr von Scheel^, a man of
great practical abUity in the affairs of mines, surveyed the
spot, and proposed to lay a railway from GeUivare to
Storbacken, on the great Lulea river, and then transport
the ore by water down to Lulea ; and when I was up in
Lapland in 1862, this appeared to me to be the most
feasible plan.
The decrease of the ore is o-wing entirely to the increased
cost of transport. During the last, and early in the present
century, the Laps only received for transporting the ore on
their reindeer twelve Swedish mUes (or nearly eighty Eng
Ush), to Edefors and Spiken, from which places the ore was
carried to the furnace, 30 lb. of flour, or one-half a species
dollar (2 rqr.) per skeppund. In 1836 one skeppund (400
lb.) of GeUivare iron ore cost about two and a half, but

28 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
afterwards three and a half rqr. bco. (or about 5s. 6d.),
although the cost of smelting was not 6d.
Gelhvare mountain, with all its appurtenances, was sold
by HermeUn to King Carl Johan, and in 1856 was sold by
King Oscar to a Swedish and Norwegian company. In
1857 it was proposed to lay a line of railway, sixteen and a
half Swedish miles long, at a cost of five mUlion rqr., nearly
in a straight Une from Gellivare to Stromsund's harbour in
the Bothnia. To aid this project. Government offered the
land and wood free, a toll-free import of aU required ma
terial, and a toll-free export of 150,000 skeppund of ore;
but the railway was never begun, and the company sold the
whole concern to some Gothenburg merchants in 1860.
The estate covers altogether an area of 80,000 tunnland;
and this domain, so rich in iron ore, stUl remains of very
little real value to any one, compared to what it might
become if a sufficient capital was brought to bear in working
the mines properly.
Dr. Clarke in 1824, in describing this mountain, says: —
" Gellivare is the largest iron mine in Sweden, and per
haps in the whole world. Its layer of ore extends for
several mUes, and is so rich that it leaves 60 per cent.
of iron." An English engineer, Mr. Thomas, who inspected it in
1857, declared "that through a systematic manner of work
ing it, and with an easy accessible shaft, and without any
pump apparatus, seven to eight million tons of pure mag
netic iron ore could be easily obtained."
It is difficult to say what might be the produce of
this immense iron field, as they have only as yet taken the
upper layer, and never sunk to any depth ; but the com
mittee which visited it in 1817 reported that though this
mountain, which they found to consist of two ridges, the
one about 18,000 and the other about 10,000 feet, in length,
could not be called a mass of ore, it might nevertheless be
properly called a mountain of iron ore in which the ore did
not lie in veins and cavities only, but appeared regu
larly spread over a surface of fourteen million square Swedish

MINES. 29
yards. Consequently, if the whole mass of the mountain
were pure iron ore, this surface, if it were sunk only to the
depth of one fathom, would yield a produce of iron
ore equal to about three hundred million skeppund, or
thirty-seven million English tons.
According to Govemment returns in 1858, the ore in the
Norra Iron Mine yields 50 per cent., but that of GeUivare
67 per cent.
I am the more induced to make a few remarks on this
subject, as it is in the contemplation of the Swedish merchants
who now own this mine, to form a company, in which they
wish the English to join, for working it ; the advertisement of
which I copy from the Stockholm " Afton Bladez " of
March 8th, 1864, and which has also appeared in the EngUsh
papers. " The G-eUivare Company, Limited, formed in 1862, capital £500,000 in
10,000 shares of £50 each.
" The Estate covers an area of 1,200,000 acres, of which 500,000 consists
of pine forests, and 100,000 are adapted to agriculture.
" 1. The Iron Mine itself described according to Edman's survey in
1862. " 2. 215 settlers' residences for the workmen, 9 water and 1 steam saw
mill, 2 furnaces and 4 forges.
" 3. The timber gives a great yearly result. The yearly produce is reckoned
at above 10,000 St. Petersburgh standard or 33,000 loads, which if sold for £4
58. per standard free on board, would yield a clear gain of £1 5s. per
standard. " The mahn can be worked cheap, on account of the great produce of
charcoal, so that 25,000 tons of pig iron can be easily worked at a cost
of £1 19s. per ton free on board, of which the shipping price is about £4
per ton.
' " A line of railway is proposed from the Mountain to the Lulea Eiver,
about sixty English miles, and then by two short canale over two waterfalls, the
transport -will be right down to Q-addoit Harbour in the Bothnia. The total
cost of this railway and canals would not exceed £232,000.
" It is proposed that the company shall give £225,000 for the estate, and
with the cost of railway, wiU require a capital of £500,000.
" The yearly produce is reckoned at the prices of foregoing years thus : —
60,000 tons of Iron Ore to furnaces in Sweden and
Finland at 6s. per ton  £18,000
To the working of 25,000 tons in the company's own
furnaces, at a profit of £2 Is. per ton. . • 57,250

30 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
To 15,000 standard of timber, at a profit of £1 5s. per
standard  18,750
Profit on the Eailway  8,700
On the canals  6,395

£103,095
Deduct for Expenses. . . . 8,095

Lea-ving a yearly income of . . £95,000
or 19 per cent on the capital with a probable rise iu the quantity of ore, and
the probability of working bar iron and steel.
" The yearly interest of 6 per cent, for the first three years is guaranteed to
the shareholders on their money invested, by a deposit of £50,000 in the
bauds of the company."
Now this aU looks well enough on paper, and seems to offer
a very good retum for the capital invested. As to the last
paragraph of guaranteeing 6 per cent, for the first three
years ; it appears to me to be much about the same as if I
borrow £75 from a man and give him my bill for £100 with
which to pay him the interest.
I have talked this speculation over with many men, com
petent judges, and I never heard but one opinion, which is,
that the iron ore in this immense field (we can hardly caU
it a mine) is nearly inexhaustible, and that it is richer than
that of any other mine in Sweden. Yet some how or other, I
do not see that any one here appears very anxious to enter
into the scheme. The probability of getting nineteen per
cent, for their money, would, I am certain, in any ordinary
speculation, tempt the Swedes, and although not a rich
country, there are many rich iron masters, and merchants
-with good capital at command. It seems, however, that
the whole dependence of the promoters of the speculation
is on the support of the EngUsh, and if half the shares
were taken by Swedes, I do not think there would
be much hesitation in EngUsh capitaUsts investing, for I
feel certain in my mind that if the project is weU managed,
and properly carried out, it wiU be a paying speculation. I
do not look so much to the tunber, for I heard a very diffe--
rent account of this when I was up at Quickiock, in 1862. I
do not suppose that there -wiU be any ftirther difficulties

MINES. 31
in the matter of transport than capital and good engineers
wiU be able to surmount. But I cannot see where hands are
to be got to work the affair on a large scale, unless the
English follow the example of their Russian friends, and
turn Lapland into a second Siberia by sending out the
convicts to work in the Gellivare mines. I know labour is
so scarce up there, that the owners of the mines have used
all inducements for settlers to come up and work. A grant
of land was offered to each to farm, but I believe he had
to build his o-wn log hut on it. A few did come up, and
bitterly I heard some of them complaining that they ever left
their homes in the more southern parts of Sweden to settle
in this -wUderness. It is simply absurd to talk about agri
culture in a district where I do not suppose, on an average,
they will get their crops to ripen more than once in three
years, and where a potato two inches long would gain a
prize if there were any agricultural meetings. The Laps, I
apprehend, would not be of much use, for like other -wUd
men, they are too fond of a ro-ving hfe ever to settle down
to steady hard work. I have not much experience in mining,
but I suppose very little could be done in the -winter, and if
men have to be brought up in the summer to work for a few
months, and sent back in the winter, it would be a very
costly affair. A good many public works are now being
carried on in Sweden, such as railways, etc. I do not know
whether they have any difficulty in procuring hands, but I
know that in Wermland, farm labour is now very scarce, so
many men being employed on the railways, audit is wonderful
how low the supply of labour is becoming during the sum
mer months in the midland districts. Still, I suppose,
this is to be managed, and if I saw that half the shares, at
least, were taken up by the Swedes and the Norwegians, I
should begin to think that business was meant.
The great mine of Danemora gives also a considerable
yield of iron, in 1860, 131,001 skeppund, and this is of the
finest quaUty, for when the price of ordinary Swedish iron in
England was £10 and £11, the " Oregrund" or Danemora
iron fetched as high as £22 to £32 per ton.

32 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The Swedish steel is, perhaps, the best in the world, and
some say that this is owing to the ore being smelted by
charcoal instead of coal.
The greatest export of Swedish iron to England ever
known was in 1860, and next to that in 1857, when 314,852
skeppund, or nearly 40,000 tons were exported; but a
great deal of it comes back again into the country as
manufactured goods, for in 1860, 2,191 cwt. of steel,
besides a considerable quantity of iron goods of every de
scription, were imported. There are, however, several
manufactories of steel and iron; and agricultural imple
ments are now made so good and cheap in Sweden after
English models, that it wiU hardly pay to import them from
England. The export of wrought iron from Sweden in 1863, was
3,153,674 cwt., and of steel, 63,268 cwt.
Besides the above named, there are other metals and
minerals in the country, at present only obtained in small
quantities, but which will doubtless increase as the re
sources of the country open out, and better communication
is attained; such as lead, sulphur, htharge, -vitriol, alum,
and a yearly produce of coal in the south of Sweden,
amounting to about 140,000 barrels.
The exports of all other metals in 1863, besides iron and
steel, -was 3,163,674 cwt.
The manufactories of glass, porcelain, paper, etc., are
yearly on the increase. THE FOEESTS.
We now come, however, to the loadstone of Swedish
wealth; and certain it is that from great mismanage
ment this sound and standard source of inland riches
to the country is gradually decreasing. It is as far beyond
my capacity as it is out of my province to endeavour to
point out a remedy for the defects of a system about the
working of which I kno-vvr little or nothing ; but it requires
no great amount of observation in a man whose out-door

POEESTS. 33
occupations lead him much into the Swedish forests to see the
-wretched state in which most of them are kept, and the
waste of timber that reaUy takes place. Let no man at the
present day expect to wander among the primeval forests of
the north. The axe has done its work too effectually ; and
rotten stumps,, in many places four feet high, are all that now
mark the spot where the giants of the forest once stood.
It is rare to see a tree, at least in any ordinary forest
within reach of a large river, above fifty years old; and
even these are fast sharing the fate of their older brethren.
Moreover, the ground is everywhere strewed with fallen
trees, which lie rotting in the wind and sun, of no use to
any one. On aU sides the work of devastation is apparent.
In very few cases do we see any care bestowed upon the
forest culture.
The present system of mismanagement in the northern
forest is indeed an apt Ulustration of the fable of the farmer
who kiUed the goose which laid the golden eggs ; -with this
part of the subject, I have, however, little to do. Any one who
is interested -wiU find it ably treated of in Bishop Agardth's
masterly work on Swedish statistics, to which I am indebted
for much information contained in this chapter. My busi
ness is merely to lay before the English reader a short state
ment of the economy of the Swedish forests, their extent,
their produce, their capabiUties, and their present mode of
management. As I have before shown, the pine and the fir are the
most valuable products of the Swedish forests. Not that the
birch is perhaps less valuable, but it is not so extensively
gro-wn. In commerce the timber of the pine may be
reckoned as worth 25 per cent, more than that of the fir.
The roots of the pine go much deeper into the earth than
those of the fir, which are often spread on all sides around the
tree above the surface of the ground ; and therefore in these
forests we see that the fir grows chiefiy in such places as are
strewed with large blocks of stone, among the cracks of
which the roots can creep. On the contrary, the pine
thrives best in those places covered with sand and small
3

34 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
stones, where the roots can strike deeper. The fir also
requires a richer and better soU than the pine. Besides the
fir, the aspen, or trembUng poplar, is scattered over aU the
lower grounds and grows to a great size in many places. It
is one of the commonest trees in Sweden, and appears to
grow in any soil from the very fell sides downward. It is a
quick gro-wing tree, and in thirty years has attained a large
size. It appears to be little valued, except that the wood
is much used in the manufacture of lucifer matches, and the
leaves and branches, like those of the birch, are gathered in
the autumn, and used as -winter food for sheep. This is the
only species of poplar, indigenous to Sweden.
The mountain ash also in many places attains a large
size, and its bright red berries partly serve to dispel the
gloom of the -wintry landscape; and as here we have
no hawthorn, and the few hips of the wild dog rose are
plucked and sold for preser-dng, the berries of the mountain
ash and the juniper, which grow freely, at least in aU
Wermland, form the principal subsistence of most of the
smaU birds that remain in Sweden during the -winter.
But these can scarcely be called forest trees. There
is another tree, however — the birch — which appears to
be the. peculiar companion of the fir, and is about the
only one that -wUl thrive in its company, and imme
diately the fir forests disappear the birch takes their
place. No tree is so valuable in the young fir plantings as the
birch, for it is of quick growth and serves to shield and
foster the more valuable trees that grow in the same forest.
At the age of ten years the birch is hard enough for fire
wood, and no forest tree answers so well for this purpose,
containing as it does so much heat. At thirty years it
can be cut down as underwood, and at fifty years it has
attained its fuU growth. As the birch trees are cut down
the more valuable trees are left. The birch thus pays for
planting and preser-nng the better trees which fatten
the land, while the birch, when planted alone, impover
ishes it.

FOEESTS. 35
As Agardth sensibly observes : — " When we see so
simple and cheap a method as this of providing our wood,
first for burning and afterwards for timber, it does,
indeed, appear singular that in our land we are complaining
on all sides of the prevaihng want of timber, -without
having resource to so easy a remedy. We complain, but
at the same time stand by with folded arms."
The pine requires more air and Ught than the fir ; con
sequently, if the trees stand close together the stem is
always free from branches, which then, as it were, form a
crown on the top. The pine reaches a greater age than
the fir, and comes to maturity later, the further north it
grows. In Wermland they are fuU-grown at the age of 1 80
years: in Dalaroe at 210; but in more northerly tracts
not untU they are at least 300 years. This we must bear in
mind; for when we are treating of the management of the
forests by a proper circulation it is the basis upon which
our calculations are grounded; we may, however, here
state that when we aUude to 100 years' circulation, we do not
mean that the tree is full-grown at the age of 100 years;'
but only that it is then of a sufficient size to be cut down for
saw blocks. Probably 120 years' circulation would be
nearer the mark south of Stockholm ; but not in the north.
For aU our purposes, however, a circulation of 100 years
wUl suffice.
For fire-wood the pine is much better than the fir, as it
bums much brighter, and leaves a better «!oal. For good
fire-wood the tree should be cut do-wn in the winter when
aU the sap is in the stem, split up in the spring, dried in the
summer, and brought home for burning in the following
autumn. It appears hardly yet to have been ascertained with any
degree of certainty how much the thickness of the tree at
its root and a greater distance up the stem betokens its
age, but the following calculations are, I believe in the
main, correct : —
A pine up the Tornea River under 66° 40' north lat. with a
diameter of 9-1 inches is about 100 years old; 11 inches.

36 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
150 years old; 13-|- inches, 200 years old. So according to
these proportions it appears that in this latitude a pine
grows one inch in diameter in every ten years during the
first century ; but in the second century only one inch in
every twenty-two years. At Gefle, under 60° 4' north
lat., a pine of 14 inches diameter is about 100 years
old; ]8i inches, 150; 21| inches, 200. It will be seen
how much quicker the tree grows in a more southerly
latitude. In 67° north lat., on sandy ground, it takes 300 years
to get a. good block of fir of sixteen inches diameter;
but it has then long since passed its best point of
growth. In the middle of Sweden, latitude 59° 20', it is reckoned
a fair growth if ten rings in the timber give one inch
breadth of wood on each side of the pith, (i. e., two inches
for the diameter or thickness of the tree) and one foot in
height. A tree of 100 years old of such a gro-wth wUl
be twenty inches in diameter at the root, and 100 feet
high to the top. At twenty feet from the ground the
stem wiU be fifteen to sixteen inches in diameter, and,
consequently, fit for a saw block. At thirty feet from
the ground the stem will be twelve to fourteen inches
in diameter. " It was easy enough," as Bishop Agardth observes, " in
the olden time, to distinguish in the northem forests the
difference betwe*6n the trees fit for masts, for saw blocks,
and for building purposes. Masts are now no longer
found in any forests which are of service to man. Those
forests in which saw blocks are to be found, are graduaUy
reduced to smaller and smaller dimensions, and by degrees
we shaU have no timber left, except just for building pur
poses. At length we shall only find trees for charcoal and
firewood, and in the end we shaU come only to wood
rubbish." The foUowing table of the thickness and height of trees
in Wermland, 59° 4G' north latitude, may be taken as
pretty correct : —

FOEESTS. 37
in. ft. in.
Pine, 8 years old, -will be li diameter at the root ; length 5 3
Io „ „ 3 „ „ „ 8 0
12 ., „ 4 „ „ „ 11 8
At 20 to 40 years old, we may reckon 5 to 7 yearly rings
to the inch. After that, 10 to 13 yearly rings to the inch.
A tree of 100 to 150 years of age is twenty to twenty-four
inches in diameter at the height of a man's breast.
in. ft. in.
Fir, 11 years old, li bottom diameter; length 5 3
17 „ 3 „ „ 10 10
On Asplund, Wermland, where this calculation was
made, there was a young pine wood, about forty-five years
old. The trees were very regular, forty-five feet in height,
and seven to eight inches in diameter.
The age at which both the fir and pine, bear cones, de
pends much upon whether they stand close together or apart
from each other. Where the trees stand well apart, free to
the wind and sun, they ¦wiU bear fruit at twenty or thirty
years of age, but if they grow close together, not before
they are seventy years old. But it is not every year that
they flower ; on an average, perhaps, not more than every
eighth or tenth year. According to WaUenberg, the fruit
of the pine does not ripen untU the third year after
blooming. It is reckoned that on a Swedish tunnland there
is room for 300 trees of 100 feet each.
I had an opportunity this spring of spending a week
in the forest with a friend near here (to whom I am yearly
indebted for a little elk shooting), and seeing the process of
timber floating down from the woods, about six miles to
his saw-miUs. I had a good deal of chat with him on the
subject of the forests. Like every other Swede whom I
ever met, he willingly and most kindly gave me all the
information in his power, and I was glad to find that his
remarks corroborated, in a great measure, all that I have
written on this subject. His forests extend over more than

38 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
10,000 acres. He manages them properly and they are about
on a par ¦with the best round here. He says, by managing
these forests properly, he can cut down yearly 400 dozen of
sawing blocks. Many trees will cut into two blocks ; these
blocks after cutting, as they lie in the forest, are scarcely
worth £1 a dozen. But when he has sawed them (each
tree ¦will average three planks) they, of course, wiU be
worth more, and he may, probably, clear 15s. a dozen,
after all expenses are paid, when they are sold in Gothen
burg. It is very hard to give an estimate of the value of forest
land to purchase. Everything depends upon its situation,
as much of the forest Ues so far from water communication,
that it can never be of use to any one. However, he
says, take aU Wermland through, the forest land will
not be worth, on an average, more than £1 per acre to
purchase. Swedish square miles.
According to Bishop Agardth, the total
area of Sweden is .... 3868
From this deduct —
Inland lakes and mosses . . . .498
Arable land, meadows, and other enclosed
ground ....... 247
For fells and forests in the northern pro
vinces, not avaUable, and for barren flats
in the south ...... 1500 2245

We shall find an area of forest land
throughout the whole country left of . . . 1623
But from this we must deduct, for swamps
and rocky lands in the forest, where no
trees can grow ....... 500

Leaving an area of productive forest of . . . 1123
Or equal to 26,000,000 Swedish tunnland; or above
31,000,000' EngUsh acres.

FOEESTS. 39
The cro^wn, or royal forests, in Sweden are sixty-six in
number, lying in ten pro-vinces, and extending over an area
of 143,224 tunnland.
On a fair calculation it is reckoned that, at the present
day, the timber which can be put to any profitable purpose
in these forests, does not exceed more than twenty-two
fathoms of 100 cubic feet on each tunnland, so that, ac
cording to Herr Strom, the gross produce of the 26,000,000
tunnland wiU be 572,000,000 fathoms, which if we
allow for the 100 years' circulation (as noticed hereafter)
wiU give us a yearly return' of 5,720,000 fathoms, or
one-hundredth part of the gross return of 572,000,000
fathoms. Now, according to StrOm, the consumption of wood in
Sweden in the year 1854 was Fathoms.
Calculated at  6,915,568
And the export .... 436,169
Total .... 7,351,737
The yearly consimiption he reckons thus : — Fathoms.
For firewood — one fathom for each person . 3,600,000
(This was some years back, when the popula
tion was not so numerous.)
Charcoal for Furnaces, etc. (it is reckoned that
seven cubic feet of wood go to each tunna of
charcoal) ...,..• 1,986,000
For Brandy DistiUing (six fathoms for every
1000 kanna, and, according to HerrNycan-
der's report, 1 1,678,000 kanna were distilled
in 1854— but in 1862 14,376,000 kanna were
distilled) .  70,068
For Burning Bricks and TUes (one fathom to
every 1000 bricks)  • 12.500

40 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. Fathoms. Fathoms.
Steamboats .... 20,000
Steam machinery on land . . 15,000
Glass and porcelain manufactures . 12,000
 47,000
Timber used in building houses, ships, car
pentering, etc  1,000,000
Total • . . 6,715,568
Exports in 1854  436,169
Total consumption . 7,351,737
But there appears to be a mistake in the adding up of
Strom's calculation. The sum total should be 7,151,737
instead of 7,351,737, as he makes it; but I -will follow his
calculation, and allow the consumption to be 7,351,737, for
it has of course much increased since 1854.
Now allowing the yearly consumption to be 7,351,737 fathoms
And the yearly produce of the forests, if
fairly managed, to be . . . 5,720,000 „
We shall find that there is a dead yearly
loss on the capital of the forests of . 1,631,737 „
In remarking on Herr Strom's calculations (with which
although not altogether agreeing, he considers in the main
to be pretty correct). Bishop Agardth observes —
" The above calculation plainly shows that, as the yearly
consumption of timber is greater than the yearly produce
(at least what ought to be the produce of the forest if it was
properly managed) a time must come at last when the forest
capital -will altogether cease ; that is, when the woods have
totally disappeared. They resemble a great capitaUst,
whose yearly expenses exceed his yearly income, and conse
quently all of a sudden he finds himself a bankrupt.
" Herr Strom has presupposed a hundred years' circula
tion in the cutting down of the forest ; we must, therefore,

FOEESTS. 41
reckon the interest, or yearly revenue, as one per cent.; and,
on the other hand, we find that the yearly consumption or
expenditure is one-twenty-eighth, or one and a quarter per
cent., according to which reckoning the whole of the forest
capital -wiU have disappeared in 350 years from the present
time. If this, however, were the case, we could hardly say
that the prospect for the future was so dark, because for the
next three centuries we might manage our forests after a
better plan.
" But this result, i. e., the disappearance of the forests,
must come much quicker, when we take into consideration
that the population of Sweden increases after the rate of one
per cent, per annum, and therefore that the annual consump
tion of wood wUl also increase in a hke ratio (one per cent.);
so that the forest capital wUl yearly decrease much more
than one and a quarter per cent.
" In seventy years the population of Sweden -will be
seven milUons, consequently the yearly consumption must
be assumed as if the seventy years were double, or above
fourteen mUhons of fathoms; whence it foUows that the
Swedish forests -wiU have totally disappeared not in 350, but
in 120 or 130 years."
We have above aUuded to the hundred years' circulation
in these forests, and I wiU now explain how they should be
properly managed, that the owner might be able to obtain a
yearly supply of wood and yet leave a sufficient stock in his
forests for a future day. A fir tree grows one foot a year, and
has arrived at a good timber gro-wth say in a hundred years.
This varies, as we have before shown, in different latitudes ;
but this circulation is near enough for Our present purpose.
Supposing a man to purchase say 1000 acres of forest,
and in its present state there wUl probably not be a tree of
forty years' growth standing on it, but stUl on every
acre some timber trees, although smaU, besides small wood.
He divides this forest , into a hundred parts, and clears off
ten acres, or one-hundredth part, every year, cutting down
every tree, great and small ; for the principal thing to be
regarded in forest culture is, that the trees all grow pretty

42 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
equally of the same height, and not that one should over
shadow the others. As soon as this ten acres is cleared, he
sows it -with new seed of fir and pine mixed, at an expense
of about 2s. 6d. per acre.
The next year he clears off another hundredth part, or
ten acres, sows it in like manner, and so on year after
year. In ten years' time he goes back to his first ten acres to
clear them out. The young trees which he thins out will
be by this tiine about ten feet high, and -wiU serve for pit
props and other small poles.
In ten years he wiU thus have twenty acres of productive
forest — his ten acres of old wood which he clears off, and
the ten acres of young wood which he thins out. His older
timber is yearly increasing in value, and as he can clear his
young plantings every tenth year, in twenty years he has ten
acres of old forest to cut do-wn, ten acres of twenty years'
growth to thin out, and ten acres of ten years', and so he
goes on. His forests are yearly increasing in value, and
although he may not Uve to reap the full benefit of this
proper mode of management, he is sure to leave behind him
a valuable heir-loom to his family, for think what would be
the value of these forests if they were thus managed ! Un
fortunately, however, this requires time, as the forest -wUl
not give a return for the Capital laid out upon it in the first
year's crop, like a plough-field, and as long as the ready penny
is looked after so much more than the slow shUUng, and men
are either unable or unwilUng to invest their capital in a safe
but slow speculation, it is hardly likely that this proper
system wUl be introduced into the management of the Swedish
forests. What a country Sweden would then be in a hundred
years hence ! This time must assuredly come, although
we may not hve to see it. It is the want of proper manage
ment that ruins these forests, quite as much as the axe.
As Agardth properly observes, " If Sweden could only
arrive at such a position, that our landed proprietors would
no longer consider the land they hold as simple goods and
chattels, or a mere matter of merchandise which they are

FOEESTS. 43
ready to part with at a moment's notice (a circumstance owing
to the fact of the hea-^y mortgage debts which encumber our
land), but would consider their estates as a home for them
selves, their children, and their children's children; then
it is not only possible, but certain, that a proper attention
would be paid to the culture of our forests. For experience
has sufficiently proved that this very circumstance of regard
ing estates in the mere Ught of marketable chattels, has
been the greatest cause of destroying the private woods in
Sweden." But after aU, private forests are only capital, which the
holder has a right to make the most of, and it is a question
-with a man, when he invests his capital in the purchase of a
forest, which wUl give him the best retum for that capital, to
let it lie in the forest under a hundred years' circulation, or
whether he cuts do-wn aU his forest at once, and invests the
produce of the timber at interest in other ways.
According to Agardth, if the forest is divided into 120
years' circulation, it gives one-one-hundred-and-twentieth in
come every year, or five-sixths per cent., and when we take
from that the rent on the capital which is required to carry
out the system, it will perhaps hardly give two-thirds per cent.
This is Uttle more than what a common meadow will
return. Still it appears to me that if I chose to cut down aU my
forests, common prudence would dictate the expediency
of planting them again, as the forest land -wUl be fit
for little else. Moreover, in every forest there must be
many trees not worth cutting down^and if these were allowed
to stand, they would soon double their value, for at this
very time, if a tree in the Wermland forests of twenty years'
gro-wth (twenty feet long), which measures ten inches
across the little end, is aUowed to stand ten years longer, its
value wUl be double what it is now. In fact, no prudent
forest owner would ever fell a tree until it measured twelve
inches across the small end.
But it seems that the mismanagement of the forests in
many instances proceeds as much from laziness as from care-

4,i TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
lessness ; for I recollect in January, 1863, a tremendous storm
swept over South Wermland from the west, and thousands
of trees were blo-wn down in the forests just round us. Every
one was complaining of the damage which the forests sus
tained, and this was about all that many of them did. Had
these trees been collected, lopped, topped, and barked —
even if they had laid in the forests untUthey could have been
driven out, they would have been worth something, but
there in many forests these trees lie now just as they
fell, with the bark on, rotting as fast as they can, and
there they seem Ukely to lie, and there is no telUng what
damage they may do to the growing forests by affording
such a convenient harbour for every insect that preys upon
timber. Another fruitful source of destruction to the forests is
the keeping up of fences throughout the country. There
are few hedges in Sweden ; in the south the fields are
di-vided by broad dykes and mud banks, and the loss of
land to the farmer by this plan is considerable, to say
nothing of the hot-beds for weeds, which these dykes afford,
for the farmer in the south never thinks of keeping his
banks and dykes clean. But in aU the midland districts
wooden fences are used, not as in England, ' a strong
three-raUed fence which wUl stand a man's life, and keep
a fat rushing buUock within bounds, but a close snake-
fence, formed by driving into the ground two upright
posts about ten or twelve feet high opposite each other
and at about four feet distance, and then sticking spUt
rough rails of about ten feet length in a slanting horizontal
position above each other closely packed together to
form a close fence about four feet high. Putting aside
the expense and trouble of keeping up such a fence, no
thing can be uglier (for the upright posts stand over the
fence at aU heights to four feet) ; in fact, they quite spoil
the appearance of the country, and I fancy that no fence
in the world could be worse adapted to this cUmate, for
being close, the snow banks up against them, and often breaks
them down in lengths of fifteen or twenty yards. Moreover,

FOEESTS. 45
they seem to be always out of repair, and give the country
quite a shabby appearance, and as the upright posts are often
rotten at the bottom, a six-months' old calf can shoot through
them in many places just as he could through a sheet of brown
paper. These fences are only calculated to last twenty years.
And now let us see according to Bishop Agardth's calculation,
what an expense they are to the landholder, and what a quan
tity of valuable wood goes to their maintenance. Taking the
value of a fathom of wood as it stands in the forests at 3 rqr.,
and reckoning each such fathom as three feet long, six feet
broad, and six feet high, and using upon the average four
trees, and calculating that this fathom of wood will furnish
three loads of long wood, each being sufficient for five
fathoms of fencing, then, each fathom of fencing will cost
20 6., and adding 10 6. per fathom for labour, we may
reckon in round numbers the total cost of such fencing at
30 6., or about 4d. per fathom.
Sweden is di-vided into hemmans or mantals, after which
the size and the relative value of an estate is reckoned; a
whole hemman being the limit of this reckoning, after which
the hemman is divided into one-half or one-fourth mantals,
meaning in the olden time as large a piece of land as
would support a man and his famUy, whence the name is
derived. In Sweden there are 65,000 whole hemmans, and they
calculate that each hemman has to keep up 4700 fathoms
of fences, which, reckoning that a fence stands for twenty
years, gives us 235 fathoms every year, at an expense of
12 sk., or 3d. per fathom at the lowest, or 59 rqr. per hem
man, or 2,000,000 rix-doUars yearly, for maintaining the
fences of aU .the 65,000 hemmans. For the 65,000 hem
mans 305,500,000 fathoms of fencing are required, and
60,000,000 trees great and small -will be annuaUy consumed
in keeping them up.
To remedy this dreadful waste, the only plan, as Agardth
observes, would be to plant -wiUow or saUow fences which
will grow on all cultivated lands. I see now that many gen
tlemen are impro-ving the style of fences on their estates.

46 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
and substituting neat three-rail fences for these unsightly
snake fences ; but as for the Swedish peasant of the present
generation it can never be expected that he will deviate from
the fashion of his forefathers.
In burning the yearly amount of charcoal in 1854, which
then amounted to 1,986,530 loads, of 12 barrels to the load,
5,221,126 tunnland of forest were used. This is 225 Swedish
square mUes, at an average of 4^ tunna charcoal per tunn
land. Strom reckons,, that 7 cubic feet of wood is required
for every tunna of charcoal.
In 1863 the export of timber from Sweden was as
follows : —
Beams (Bjelkar) square timber of all lengths above 8 in.
square; and Balks (sharrar) small square timber of all
lengths, 751,731 pieces.
The price of beams in the London Market in 1863, was
50s. to 52s. per load; of balks, 35s. to 45s. per load.
Boards of all dimensions of fir, and pine plank, or plank
deals 3 X 11 and 3x9 in., 1,938,423 dozens; of these
1,882,000 pieceswent to England, and the price in the London
Market was £7 to £8 per Petersburg standard. Deal ends,
508,560 dozens; masts, spars, and poles, etc., 21,258 dozens;
tar, 117,873 barrels.
In 1854, which was the largest export year perhaps ever
kno-wn, the value of the export of timber from Gothenburg
alone amounted to 18,150,000 rqr. rmt., or above one million
pound sterling, and the prices free on board at that port were
as follows (and they are about the same in 1864) : —
Boards and Planks under 1-^ in. thickness, 7 rqr. per
dozen; 1-|- to 3 in. thickness, 15 rqr. per dozen; larger
dimensions, 30 rqr. per dozen.
Deal Ends 3 feet long, li in. thick, 1 rqr. 6 sk. (Is. 3d.)
per dozen ; 3 feet long, li to 3 in. thick, 2 rqr. ; 8 feet long,
under 1^ in. thick, 2 rqr. 16 sk. ; 12 feet long, 1-i-to 3 in.
thick, 4 rqr.
Square Timber over 8 in. square, and smaU square
timber, 5 in. square, 3 rqr. per piece ; 8 in. square, 4 rqr.
24 sk. ; 8 in. to 10 in. square, 6 rqr.

FOEESTS. 47
The export from Sweden to the London market in 1863,
was worth £317,416.
The prices in the Wermland forest in 1864, for timber
to be delivered, free on board, at the nearest station, were
as follows : —
Tirriber 22 feet long, 12 in. across at the small end,
46 rqr. to 56 rqr. per dozen (ToLfter) ; 11 in. across, 25 per
cent, less ; 10 in. across, 50 per cent. less.
Sleepers 4^ feet long, 8 in. across at the smaU end,
about 4d. each; 9 in. across, about 5d. each; 10 in. about
7d. each.
Lath wood of pine for sphtting laths, per cubic fathom of
216 feet EngUsh, 3 to 6 feet long, 55 rqr.; 8 feet long,
72 rqr. (including cost of cutting and carrying, at least
15 rqr. per fathom) ; and this is worth in the London market
£7 to £8 10s.
Oars. — Rough hewn, 30 feet long, 8 in. blade, 3 rqr. per
pair; and out of this we must deduct about lOd., the cost of
cutting and transport.
Pit Props 12 feet long, 3 in. across at the smaU end, about
lid. each ; 24 feet long, 6 in. at the small end, about 9d.
each; of these latter they are now cutting and exporting
mUlions to England yearly. Nothing ruins the forest like
cutting lath wood and these pit props, for nothing but the
very best and straightest pines, free from knots, -wiU do for
lath wood, and the waste of the young timber in pit props.
is dreadful. One great drawback to the forest owner in Sweden, is
the great expense of transporting his timber out of the
forest to the nearest harbour. That the prices of timber in
the forest district are little enough, wUl be proved by the
foregoing table, and from these -we have to deduct the cost
of felhng and trimming the trees in the forest, and the
dri-ving them do-wn to the nearest harbour, often at some
little distance. The EngUsh reader has only to compare
the prices of timber in England with this list, and he will
then see how very Uttle of the cost goes into the pocket
of the forest owner.

48 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
If the forests were managed properly as before suggested,
it would not be of so much consequence, for the clearings of
the forest would be used for pit props at least.
Reckoning after 5 rqr. per fathom, a cubic foot of wood
-will scarcely be worth more than 2 sk. rmt. ; but a cubic
foot of timber wiU be worth about 16 sk., and when it is
sawed into planks, about 24 sk. ; so this proves the foUy of
Cutting small timber.
Pire wood, ready split, delivered at the nearest harbour,
per cubic fathom (144 cubic feet) — ^Birch, about 18 rqr;
pine, 8 rqr; fir, 6 rqr. The freight from the north of
the Lake Wener down to Gothenburg, is about 5d. per
fathom. The principal tar comes down from the Norrland forests
on the Bothnia, where very little charcoal is burned, bat
in the winter we saw charcoal burning going on in every
forest. I never saw any tar made in Wermland, except for
home consumption. Yery little fir, but principally pine, is
used in burning tar. In the root and in the older wood, which
in these forests they call "tyre," much " hartz " is coUected,
on which account this tyre wood burns like taUow, and is
used every where in the forest instead of candles. I never
used it for this purpose, but for Ughting up a bush fire or
leistering at night, I well know its value.
This tar-making is greatly mismanaged, because it
scarcely ever seems to pay for the labour. Twelve
cubic eUs (two feet) of spUt tyre wood is supposed
to give one tunna of tar. In Norrland, according to
Ekman, in 1848, the cost of working a tunna in the
forest, would come to 14 rqr. 42 sk., although its price
at the leading place was scarcely ever 6 rqr. But I suppose a
man's day's work in these wUd forests where the tar is burnt,
is worth very little, and as he gets his tyre wood for nothing,
it is almost all profit.
The trees in these forests are subject to certain epidemics
or diseases, and the attacks of many species of insects.
The storm often passes over the forests, and blows down

FORESTS. 49
thousands of trees, and now and then a fire rages in the
summer, and sweeps do-wn many acres. I never had the
luck to see a real good " bush fire " in Sweden. In the
Norrland forests, I believe, these fires rage more or less
during the whole summer in some part or other of the
forests. Bishop Agardth so graphically describes the timber
working in these northern forests, that I make no apology
for inserting an extract here : —
" As soon as the ground becomes frozen in the autumn,
all the men U-ving in a forest district betake themselves to
the woods, armed -with their axes and skeder, and pro-yided
with meal, herrings, cheese, horses, sledges, and fodder.
They have already dug some holes in the ground, about
two feet deep, over which they have buUt a cover with an
opening for the smoke. This sort of hut is called a kuja,
and here the woodmen live through the winter, and seek
their homes only on a Sunday. Every moming they go out
into the woods to fell the timber, and drive it into heaps
caUed ' tunnar.' As soon as the snow has become set, and
the ice on the lakes bears, they draw the timber from the
forest to the nearest draught of water, or to some place
with a high perpendicular bank, called a ' lop,' down which
they shoot the logs upon the ice. Among these workmen
are a better class called timber markers, who superintend
the whole work, and set the owners' names upon each log.
The horses stand, through the whole winter, by the side
of the huts without any shelter, nor do they appear in the
least to mind it. All brandy and quarrelling among the
men is strictly forbidden."
The felling of the trees appears to be ' conducted with
great waste. The workmen set about their work very
carelessly. They never use a saw, always an axe. They never
bend their backs to their work, but stand nearly upright, and
consequently cut down the tree about four feet from the
root, on which account the most valuable part of the timber,
that is to say, the lowest part of the stem, is left in the
ground and altogether lost.

50 TEN -YEAES IN SWEDEN.
As the ice melts in the spring the stream carries with it
the logs, which Ue upon the ice, do-wn to the river, into
" liinsor " which are ready to receive them, and here each
owner looks for his mark, collects his timber, binds
them together in long timber rafts, sixty or seventy ahis
long, and floats them down either to the saw- works or a
harbour. These " lansor " are a sort of floating harbours to keep
the timber at the side of the river, that it may not be
carried down by the stream. A lot of trees are chained
together by the ends, and placed across the stream to hem
in all the logs which float do-wn within their boundary.
Many thousand logs are thus coUected in great masses. It
sometimes happens that these "lansor" break, then the
trees are carried down the stream by hundreds, crush down
anything that opposes them, and do not Test till they reach
the still water in the lake, into which the river falls.
One night in Carlstad, some years since, the inhabitants
were wakened by the report of a cannon and the beating of
drums, and as this is the signal of fire in the northem
towns, they aU sprang up in great consternation ; but it
was no fire. One of these " lansor " had sprung about two
miles up the river Klar; the logs came tumbling down the
stream one over the other Uke a shoal of sea monsters, but
as soon as they reached the bridges they were stopped by
the piles. Fresh logs were brought down every minute,
which thundered like battering rams against the wooden
wall, which was graduaUy becoming higher and higher,
and there was every probabUity of the two bridges (one of
which was the largest in Sweden, -with twelve arches) being
carried away. The river kept rising and threatened an in
undation to the town. By the exertions, however, of the
inhabitants, who stepped out on the logs -with boat-hooks, and
forced the timber through the arches, the bridges were
saved and the timber which was carried down the stream
floated into the Wener, and many weeks elapsed before it
was recovered by the o-wners. It must have been a strange
and wild scene on this night.

A&EICULTUEB. 51

AGEICULTUBE.

As I shall have occasion to go more deeply into this
subject in a future chapter, I shall only here trouble the
reader with a few statistical observations, but I may
remark that although the export of corn is yearly on
the increase, and great improvements are yearly being
made in the system of agriculture throughout the land,
Sweden can never, in my opinion, become a great corn
exporting country. The cUmate, except just on the south
and south-eastern coast, and the hard nature of the soil,
both forbid it. The timber crop is the true harvest of the
north, and if this is neglected, the loss can never be
replaced by any amount of com that may be grown in
Sweden. Still, the weU-doing of the country is all dependent upon
a prosperous state of agriculture, and as nearly seven-eighths
of the population Uve in the country, and are more or less
interested in the culture of the soil, it behoves every Swede
to do his best to uphold the plough, for it is my opinion
that two-thirds of the farms in Sweden could be brought
to bear much heavier crops if the land now under cultiva
tion were made the most of.
That there are great defects in the managementand farming
of estates here cannot be denied. These defects can, however,
be aU remedied, and doubtless, in ten year^, we shall see a
decided improvement in the agricultural statistics of this
country. But be this as it may, the Swedish farmer -will
stiU have the climate and the nature of the soU to contend
against, and in no other country that I know of, are capital,
"practical experience, attention, energy, and do-wn right
hard labour, more required in the management of a farm
than in this. Sweden is no country for gentlemen farmers
¦without capital.
Respecting the present state of agriculture here, it ap
pears, from the statistics quoted below, that the import of
dairy produce into Sweden in the year 1862, exceeded the

52 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
export to an alarming extent, and in nearly every article
this import shows a decided increase.
The export of corn is certainly on the increase, but it
shows no very decided improvement, for it appears that in
1860, 10,950,378 cubic feet of aU sorts of corn were ex
ported, and in 1863, 12,326,914 cubic feet.
In 1862 the export exceeded the import by 5,181,436
cubic feet, the value of which, according to the editor of the
" Stockholm Farming Magazine," could not be reckoned
at more than 5,000^000 rqr., or in round numbers, £300,000
EngUsh. It is hard to say what is the area of cultivated
land in Sweden, but we shall not perhaps, be very far -wrong
if we reckon it at about 5,000,000 English acres, and this, in
1862, after producing corn enough for the supply of a popula
tion of 4,000,000 people, left a yearly export, above the im
port, to the value of £300,000.
In 1863 the export of com from Sweden to London
was : — Wheat, 744 quarters, at from 45s. Barley, 6249
quarters, at 28s. 6d., sho-wing a very great faUing off, for
in 1860, 31,615 quarters were exported. Oats, 630,978
quarters, at 20s.
In this year the export of oats into London from other
countries, was 920,817 quarters; of these 40,808 quarters
came from Norway.
Thus, the export of oats into London from Sweden is
over 40 per cent., against 21 per cent, from Russia, 17 per
cent, from Denmark, and 8 per cent, from Prussia. The
value of the oat export from Sweden to London alone in
1863 might be reckoned at £625,000.
Although this cannot be considered as any very large
export, it is great when compared -with that of former
years, for previous to 1840 (about twenty-five years ago)
Sweden was obUged to import every year considerably
more corn than the country produced, and since that
time the export has been gradually on the increase. Now
let us turn again to Agardth on this important subject
of produce and consumption. Writing in 1859, he
says : —

AaEICULTFEE. 53
" The population of Sweden ia the end of 1858, may be
reckoned at 3,733,000 souls, who, after an average of two and
a half tunna corn, and one tunna potatoes, yearly for each per
son, -wUl, in roundnumbers, consume yearly8,710,000 tunna of
corn, and 3,733,000 tunna of potatoes. For the dairies and
stables we shaU require yearly 1,000,000 tunna corn and
750,000 tunna potatoes; and for the distiUery of 16,000,000
kanna of bran-vin, 392,000 tunna of corn and 1,091,000
tunna of potatoes; and the balance or surplus over the
land's own requirements, which the production leaves
(taken after the average of five years, 1852-57), comes to
about 700,000 tunna, so that the total production of the
land wiU be 10,802,000 tunna of corn and 5,574,000
tunna of potatoes. This result is, however, higher than
that given us by the government statistics for 1851-55,
viz., 9,778,370 tunna of corn, and 5,429,545 tunna of
potatoes. " If we reckon that one tunna of potatoes is equal to one-
third of a tunna of corn, and after this proportion reduce
the potato crop, we find a corn production for the whole
country of about 1 2,660,000 tunna, which, after five tunna
per tunnland, gives us an area of arable or corn producing
land of 2,532,000 tunnland. But, as on an average one-
third of the arable land yearly lies fallow, so we must add
one-third to the above total, which brings it to 3,376,000
tunnland (or 145 Swedish square miles). Other statistics,
however, reckon it at 4,000,000 tunnland in 1864. This is
not much in proportion to the whole area of the land com
pared with other countries. In Great Britain it is reckoned
that 16,000,000 tunnland are open arable land, and Bel
gium, whose whole surface is less than that of either of the
two Swedish provinces, Smaland or Dalaroe, has about
3,300,000 tunnland of open arable land. With the excep
tion of Norway, there is, perhaps, no other country in
Europe whose arable land occupies so small a proportion to
its surface as Sweden."
Wheat is very little grown in Sweden, the principal
produce being rye and oats.

54 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
According to the Customs' returns in 1862, the export.
and import of com, from Sweden, was as foUows : —
BXPOET.
92,044 cubic feet of wheat.
225,648 „ lye.
1,086,225 „ barley and malt.
50,121 „ pease.
2,748 „ vetches.
37 „ mixed corn.
6,296,468 „ oats.
Or, altogether, 7,753,291 cubic feet of cora, and 6,169
cwt. of meal. IMPOET.
120,384 cubic feet of wheat.
1,981,733 „ rye.
237,316 „ barley and malt.
90,755 „ pease.
635 „ vetches.
11 „ buck wheat.
7,268 „ oats.
Or, altogether, 2,438,102 cubic feet of corn, and 229,090
c-wt. of meal.
Supposing that one cwt. of meal answers to three-fifths
of a cubic foot of unground corn, so we may reckon the
export of corn at 7,756,992 cubic feet, and the import at
2,575,556 cubic feet.
The export consequently exceeded the import by
5,181,436 cubic feet; but as this surplus chiefly consisted
of oats, and a good deal of the imported corn must be
reckoned as of more proportionate value than the exported,
we cannot calculate safely that the surplus export was of
more value to the land than about 5,000,000 rix-doUars, or
less than £250,000 EngUsh.
This export comes chiefly from Skane, West and East
Gotland, and the four provinces around the lake Malar.
The Swedish farmers are just now calUng loudly for pro-

AGEICULTUEE. 55
tection, and I insert a capital letter on this subject, e-vidently,
however, from the pen of a protectionist, which I copied
from the Stockholm newspaper of February 25th, 1864.
This -will, doubtless, be interesting to the British, as well as
the Swedish political economist. It was entitled " What does
a tunna of corn cost to produce in Sweden at the present time ?"
I am induced to give a literal translation of it, without
at aU answering for its correctness myself, but I never
observed that it was contradicted. The writer says : —
"The cultivated land in Sweden is little above four
milUon tunnland (or not quite 5,000,000 EngUsh acres) ;
according to Agardth the total area of Sweden is 3868
Swedish square mUes, and these he di-vides as foUows : —

S-(fedisl

1 Square Miles.

Cultivated land

85

Meadow and pasture

200

285

The four great lakes .

.

82

Other lakes, etc.

416

FeUs, etc. .
Forests

•

1000
2085

3868
'^In 1860, the produce of the cultivated land was
16,171,780 tunna of com, and 8,000,000 tunna of bulbs
(potatoes, turnips, etc). Taking eight tunna of potatoes as
equivalent to one tunna of rye, the average produce of the
whole land may be estimated at 435 tunna per tunnland (or
less than three EngUsh quarters to the acre), and the medium
price of aU the corn produced was that year 10 rqr. 67 6.
per tunna, or say about 12s. 6d. for the English four bushels.
" The cost of cultivating the land may be reckoned at one-
half more than the cost of the com sown as seed, thus taking
five-eights of a tunna at 6 rqr. 65 6. for seed, we have 9 rqr.
97 o. per tunnland for cost of labour. The cost of upholding
houses and implements may generally be calculated at 2 rqr.

56 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
for every tunnland of cultivated land. The proportion of
cultivated land to pasture is as one to three.
"In 1856, the mortgage debts on all the estates through
out Sweden amounted to 400,000,000 rix-doUars (or about
£22,000,000 sterling), and these have certainly rather de
creased than increased ; and at the rate of five per cent, the
yearly interest of this debt charged upon the land wiU
amount to 20,000,000 rqr., or on each tunnland of culti
vated land 3 rqr. 32 6., besides 94 6. on each tunnland
as the yearly interest on another debt, caUed the " Amor-
tering Hypotheks Loan," which in 1858, amounted to
about 1 14,000,000 rqr. These debts are principally charged
on the south and midland districts.
" Forsyth lays all the taxes on the land at about
20,000,000 rqr. yearly (including soldiers, state, church,
poor, etc.) ; but these have much increased since his time.
"The yearly consumption for 3,425,509 people (these
have now, in 1864, increased to 4,000,000), besides half of
the root produce (the -other half he gives to brandy distil
ling), he reckons at 8,000,000 tunna of com, and 2,000,000
for the dairies and stables, or, making together, a yearly sum
of 105,000,000 rqr. He allows a charge upon each hem
man throughout the country for buying dairy produce,
which the land cannot itself produce, as follows : —
per lispund

Butter

lisp. 1

sk.
16

at

rqr.10

Cheese

0

88

3)

3

Pork

0

37

33

5

Meat

0

59

33

4

rqr.10

0.
80

2

64

1

85

2

36

Which gives for the whole 65,000 hemmans, into which the
country is di-vided, a yearly charge of —
Butter . . . 650,000
Cheese . . . 189,000'
Pork .... 120,000
Meat .... 153,000
1,112,000

rqs.

d.

9

97

6

65

1

32

3

32

0

94

2

60

12

89

AGEICULTUEE. 57
Besides this are groceries, etc., which, as it is computed
that those who Uve on land pay ninety per cent, of all the
taxes, cannot be estimated at less than 50 rqr. on each
household, or for all the land people 625,994 rqr. (In
1860 they reckoned for each household fifty-five lb. coffee,
twenty-one lb. sugar, and one and a half tunna salt yearly.)
"This gives us a yearly charge on every tunnland of
land : —
Cost of tUlage .....
Corn for so-wing ....
Repairs, etc. .....
Interest on the mortgage loan
Interest on the " Amortering Hy
potheks Loan " ....
Taxes of all kinds ....
Cost of U-ving after deducting
cost of cultivation .... 37 69
" It consequently foUows that the medium price of 1,06
tunna of corn must not be under 8 rqr. 86 6. if agriculture
shall fiourish. But, as from 1854 to 1863 the medium price
was only 8 rqr. 50 6., it is clear there must have been a loss."
The reader must, however, bear in mind that this reckon
ing is based upon the present produce of the land, at current
prices. That prices wUl rise much within the next twenty-five
years I do not expect, but that this 4,000,000 tunnland
could be made to give a much better produce, and this at a
trifiing further expense of cultivation after the land is once
improved, I think I shall satisfactorily prove in my chap
ter on the agriculture of the country. Allowing these state
ments to be correct, and we have every reason to believe
that they are, it is plain that aU the Swedish farmer has
to trust to, is a better system of managing and farming
his land. It is very unUkely that any rise will take place
in the present prices of corn (except indeed in case of war) ;

58 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
whereas the price of labour is yearly rising in Sweden ; the'
expense of U-raig is also increasing, -without any reference
to the price of corn, or meat, and unless the land can be
brought to bear better crops, by an improved system of hus
bandry, it certainly does seem that the farmer will require
some protection, and, in my idea, this protection Ues in a
great measure in his own hands.
Cattle breeding, and dairy produce, apparently stand at a
very low figure in Sweden at the present day ; and this is
the more to be wondered at, when we consider that mUk
and butter, pork and wool, are such great items in the
Swedish household economy among aU classes, and that
according to Agardth, throughout Europe it is reckoned
for every 100 persons there are 8 horses, 33 homed
cattle, 80 sheep, and 16 pigs. Now in Sweden it appears in
1855 there were for every 100 persons 11 horses, 53 horned
cattle, 44 sheep, and 16 pigs. So, with the exception of
sheep, Sweden appears to have a very fair proportion.
The total number of cattle in Sweden in 1855 was as
follows : —

Horses .

. 398,507 at 200 rqr

. each

79,701,400

Oxen

. 311,830 „ 130

33

40,537,900

Cows

. 1,112,295 „ 60

33

66,737,700

Young Cattle

. 494,695 „ 30

>J

14,840,850

Sheep

. 1,592,254 „ 10

33

15,922,540

Pigs

. 564,134 „ 60

33

33,848,040

Goats

. 172,926 „ 5

33

864,630

Reindeer

. 86,945 „ 20

33

1,738,300

Total value

.

254,191,360

Andalthough, doubtless, the numbersmayhaveproportionately
increased -within the last nine years, stUl the value of the
different cattle indi-dduaUy remains much about the same.
The number of reindeer is only officially given in Lulea
Lapland, but the reindeer is used in at least two other
Lands — Umea, where in 1855 there were 143 Laps, and in
Ostersund 47 Laps, who o-wned reindeer.

AGEICIJLTUEE. 59
Calculating after the number of reindeer which each Lap
in Lulea Lapland owned (120), and aUowing the same num
ber to every Lap who owns them, which I think we can
safely do, we may reckon the number of reindeer in the
whole country as 110,000.
The dairy produce of a cow in England, according to
Agardth, may be reckoned at least double that of a Swedish
cow, and the two miUions of horned cattle which are yearly
slaughtered in Britain leave an average weight of meat
of 588 lb., whUe the Swedish homed cattle which are
slaughtered certainly do not on an average give more than
190 lb. of meat each. And this may be the case as the
cows are usuaUy managed ; but it has been proved by trials
— and all the best practical men -with whom I have spoken on
this subject, have given it as their opinion — that -with proper
food and proper care, the Uttle Swedish cows -will give more
mUk in this country at a less cost than a large English cow
wiU, if both are fed properly. There is no doubt, however,
that the EngUsh breed of pigs and sheep are far better, and
pay much better here than the Swedish, for on Gardsjo Mr.
Stenstrom has told me that he has cUpped ten to fifteen lb. of
wool in a year off a large EngUsh ram, and when kiUed the
same ram weighed 160 lb. dead weight. There is no doubt,
however, that the Swedish cattle can never bring anything
Uke the weight of beef which the EngUsh -wiU.
Agardth further observes that with improvement the
value of the Swedish cattle, instead of being 260,000,000
rqr., might easUy be raised to 714,000,000 rqr.
In 1860, little Denmark exported dairy produce to the
value of 25,808,000 rqr., or more than the export of
wrought iron and steel from Sweden, which in that year
amounted to about 22,000,000 rqr. Now, according to
Agardth, Skane and some two or three other lands in
South Sweden are quite as productive as Denmark, which
does not exceed them in size, and contains two and three-
quarter milUons inhabitants.
The average weight of wool from each sheep in England
he puts at 4 lb. yearly, and on an average each sheep that

60 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
is slaughtered wiU give 85 lb. of mutton. In Sweden he
says the average clip of wool will be about 2 lb., and the
weight of mutton 20 lb. ; and I beUeve, as far as regards
the peasants' sheep, this is correct.
In 1862, the import of the foUo-wing articles of dairy
produce, etc., exceeded the export (according to the Swedish
" Farmer's Magazine ") : —
Butter (import exceeded export by) 20,585 cwt.

TaUow CheesePorkMeat Hides, dry
salted

37,571 11,31424,486' 5,920 7,376
19,784

„ wet salted „ 22,522
Wool of aU kinds „ 2,658,298 lb.
StiU, however, showing a decided improvement in every
thing except pork, which was just double that of the
preceding year.
From the year 1849 to 1858, 172,000 tunnland of waste
land were brought into cultivation; in the year 1860,
37,414 more ; and every year much waste land, mosses, and
small forests come under the plough. The cost of bringing
such land into cultivation is not much, and new land let
thus (if only properly chosen) -wUl rear many crops -without
manure. According to Malmstrom, however, the improvement of
agriculture in Sweden has been followed by an increased
mortgaging of estates throughout the whole country. It is
not easy to say what is the actual amount of the mortgage
debts advanced by the different mortgage (Hypotheks Lan)
societies ; but it appears by the above-quoted article from
the Stockholm newspaper of Feb. 25th, 1864, that in
1856 this debt amounted to about 400,000,000 rqr. (and
it has doubtless much increased), and at the rate of 5
per cent, the yearly interest of this debt is 20,000,000 rqr.

AGEICITLTUEE. 61
or on each tunnland of cultivated land throughout the
country 3 rqr. 32 6.
Malmstrom adds : — "From the year 1835 this mortgage
debt has been steadily increasing, and this e-vidences a
greater speculation in estates and an increased price, because
usually a greater or lesser part of the purchase-money is
allowed to remain on mortgage ; and to what a degree land
speculation has risen in Sweden is proved by the fact that
estates in the country in 1831 were sold for the amount of
23,000,000 rqr., in 1845 for 32,000,000 rqr., in 1855 for
67,000,000 rqr., in 1857 for 94,000,000 rqr., in 1858 for
67,000,000 rqr., and in 1859 for 64,000,000 rqr. The great
increase in 1857 was o-wing to the fact that the harvests of
the two previous years had been good, prices had temporarily
risen, and people were literaUy mad to buy estates. Now,
however, there is not nearly so much speculation, and estates
have consequently fallen in value.
The great increase in land speculation, as well as in the
amount of the mortgage debt, is owing to the facility of
borro-wing money which was furnished to the buyers of
estates by hypothek (or mortgage) companies, the first of
which, that in Skane, was estabUshed in 1836. Now there
are ten such companies. These, however, are all amalga
mated into one Hypotheks' Bank, which furnishes money to
the others, and regulates their operations. In 1861 the then
existing hypotheks institutions lent out 75,782,457 rix-
doUars. Well may Agardth remark that " want of capital is an old
complaint in Sweden, and we have from time out of mind en
deavoured to help ourselves by borrowing. But the loan
must be repaid, and our produce has never yet been able to
keep pace with our obligations, much less to encourage us in
employing new capital. Our products quickened for a time
by this false support, have, as soon as it has been withdrawn,
relapsed again into an imbecUity even greater than that from
which they have just sprung, and a need of fresh obligations
has returned only the more pressing, and has been the more
severely felt, because to poverty is now added debt. Is it

62 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
possible that even to this day, we must continue to have re
course to a practice so costly and yet so often repeated."
But I shall have occasion, in my chapter on the agricul
ture of the country, to enter more fully into this subject.
Commerce and manufactures are both yearly increasing.
Since 1854, a much freer system of trade has been introduced
into the country, and the free-traders say, and they are
probably right, that this has had a very beneficial effect upon
commerce. In fact, I believe that now no foreign articles are
forbidden to be imported. The Customs duties have also
been greatly lessened.
In 1840, the value of articles manufactured in Sweden was
estimated by the Customs at 21,000,000 rqr. ; in 1850, at
37,000,000 rqr. ; m 1860, at 59,000,000 rqr.
The workpeople employed in the various manufactories in
1840, amounted to 15,410; in 1850, to 23,427; andin 1860,
to 30,757. Before the American war broke out, the cotton
spinneries held the first rank among Swedish manufactories ;
the value of their manufactured cotton goods being in 1860,
12,182,000 rqr., in which 4021 hands were employed. The
value of cloth manufactured in the country in that year was
9,190,000 rqr. which employed 2981 hands. The value of
the sugar refined in the country was 11,925,000 rqr.
It is only since 1861 that the distUlery of " Branvin," the
common brandy of the country, from rye and potatoes, has
been taken under the control of govemment. Formerly any
private person could distil. Brandy was much cheaper and
easier to procure, and the consumption, among the lower classes
especially, was something frightful. Twenty years ago Branvin
was used in the country like money as a circulating medium
among the peasants. In fact, at that time they had Uttle
or no money, for the whole produce of their farms, rye and
potatoes, was consumed in the distiUeries, and but Uttle went
to market. Branvin was indeed the staff of life. The
English reader wUl be surprised to hear that at that time
landed proprietors (most of whom o-wned private distiUeries)
have been known to pay their servants' wages in brandy.
The consumption of brandy has certainly, of late years,

COMMEECE AND MANXJFACTUEES. 63
however, much decreased, and most of the better classes now
endeavour, by aU means in their power, to reform the -vice of
drunkenness among the lower orders, and except at fairs,
auctions, and private joUifications, we do not often see a
drunken peasant.
In 1863, however, 16,202,557 kanna of brandy were
returned from the different distUleries in the country, and
putting this on an average at retail price, of about 2s. per
kanna or four bottles, the consumption of corn brandy alone
in Sweden (and I never heard that any was exported from the
country), covered a sum of no less than 32,000,000 of rix-
doUars, aUowing about four kanna or about two and a
half gaUons for every man, woman, and chUd in the country.
Besides this, we must consider the quantity of -wine and
foreign spirits imported into the country. We must, however,
take into consideration that this brandy has not more than
half the strength of any other spirit. Its strength at the
distUlery being 50 per cent.
There are now, however, some very, good porter and
bitter beer breweries in the country, and much more ale and
porter is annuaUy drunk than formerly; but I always
fancied the bottled beer very dear, as compared to the
EngUsh, and not half so strong or good.
In Great Britain, I beUeve the yearly consumption of
spirits is reckoned at three-fourths of a gallon, or about one
Swedish kanna for each person. In Prussia three gallons.
In California, a few years since, the consumption was
reckoned at 5000 gaUons of spirits daily, or one-sixth of a
gaUon for each person. Could this be possible ?
I do not, however, think that the actual taste for raw
spirits among the lower classes (especiaUy of the old school)
has much abated ; but there is now much more difficulty in
procuring it, especiaUy in the country, than formerly. There
are plenty of " sly grog-shops " scattered about the forests,
which seem to answer, although the fine is heavy when they
are con-victed. They teU me that Carlstad jail would have
" lodgings to let," if it were not for these Ulicit vendors of
branvin.

64 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
It is a curious thing that we very rarely see a Swedish
gentleman much the worse for Uquor. They take their
social glass, but they do not drink in the business-like
manner of the EngUsh. They appear to be in possession of
the famous secret which an old incorrigible friend of mine
once told me he had been sixty years trying to discover.
"He always knew," so he told me, "when he had drunk too
Uttle, and also when he had drunk too much, but never when
he had drunk just enough."
The laws against drunkenness in Sweden are rather
severe, but very little heeded except in towns. It is clear
that a very great' change has been effected for the better
-within the last twenty years in the habits and condition of
the Swedish peasant ; and I believe much is o-wing to the
increased difficulty of procuring spirits except in towns ; for
we all know —
" What Shakspeare observes, in his play of King John,
Is undoubtedly right ;
That oft times the sight
Of means to do iU deeds, will make ill deeds be done."
Much more attention is paid to the education of their
children, which is proved by the number of priests ia
Sweden, who have risen from the ranks of the peasants.
In 1861, 56,861 persons were employed throughout the
land in handicraft.
The inland commerce, which was formerly hampered -with
many restrictions, is now free : and in 1860, 1929 small
vessels of 70,000 EngUsh tons burden were employed in
transporting goods up and down the country, and in the
coasting trade. But much of the inland commerce is carried
on by smaU steamers, the total number of which in 1860 was
203, of about 9,332 horse-power.
The foreign commerce shows a decided increase -within
the last few years. The total value bf exported and imported
goods into this country in 1835 was taxed at 51,000,000 of
rix-doUars; in 1840, at 58,000,000- rqr.; in 1850, at
73,000,000 rqr. ; and in 1860, at 169,000,000 rqr.

IMPOETS AND EXPOETS. 65
The principal exports from Sweden, as we have already
shown, are timber, iron, and oats, and the principal imports
into the country are sugar, coffee, cotton, wool, hides, salt,
and tobacco.
In 1860, 35,707,000 lb. of raw, and 3,671,000 lb. of
refined sugar, and of coffee 15,000,000 lb. were imported,
being just treble the imports of twenty years back.
It is curious to see how the taste for coffee has increased
in these northem climes during the last century. In 1740,
when the popplation of Sweden amounted to 1,615,000
people, the consumption of coffee was only 13,701 lb., and
of sugar 1,675,034 lb. In 1860, the yearly consumption
was, of coffee, above 4 lb. and of sugar 10 lb. to every person
in the country. But tea and -wine are not much drunk in
Sweden, the consumption in 1860 being, of tea 0.02 lb. and
of wine 0.16 kanna to each person. In Norway the con
sumption of coffee is even greater, being about 8 lb. yearly
to each person. The tea wliich you generally get here, is, as
they very properly caU it, in comparison to what we brew
in England, "¦ tea-water ;" but they can make you a good
cup of coffee.
The import of salt in 1860 was above 2,000,000 cubic
feet; wool, 2,500,000 lb. ; tobacco blade, 4,000,000 lb. In
that year the principal exports were as foUows : — 1,390,000
dozen boards and planks; 620,000 dozen beams; of bar iron,
2296 cwt.; of corn, 10,850,000 cubic feet; and of lucifer
matches 433,745 rqr. in value.
The Custom duties in aU amounted, in 1860, to
13,422,000 rix-doUars ; of which sugar paid 3,333,000 rqr. ;
cloth, 2,400,000 rqr. ; coffee, 1,515,000 rqr. ; tobacco,
1,333,000 rqr.
The value of the principal imports in 1860 was reckoned
as follows : — rqr.
Sugar .... 12,100,000
Cottonwool . . . 10,200,000
Coffee .... 9,100,000
Cloth .... 7,000,000 5

66 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. rqr.
Tobacco .... 6,100,000
Hides .... 4,900,000
Fish .... 4,500,000
Coal .... 3,800,000
The greatest foreign trade is with England. The total
value of export into that country in 1860 from Sweden was
42,000,000 rqr., which included more than half of their bar
iron and two-thirds of their com. The value of the import
from England, into Sweden in the same year was taxed at
16,500,000 rqr., which included 7,000,000 lb. cotton wool
and 11,770,000 cubic feet of coal. The next greatest import
was from Lubeck.
The burden or tonnage of the Swedish merchant fleet in
1860 was reckoned at 154,342 last, besides an inland fleet of
canal boats and coasters of 20,608 last.
Another fruitful source of riches to this land seems hardly
made the most of. I allude to the fisheries. A curious
feature in the icthyology of these coasts is the appearance of
the herrings at irregular seasons, and their sudden disappear
ance without any apparent cause. In the beginning of
1300 they appeared on these coasts in immense shoals,
but shortly disappeared, and few were again seen until
1556. The largest herring fishery ever kno-wn off these coasts was
in 1587. After that, however, they were not again seen in
any numbers till 1660; and in 1675, when the war -with
Norway broke out, they altogether disappeared. In 1727
they came back, but there seems to have been then neither
men nor nets on the coasts to take them. They disappeared,
butretumed again in 1747, remained off the coasts tUl 18G8,
when they went away, and have never since been seen in
any great numbers.
It is true there is every year a small catch of herrings off
the southem coast of Skane; and in Norway the herring
fishery is a yearly source of profit. The yearly export of
herrings from Norway even now reaches about 585,000 tunna.

FISH. 67
of which 550,000 tunna are winter, and 35,000 tunna summer
herrings. But 1787 appears to have been the greatest season for
herrings off the Swedish coast, when Gothenburg something
resembled Melbourne in the early days of the gold diggings-
On the Gothenburg coast alone in this year the fishermen, ac
cording to Nilsson, smoked above 4000 tunna, salted 400,000
tunna, pressed 2,000 tunna, and boiled down for oU about
1,066,000 tunna, (which yielded 44,000 casks of oU), or, con
sequently, 1,472,000 tunna herrings ; and adding those that
were consumed or sold in a fresh state, it was calculated
that in that year above 1,500,000 tunna of herrings were
taken off the Bohus Land coast, just outside Gothenburg ;
or reckoning the usual number of 1000 to the tunna, about
1,500,000,000 herrings ; being, however, a very smaU propor
tion of the immense shoals which then frequented these coasts.
Many speculations have been hazarded respecting the
cause of the almost total disappearance of the herrings from
these shores, the two most feasible of which seem to be the
casting out into the sea, during the great herring fishery, of
the refuse from the oil-melting and salting-houses, and
the immense destruction of small herrings by the use
of the large nets called here "vaderne." These herring-
nets, until 1852, were ninety fathoms long, and six
fathoms deep, and so fine that they had forty meshes to
every two feet ; but now it is not allowed to use a net of
more than forty fathoms long, four fathoms deep, and the
meshes must be one inch from knot to knot.
Every endeavour to bring back the herrings to these
coasts since 1808 appears to have entirely failed, and about
60 to 100,000 tunna of smaU herrings is the yearly catch at
the present day ; but, as we have said before, in Norway the
herring fishery stUl affords a good source of revenue.
The deep sea fishery grounds of the Bohus Land fisher
men is a bank named " Jadems Ground," lying in the North
Sea about sixty Swedish miles from Marstrand, and fifteen
from Bgersund in Norway. The fishermen sail out to this
bank, and are probably absent a raonth, but as they

68 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
formerly had no means on board to salt their fish, the fishery
was of little value. In 1861, however, fourteen companies
were established in Gothenburg to carry on the fishery
properly. It seems that according to an old treaty in Charles
Tenth's time, the Bohus Land fishermen have a right to fish
on the Scottish banks with 1000 boats yearly. The prin
cipal catch in the deep sea fisheries are cod, ling, halhbut
and coal fish.
But the best bank for the Swedish fishermen, because it
is nearer home, lies off the Scaw in the north of Jutland.
The boats go out for a week's cruise; each boat has six men,
and if they are pretty lucky, they will bring back thirty
" valar," or three hundred cod and Ung in each boat, worth
probably, when dried, 12 rqr. per valar. These dried fish
are called " kUpp " and " kabelja."
But even the large fish have decreased in numbers on these
coasts since the herring fishery, for at that time one hundred
valar in one boat was not uncommon. Formerly the
mackerel, lobster, and oyster fisheries on this Bohus Land
coast, were something considerable, now, however, they
yield very Uttle profit.
In 1836, not less than 63,544 score of lobsters were ex
ported from the Swedish coast, but the fishery gradually fell
off till 1865, when the export was only 1977 score. Since
then, it has rather risen, and in 1860, 6460 score were
exported. But the principal part of the lobsters which are
consumed in London, come from Norway, and it is reckoned
that the English and French coast do not produce one half
so many as those of Norway. It is said that for lobsters
alone exported to England, the Norwegians receive £15,000
yearly. According to Agardth it is reckoned that the yearly
consumption of fish in London, including sheU-fish, araounts
to above 4,000,000 lb.
Forraerly the oyster fisheries yielded something consider
able, now, however, the import exceeds the export.
The coasts of Aland and Gotland in the Baltic, are rich in
fish, especially stromming (smaU herrings about eight inches
long), cod, and flounders ; but these fisheries are gradually

FISH. 69
decreasing. The salmon fisheries in all the rivers on the
southern and eastern coast, have considerably decreased of
late years, and this they say is owing to the rivers becora
ing shallower and shaUower, so that there is scarcely
now a good place left where a net can be shot. At the
present tirae, not a single whaler sails out of any Swedish
port, although previous to 1780, a corapany of whalers
existed in Gothenburg. The fresh water fisheries in the south
and raiddle of Sweden, are of but little value to the State.
When we look upon this country, with such an immense
extent of coast, and one-eighth of its surface occupied by
inland lakes and abounding with such fine rivers, we should
naturaUy suppose that it would be one of the richest lands
in Europe, for both salt and fresh-water fish. But so far
from this being the case, this immense extent of water
instead of exporting largely, does not supply enough for
the wants of 4,000,000 people.
The export of fish, like that of the dairy produce, is not
only totally insignificant, but it is only of late years that
it has shown the least improvement. On the other side,
however, the import gradually increases till it has at
length become a serious article in the economy of the
country; for in 1860, the iraport of cod and heiTings alone
amounted to no less a sum than 3,600,000 rqr., or £200,000
sterUng. In 1815, only 162,565 Uspund of dry and smoked
fish, and 550,000 Uspund of salt fish were imported ; but in
1860, the import of dried fish reached 271,825 hspund, and
of salt fish 2,798,800 lispund, so that the increase in the
import in forty-five years has been 67 per cent, of the former,
and 409 per cent, of the latter.
Now the principal part of this import might surely have
been obtained off their own coasts, or if not, other fish pecu
liar to the Swedish fresh or salt waters raight have been
substituted, and this hea-vy iraport from other lands have
been saved.
Off theLofodenlslands on the Norwegian coast, the greatest
cod fishery in Europe is stUl carried on. From 1850 to 1855 ,
the yearly number of fishermen employed in this fishery was

70

TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

about 22,000, with 4500 boats ; and the yearly number of fish
caught amounted to about 20,000,000, besides 20,000 tunna
of oU, and as much of roe, amounting together in value to
1,000,000 specie dollars or 4,000,000 rix-doUars. The usual
catch of herrings off the Norwegian coast is 7,800,000 tunna
yearly. The yearly export of this fish from Norway has
during the present century been pretty even, and, in 1858,
it amounted to 515,677 tunna. The total yearly worth of the
Norwegian fisheries amounts to about 12,000,000 rix-doUars.
Although rich in many species of wild animals and
game, it is never Ukely that the export of either skins or
game from Sweden can hold any weight in the state's
econoray. We find, in 1815 (since which time this branch of
comraerce has not been strictly noted) not less than 20,708
skins of -vnld animals were imported into the country,
among which were 452 bear skins, 9096 wolf and fox
skins, and 280 sable, besides others to the amount of
24,0;40 rqr., whilst the export only araounted to 3896 skins,
araong which were twelve bear, 1826 wolf and fox, 149
dozen squirrel, and 218 ermine, besides other skins to the
value of 1600 rqr. In 1859, the import was 37,990 lb.
of prepared skins, besides skins sewed together to the
amount of 10,842 rqr., whUst the export was 7319 Ih.
of prepared skins. In 1860, the iraport was 54,067 lb.,
besides furs to the araount of 3020 rqr., whUe the export
amounted to 21,939 lb. I cannot think where all the
reindeer skins go to.
It appears that the yearly average of bears killed in
Sweden from the year 1849 to 1859 araounted to 117
Wolves

T T \JL V CS5 .
Lynxes

1 U^
110

Foxes ....

5396

Martens

394

Otters ....

246

Weasels

1140

Seals ....

2323

Eagles, falcons, hawks

1908

Owls ....

1013

WILD ANIMALS. 71
This table is taken from the returns of the head rangers
in the different provinces, who pay a certain sum for every
beast and bird of prey kiUed. Probably raany more
were kUled of which no retum was given. This retum
however, shows a faUing off from pre-vious years, and I fancy
annually decreases, especiaUy in the larger and -wUder
animals. It seems that Norway and Finland are both richer than
Sweden in animals and birds of prey; for, in Norway,
between the years 1851 and 1855, the yearly average of
bears kiUed was 203; wolves, 228; lynxes, 115; eagles,
about 3000. In Fmland, from the end of 1848 to 1850,
362 bears, 1995 wolves, 4352 foxes, 201 lynxes, and 191
gluttons were returned.
According to the Swedish " Sporting Magazine" for 1863,
the loss sustained from -wild animals throughout the whole
country in five years, 1856 — 1860, was as follows : — rqr.
336 horses, at 100 rqr. . . 33,600

1556 horned cattle, at 50 rqr.
31,752 sheep and goats, at 3 rqr.
144 pigs, at 8 rqr.
29,160 chickens, geese, etc., at 50 6.
1906 reindeer at 6 rqr.

77,800
95,256 1,152
14,58011,436
233,824

And the " vermin money" paid out by the different pro-
-vinces for -wUd aniraals kiUed amounted to about 110,000 rqr.
in the five years.
Strange as it may appear, the import of game and birds
for the table into Sweden is very considerable.
Until about the year 1852, there was not a raUway in
Sweden, the principal part of the inland traffic and carriage
being carried on by water ; and on account of its numerous
lakes and rivers no country in Europe can be better adapted
for water carriage than Sweden. In 1852, the first railway
was commenced in the middle of Sweden frora Koping on
the Lake Malar to Hidt. This, however, was never

72 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
finished, and is, I beUeve, in the hands of some Englishmen.
In 1863, the main Une from Gothenburg to Stockholm,
forty -two and a half Swedish miles, was finished at a cost of
34,654,285 rqr. (or about 2,000,000 EngUsh pounds for 280
English miles), and the traffic on this Une during its first
year has been considerable. It is contemplated to form a
branch line from MaUno in the very south of Sweden through
the country to join this main Une about half way between
Gothenburg and Stockholm. This branch is already com
pleted from Malmo to Falkoping (about fourteen Swedish
miles), and it is expected that in 1866 the whole line -wiUbe
coraplete. Another branch is in progress from Arvika, a
little town which lies north-west of the Wener, a few miles
frora the Norwegian frontier, to join the main line also, and
to pass through Wermland by Carlstad and Christinehamn.
This wUl scarcely be completed under three years, but
when these two branches are finished an exceUent Une of
coraraunication -wUl be opened throughout Sweden, and no
thing in ray opinion -wiU tend to develope the resources
of this country so much as railroads. Already dUigences
run . from Carlstad and other to-wns to meet the main hne,
and travelling in Sweden will soon be very different to
what it was in the glorious old days of conveyance by the
peasants' carts, one Swedish mile per hour, and about one
hour to wait for each fresh relay of horses.
The tirae occupied, between Gothenburg and Stockholm
by the quick train is about eleven hours, for 280 Enghsh
mUes, including stoppages. The fares are — 1st class, 31 rqr.
95 6; 2nd class, 21 rqr. 30 6; 3rd class, 10 rqr. 65 6.
These three railways are aU govemment works, but there
is a private line frora Fahlun to Gefle, about eight Swedish
miles, which pays better than any other.
Telegraph wires are fixed aU through the country, even
up to Haparanda.
The post in Sweden is excellently conducted, and even
in the days of old, when the bags were carried throughout
the whole land by a single postUUon in a peasant cart, maU
robberies were not so often heard of as might have been

POST. 73
expected. I never, out of the many hundreds which have
been sent to me, or which I have sent away, lost a single
letter that I know of. One universal rate of postage, 12 6.
(or a Uttle raore than one penny EngUsh) is adopted through
out the whole country, and postage stamps are used, Uke
the EngUsh.
The post frora England is much cheaper and raore ex
peditious than formerly. A single postage to and from
England and any part of Sweden is Is., and the letters can
be either prepaid or not.
In the winter the mails are sent by Hamburg, and the
letters are one week or ten days on the road, but from the
beginning of March tUl Noveraber, the EngUsh maUs are
brought by steamers " via HuU," and if a letter is posted
in London on the Friday, I can receive it up at Carlstad on
the Wednesday foUo-wing.
Newspapers also corae very regularly, and when they are
properly stamped in England, and sent -via Hull, they come
up for about Id. postage on deUvery, but in the winter, when
they are sent -via Belgium or Hamburg, there is no saying
where they may travel or what they -will cost when they arrive.
I reaUy have received them -with so raany post marks that the
address has been scarcely legible.
Money letters should be registered in England; in
Sweden we caU it " recommended." If the letter is simply
recommended, -without stating the value of the enclosure,
and lost, you can only recover the amount of 100 rqr., but
if you show the contents to the post-master, government is
liable for the whole amount. It is wonderful what an im
mense deal of money is sent yearly about Sweden through
the post. Books can also be sent to and from England by
the book-post. THE EIVEES AND LAKES.
As may be supposed, these are both numerous and large,
although in length the rivers wUl not bear coraparison with
those in raany other parts of Europe. There is not a single
river in Sweden or Norway above 300 EngUsh mUes long.

74 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The largest rivers in the north of the country are — the
, Tornea River, 42 Swedish mUes long ; Umea and Lulea River,
38; Pitea River, 31 ; SkeUeftea, 34; Angerman River, 35;
Liusnan, 32. All these flow into the Baltic.
There is not a river of any size in the south of the country.
The great Tana River, which di-vides Sweden from Nor
wegian Lapland, is a magnificent stream, and flows into the
Polar Sea, a Uttle to the east of the North Cape. The
scenery of some of the rivers, especiaUy in the far north, is
magnificent. The two principal rivers running through the middle
of the country, are the Klar and the Dal.
The Dal rises on the Norwegian feUs, flows for about
forty- two Swedish miles, in an easterly direction, through the
grandest and most picturesque tracts of Sweden, and enters
the Bothnia at Gefle. The Klar also rises in the same
fells, but a Uttle more to the south, flows through Wermland
in a southerly direction for about thirty Swedish railes, and
enters the Lake Wener at Carlstad. The outlet of the
Wener is at Wenersborg, twelve Swedish miles to the
south by the River Gotha, which runs down to Gothenburg,
seven Swedish mUes from Wenersborg. Thus the Klar
River may be said to be forty- nine Swedish miles long, or the
longest river in Sweden. The raeadows both on the sides of
the Gotha and the Wener, are, in some places, rich and fertUe,
but very Uable to flooding. The country on the sides, and
to the south of the Wener is weU peopled.
The celebrated falls and sluices of TroUhatta are on the
Gotha River, about six Swedish mUes from Gothenburg. This
faU is altogether 111 feet from top to bottom, but it is
divided into several faUs, its length being in aU 600 fathoms.
It is a grand faU, and owes quite as much to the romantic
scenery which overhangs them, as to the magnitude of
the falls themselves. The traveller on the steamboat has much
to admire here, both in the natural grtodeur of the faUs and
in the ingenuity of man as shown in the formation of the
sluices, which run parrallel to them, in order to convey
vessels from the bottom to Lake Wener above; with-

EIVEES AND LAKES. 75
out these the navigation of the Wener would be entirely
closed. There is also a raagnificent faU on the Dal River, called
Elf Karleby. But here nature reigns pararaount, and raan
has not yet interfered to surmount this obstruction. Except
in the very north, however, the waterfalls on the Swedish
rivers have little grandeur, and serve only as obstructions
to the na-vigation.
It has been observed that the Swedish rivers are far
less winding in their courses than those of other countries.
When we consider that the lakes and rivers occupy at
least one-eighth part of the surface of the whole land, we
are not surprised at the nuraber of inland lakes which are
met -with here. In one parish of Norrland, there are said
to be raore lakes than days in the year. Many, however,
are of inconsiderable size, but some — the Wener, Wetter,
Malar, Siljan — are raagnificent sheets of water.
The Wener, which Uek about 145 feet above the surface
of the sea, is about fourteen Swedish railes long and seven
broad, and covers an area of forty-eight Swedish square railes.
Its greatest depth is 302 feet.
The next in size is the Wetter, which lies parallel to
the Wener on the south-eastern coast. Its length is
fifteen Swedish miles, its breadth four, and it covers an
area of seventeen Swedish square miles. It is the deepest
lake in Sweden, -viz., 420 feet. The bottom of this lake is
of a different formation to that of the Wener, and its fish
and Crustacea are very dissimilar.
The Malar, on the east end of which Stockholm stands,
is twelve Swedish miles long, eight and a half broad, and it
is computed that 1300 little islands are scattered over its
surface. You scarcely ever see a gentleman's estate, especially in
the middle or north of Sweden, where the dwelling house
is not situated either near a river or a lake, which not only
adds much to the beauty of the scenery, but is of no little
value in the household economy, from the plentiful supply
of fish which it pro-vides. It is true, they are generally of

76 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the coarser kinds, for trout and gwnynniad are confined
to the larger lakes.
The Swedish monarchy is the oldest in Europe, for
they date its foundation about 600 a.d., under its first
king, Ingiald. The governraent is a liraited raonarchy;
liberal without being in the least despotic; in fact the
Swedes seem to enjoy perfect freedom, both in speech and
press. All the four estates are represented in parliament,
the representatives being chosen equally from the nobility, the
clergy, the burghers, and the peasants. A reform in the
representation is, however, now in contemplation. The
present king, Charles XV., is, as he deserves to be, popular
with all classes, and just the stamp of king to rule over such
a nation as the Swedes. Simple and unaffected, firm but
not overbearing, easUy accessible, possessing talents of no
mean order, of a manly, handsome personal appearance — he
is a favourite with aU classes, and I consider Sweden, just
at the present tirae, one of the happiest countries in Europe.
Tom by no internal factions ; troubled with no foreign
possessions ; governed by a king who appears to have his
subjects' welfare at heart, and by laws which are just and
equitable, -without being unduly severe; -without a foreign
eneray ; with an increasing coraraerce, and a country gradu
ally, although slowly irapro-ving, — the Swedes raay ahnost
be said to live together like a happy family, and although
they are poor in comparison with the inhabitants of other
large European nations, I doubt if many a richer country
might not well envy them.
The reUgion, which is strictly Lutheran, was introduced
by Gustaf Vasa in the sixteenth century, and there appear
to be no dissenters. It is true there are a few CathoUcs and
Jews in the country, and a class called " Lasare," or readers,
which seems to be much on the increase. These latter can
hardly, however, be called dissenters, because I never 'heard
that they wish to interfere -with the standard religion of the
country. These " Lasare," who are chiefly of the lower and
middle classes, are simply rather stricter in the observance

EELIGION. 77
of their Christian duties than their neighbours, in fact,
rather more religious ; and consequently, instead of being
respected, as undoubtedly they ought to be, for setting a
better exaraple to their neighbours, they are universally
sneered at, and " Oh, he's a Lasare " is used as a term of
reproach. The priests, take them as a class, are an exemplary, well-
educated body of men, often over-worked but certainly not
overpaid; zealous and indefatigable in their duties, and
with perhaps as fe-w pretensions as the clergy of any
country in the world.
Their income, especiaUy that of the curates, is small. A
curate will probably not receive more than about £10 a year
and his keep, and the first living to which he may be
appointed will perhaps not exceed £40 a year. There are,
however, sorae large livings ; the largest I ever heard of, in
Werraland, was about £800 a year, and I do not think there
are any larger. The income of a Swedish priest is generally
derived frora a small farm, and often besides from a yearly
payment of butter, com, etc., by his parishioners.
One thing I much Uke as regards the appointing of the
Swedish clergy. The priests are chosen by the voice of the
parishioners (at least in certain cases) and the bishops by
the vote of the clergy of the diocese.
The whole kingdom is divided into 12 stifts or dioceses,
each under the rule of a bishop and consistoriura.
The archbishop of Upsala is over all, and his income is
about £1200 yearly, or less than that of the Bishop of Lund.
The income of the Bishop of Lund is at present above £2000
a year, but a considerable reduction is about to take place,
and in future he -will receive scarcely £1000 a year, and the
Bishop of Carlstad about £600.
These 12 dioceses are di-vided into 174 provostships, or
contracts, of which the bishop of the diocese names the con
tract priest, who is the head of all the others in his provost-
ship. The nuraber of territorial "pastorats" is 1261, most
of them including more than one parish. The nuraber of
all the clergy in Sweden, of every grade, appears to be 3406,

78 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
or one to about every 1000 of the inhabitants. In Norway
the number is 500, or about one to 2500 inhabitants.
The church service is simple and well performed. There
is rauch singing, but no ranting, and the men and women
occupy different seats in the church. All parochial and
other notices, such as notices of auctions, rewards for the
recovery of lost and stolen goods, etc., are read from the
pulpit after the service is over.
The ' Sunday is far better observed in general by the
peasants than the higher classes, and certain Sundays in the
year are held much more sacred than others. There are
besides many hoUdays in the course of the year, on which ,
no work is done. Christmas, Easter, and Midsumraer, are
very strictly observed. Holy Communion is a frequent
observance with the Swedish peasants.
It is rather curious to the stranger here that the Lord's
Day is supposed to begin at 6 p.m. on the Saturday night,
and to end at 6 p.m. on the Sunday. The church bell tolls at
six on the Saturday evening, when in general the peasants
knock off work, and wash and clothe themselves for the
Sunday, and as the religious duties of the Sunday are sup
posed to end at 6 p.m., it is no unusual thing to see a priest
who has been preaching in church during the moming en
joying his social rubber of whist in the evening. Now if the
Sunday really did begin at 6 p.m. on the Saturday and end
at 6 p.m. on the Sunday, this would not appear strange, but
still, if the early part of any one day is dedicated wholly
to the ser-vice of the Lord, I think it but consistent that we
should end the day in the sarae fashion, especially if it is the
Sabbath; and I for one cannot think that a healthy, moral
exaraple is set to the lower classes of any land, where the
richer ones invariably fix the evening of the Sunday for baUs,
concerts, entertainraents in the theatres, and in their own
houses, and the raore especially as I could never see that the
Saturday evening was in the least recognized as the com
mencement of the Sabbath.
I am not here going to play the hypocrite, for, as Burns
observes, " God knows I'm not the thing I should be," but

THE SABBATH. 79
I do think that we are all of us bound at least to spare one
whole day out of the seven, if not altogether for reUgion, at
least for rest and reflection, and as a slight mark of gratitude
towards Him to whom we are indebted for all the good we
enjoy in this life.. I well recollect that even in " the bush,"
and on " the diggings," the Sunday was always at least a day
of rest, if not of devotion; and although not probably one'
of us in a hundred had the opportunity of attending a
place of worship, stiU the early lessons of an English horae
were never entirely forgotten, and even the bush tent wore
a quieter and a different aspect on the Lord's Day. Pro
bably a clean shirt and a cleaner face might be the principal
outward observances of the bushman's Sabbath, and the
Sunday was haUed by most of us as a day of rest from
our weekly toil, in the true sense of the word. But stUl
the Sunday was as much Sunday in the bush tent, as in the
quiet vUlage cottage at home, and the cahn stillness of the
day was not altogether -without its fruits, for it carried the
wanderer's mind back to the scenes of childhood and horae,
and opened once again the only page of life's history which
could be said to be without a blot. It would be hard to
say what thoughts were passing through the mind of the
rough bushman as he lounged upon his rude bed in the full
enjoyment of his Sunday's rest and a short black pipe ; but
I -wiU venture to say that in nine cases out of ten, if his
mind's tablets could have been laid bare at that moment, a
sraall viUage church and perhaps a grey-haired parent, or a
little sister with her hand fondly clasped in his own as he
led her up to the old grey porch, would have been found
engraven there in characters too indelible, for the rude
waves of the stormy sea of life ever to obliterate. " The
sound of the church-going bell " had, however, never broken
the deep soUtude of the forest in which his tent is
now pitched. His mates might be engaged in some of
the necessary occupations of every-day life. One might
be washing a shirt, another cooking dinner, while
others might perhaps be seated in careless conversation
round the carap fire. But there was even still a something

80 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
in this -wild spot which told that this day was different to
any other. The loud laugh and the coarse jest which too
often garnishes the ordinary discourse of the bushman, were
seldom heard on the Sunday ; or if one more hardened than
his comrades attempted it, his mates would be more ready
to turn away than to laugh. But aU over the continent the
Sabbath is regarded as a day of pleasure, and not of sacred
rest ; and although individually there may be quite as good
foreigners as EngUshmen, the raoral tone of the inhabitants,
generally speaking, of every foreign land which I have
visited, is very, very different from that of old England.
You never hear in Sweden, as you do in England, or in
many continental countries, a merry peal of bells. Some
of the bells in the town churches are deep and finely-toned,
but their measured, soleran toll, always struck a chUl into my
heart, for I never could make out whether they were tolling
for church service or for a burial. The deep solemn sound
of the church bell in the north, is in perfect unison with the
stern, rugged features of the country, just as the sweet chime
from a Uttle English country church, is in keeping with the
quiet rural scenery which usuaUy surrounds it.
It is now raany years (although I have never forgotten
the time) since I sat on the garden terrace of the old house
at home, in the calm twilight of the summer evening, and
listened to the soft, sweet peal of bells from the taU spire
of a neighbouring church, as the sound carae floating down
the river, mellowed by the water, and the stillness which
then reigned over all.
Strange to say in all my wanderings since, I have only
once heard a peal of bells which to my fancy could equal them,
and this was of all places in the world, at Melbourne, Victoria.
The gold fever was just then at its height, and the to-wn was
one continual scene of riot, and dissipation. I was then
a " new chum," and Uke many others being out of luck, I
had but little heart to join in the boisterous revelry with
which I was surrounded. It was a lovely evening, and I
had stroUed about two miles from the town on the banks of
the Yarra, to moralize, like the sentimental Jaques, upon my

UNIVEESITIES. 81
future prospects. My heart was sad enough just at that
moment, when suddenly the beUs from sorae church in
the town struck up a merry peal, so Uke ray old favourites,
that in a raoraent all my cares vanished, I quite forgot
that I was a penniless adventurer in a gold-digging country
at the antipodes, and every other reflection was absorbed
in the remembrance of
" Youth and home, and that sweet time
When last I heard the eTening chime."
The two universities are at Lund and Upsala. The former
has about 600 students, the latter double that nuraber. At
both they have first-rate professors, and the system of
education is very good. Frora the appearance of the
students, I infer they are admitted at an earlier age than
in our universities. Their university costume is much
neater than ours, consisting of a plain dress, -without a
gown, and a jaunty little white velvet cap, with a yellow and
blue rosette. The expenses of a university education are
much cheaper here than in England. A young student told
me that at Lund, about £3, and at Upsala, about £4 per
month, woiUd cover aU expenses.
There are excellent schools in every to-wn, but to this
subject I shall recur hereafter.
Every Swede raust read with the priest before he or she
can be adraitted to the Lord's Table ; and every year the
priest has to hold a meeting in various parts of his parish,
and hear his parishioners read, and examine them in their
reUgion. The peasants here appear to be rauch raore under
the eye of their clergyraen than in England.
It appears from the prison returns in 1858, that out of
100 prisoners eight could neither read nor write ; eighty-one
could read ; nine could both read and write well ; and one
was of superior education. It is quite certain that the
lower classes in Sweden generally stand far before those
of England, as far as education is concerned. In 1869,
out of all the chUdren of an age to be put to school in
Sweden, only one in seventy was uneducated. 6

82 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
One thing I Uke rauch. You rarely enter a peasant's house
without seeing a large Bible lying on the table. I recoUect,
once ha-ving an argument -with an old peasant who was very
poor, on something which happened in the Mosaic age.
The poor old feUow said if he had only a Bible he should feel
so much interested in the accounts of the earlier days. He had
a New Testament, but had never been able to save money
enough to buy a Bible. I asked him which he would rather
have, an old pair of boots I had proraised him, or a large type
Bible. He hesitated, for his feet were "very near the ground,"
but he chose the Bible. I gave him both, and when I paid
him a visit afterwards, I found him deep in the wars of the
Philistines, speUing his way with the aid of a pair of
monstrous spectacles raade out of window glass. I met the
old fellow about a year afterwards and he slily drew me into
a discussion on the comparative merits of David and Saul,
just to prove to me that he had read my Bible.
On the whole we may take the peasants throughout the
country as a very good, sterling, simple-minded, contented,
race of raen. Honest, ci-vU, weU-behaved, and particularly
willing to help a stranger. We rarely bolt a door at night
in the country, and I never had a row with a peasant the
whole time I was in Sweden. Murders or highway robberies
are not often heard of, although both in Stockholm and
Gothenburg I have seen sorae raost villanous-looking
scoundrels hanging about, whom I should be very sorry to
meet on a dark night without my revolver.
Crime, they say, is on the decrease, owing, as some will
have it, to the greater difficulty of procuring spirits ; others
(rayself among the nuraber) to the increased severity of prison
discipline. The punishment for crimes in Sweden is very severe.
For a theft, the prisoner is doomed to pay a certain sum, pro
bably double the value of the goods stolen, and in default
of paying, to be kept on bread and water for so many days,
and after that to be kept at hard labour for a certain time.
I noticed that a thief who had broken into the Bishop's
house at Lund, in the end of 1863, was doomed to be kept

CEIME. 83
to hard labour for the term of his natural life, and the
receiver who bought some of the stolen silver, was sentenced
to pay 3679 rqr., or in default, to undergo twenty-eight
days bread-and-water, and after that to be kept to hard
labour for one year and six months. This bread-and-water
system, I ara told, is no joke ; they say twenty- eight days is
alraost equal to a death's doom. I believe the bread is
unfermented, and -without salt.
The soUtary, silent system is strictly observed in the
jaUs. Flogging is, happily, now abolished, and when
an execution takes place, the axe is the instrument of
death. A Swedish flogging must have been terrible. The
executioner did not use a " cat," but three long hazel twigs,
which he cast away after every two strokes, and took three
fresh ones. About twenty-four pair of strokes was con
sidered as much as a man could bear. How is it then,
that when the disgusting and brutal practice of flog
ging in the British army was at its height, a soldier could
take 500 lashes from a nine-tailed cat ?
Executions are rare. I read of one in Norway, in
March, 1864, when two fellows were beheaded for a murder.
The head executioner there, or " sharp rattan " as he is
called, would be a very good raate for our old Calcraft, as
he is sixty-nine years old, and has been in office above
thirty years ; during this tirae, however, he has only be
headed fourteen men and one woman; he only works in
Norway, not in Sweden. The axe he uses is described as
being quite an interesting relict ; it did duty in Copenhagen
in 1772, and has, I believe, been an heirloora in the old
man's family ever since. It weighs seventeen pounds. Howl
should like to steal it, to place in my coUection of curiosities !
In most parishes there is, I beUeve, a place set apart for
executions, generally a lone spot at a little distance from the
town. Formerly the heads of criminals were stuck on poles
and set up where they were beheaded. Now, I believe,
this is not the custora.
In Stockholm, two men were lately beheaded for a

84 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
murder, and if the public papers speak the feeUngs of the
people, in aU probabUity this will be about the last capital
punishment in Sweden. At the last meeting of the " diet,"
a very great attempt was made to do away -with capital
punishment, and, singular to say, the priests stood alone as
champions of the system.
Formerly a master could take the law into his own hands,
and chastise his own servants, this, however, is not the
case now, and an assault, especiaUy on a poUceman, is a
very serious offence in Sweden.
I should certainly recommend the adoption of the
Swedish prison discipline for our garotters. I have
been told that they do not cUp the prisoner close here,
but as soon as he enters the prison they shave clean
the one half of his head, leaving the hair on the other.
This sort of head-dress must have an, imposing and striking
effect. No one can be executed without first confessing the
crime, even after ha-ving been condemned ; but the prisoner
is kept in prison till the confesson is made ; and soUtary con
finement and the exhortations of the priest generally force
the prisoner to confess sooner or later. .Whether there is
either justice or mercy in such a law I leave wiser heads
than mine to determine.
The constables in the country are about on a par with
our old parish constables at home, only, of course, fewer
and further between. The new police in Gothenburg are a
poor iraitation of the London police ; but it is a very heavy
offence to interfere with them when on duty.
In the country towns, the night-watchmen cry the hours
with loud sonorous voices, and one watchman, in Carlstad,
was perched all night upon the top of the church tower
to cry the hours through a loud horn, and give notice if a
fire broke out in the night. I used to think a Swedish
postillion must have roughish work of it during the winter,
but his life would be a bed of roses compared to that of one
of these steeple watchmen, on a cold January night, in the
middle of Sweden.

CIVIL LAW. 85
Crimes, I beUeve, seldom go undetected, for justice,
though slow in this country, is sure.
The total number of prisoners confined in aU the prisons
in the country, for offences of every kind, in 1862, was
10,055. This was rather more than in 1861, when the
¦number was 9936; but less than 1835, by 1582 (or 13
per cent.) ; than 1845, by 5428; than 1855, by 2049; than
1860, by 1252.
Suicides are not so very uncommon, and in no other
country have I heard of more real determined cases of
felo de se than in this. Sometiraes when a peasant drowns
himself he sticks his hat or coat upon the bank of the
river, so that his friends may know what has become
of him. There is not a regular coroner's inquest here in cases of
murder or -violent death, as in England; but the "lans-
man " has to -view the body, and investigate the cause of
death. There is, I may add, no " trial by jury " in the
north, but in all cases, I beUeve, a final appeal to the king.
In cases of felo de se a Christian burial is denied to the
unfortunate deceased.
The ci-vil laws are lenient. Bankruptcies and insolvencies
are very common, and appear to be thought Uttle of. It
is very rarely that a raan is imprisoned for debt, because
his creditor must keep him during his imprisonment. Un
less a man put his hand to paper, it appears to me that a
debt will take almost any length of time to recover. I
would warn the stranger, in any foreign country, to be very
careful about signing his name to anything, especiaUy biUs.
I only once put my name to a bUl in Sweden, and this was
to be joint security for a tailor, and I was done in so clever
a manner that Sam Slick himself could not have beaten it.
Two sureties were required for £25 for this raan, to be paid
in a twelveraonth, and I agreed to be one, on the distinct
imderstanding that if the tailor did not pay, I could only
be caUed upon to pay £12 10s., and my feUow-bondsraan
the other £12 10s.
The bill was properly drawn ; I signed my name under

86 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the tailor's, and my co-bondsman under mine ; but there
was a little space left between my name and his, and in
this place they cleverly inserted a line to the effect that if I
could not pay the whole £25 (in default of the taUor's doing
so) the other bondsman would pay his share. Of course, the
taUor never paid a shiUing, and I had to pay the whole, or
within a fortnight after the date of the biU aU my things
would have been seized. I had fortunately enough to pay.
I was much vexed when I refiected that a man Uke my
self, who had seen no Uttle of horse-deaUng and turf-life,
should be so neatly done by a Swedish taUor.
Law expenses are very moderate in this country as com
pared with England. Nevertheless, as elsewhere, the law
yers appear to live and thrive.
There is no system of police espionage in this country,
as in Russia. This sort of thing would not suit the free
Swedes. There is no need of government spies, where a
loyal feeling exists among aU classes, nor does it require a
very severe police, to keep a nation in order, who are all
well disposed towards each other. Even if the country is a
poor one, I would ten thousand times rather be the King of
Sweden, and feel that I had not a real enemy among all
my subjects, than be the Autocrat of a land Uke Russia,
and know that those of my subjects who did not hate me,
only feared rae.
The strength of the standing army of Sweden in 1863,
exclusive of officers, was as follows : —
Infantry. — Guards .... 1,800
Of the line . . . 24,000
Conscription . . . 70,950

 96,750
Besides Gotland National Conscription,
which, however, cannot be called on
active ser-vice out of that island . . . 8,500
Cavalry. — Guards .... 460
Of the line . . . 4,450
Conscripts . . . 3,700
 8,600

AEMf. 87
Artillery (with 176 cannon) .... 5,050
Engirieers . . . . . . .1,180
Train  4,676

Total . . . 124,766
Independent, however, of these troops, they have an
other corps the numerical strength of which I am unable to
state, which in the event of an invasion would probably
be of raaterial assistance, but who belong neither to the
contingent nor the reserve. Every young raan in Sweden
from twenty-one to twenty-five is liable to be caUed upon
to serve as a soldier in case of invasion. He is drilled for
two years, and for a short time on the parade-ground with
the other soldiers.
The regular land-soldiers do not Uve in barracks (except
the artUlery in Gothenburg and the guards in Stock
holm), but they are stationed aU over the country. Every
estate or hemman in Sweden, of which there are about
65,000, must support a soldier, i. e., find him a house and
little piece of land, do his ploughing for him, and pay him
a certain amount of rye yearly. Some few estates are called
" Satterier," and these, having been granted in forraer times
to the possessors free of aU taxes, have no soldiers to sup
port. And in some few other cases a "hemman," instead
of keeping a house and land for a soldier, pays a yearly tax
of 90 rqr. to the crown. These soldiers are exercised or
drilled once in every year, and this is the only time they can
be said to be on soldier's duty, when they raeet and camp
out on some large plain. Most of thera are married, Uve at
home, and do labouring work for the rest of the year,
except some few who are stationed in castles throughout
the land.
By this plan the Swedish army is kept up at a small
expense to the cro-wn. All their arms and uniforms, when
they are not on drUl, are deposited here and there in large
magazines. The officers are also scattered over the country, many of
them living on farms granted to them by government.

88 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
That the Swedish soldiers are strong, brave, and hardy
men there can be little doubt, and probably in an intellectual
and moral point of view stand higher than the common
British soldier. In the case of an invasion, they would
doubtless be very forraidable opponents, for the country is
well adapted to a guerilla war. But we must not shut our
eyes to what is the real strength of an army constituted like
theirs, comprising as it does men with famUies, men taken
from their business or work, and who do not possess, like
the soldiers of permanent and regular armies, the instruction
or habits acquired in railitary life. Moreover, their cannons
and muskets are quite of the old school, and would stand
little chance against well-appointed batteries, manned with
modern artillery, or regiments armed with the Whitworth
rifie. We had a pretty good proof of the efficacy of well
rifled cannons over old artillery in the late war between the
Prussians and the Danes. Perhaps the only nation the
Swedes have to fear are their neighbours the Russians ; and
I trust the day is very far distant when the old blue and
yellow flag of Sweden wUl have to strike to Russia.
Of all European countries, Sweden has apparently at the
present day less need of a large standing array, and more
need of an effective rifle force, than any other. She
has no foreign possessions to protect, and she wishes to
raake no aggressions upon her neighbours ; and as long as
they will let her alone, I do not think she wUl ever meddle
with thera. Late events have, however, shown us that
aggrandizeraent is now the aim of the larger continental
states, and if, as it seems probable, Prussia and Russia are
in league, Sweden may be said to stand between two fires,
especially if the Prussians make further encroachments
upon Denmark. National bravery wiU avaU little against
brute force and overwhelming numbers, but an effective
rifle corps would do much in a land like Sweden. To be
fore-warned is to be fore-armed, and I should strongly
recoramend the Swedish government to re-model their artil
lery and the smaU arms of their infantry, and to do aU that
lies in their power to encourage the movement of the volun-

NAVY. 89
teer rifle clubs. It is upon these latter that the safety of a
country will much depend in case of an invasion. With a
very little management and at a trifling expense, Sweden
might have at her command 50,000 volunteer rifle
men — men of good blood, in the prime of life, who if
properly armed, and fighting in their own country, would
be very Uttle if at all inferior to the ordinary land
soldiers. It does not appear now to be England's policy to inter.
fere with foreign quarrels ; and whether it was foolish or
wise in her not to assist Denmark in the late struggle, I am
not politician enough to say. Whether or no she has lost
her prestige among European powers by not doing so,
I think matters very little. I do not consider that for many
years England has had one reaUy true friend in Europe.
And there is not a European power who would not be sin
cerely glad to see her embroiled in a quarrel from which
she could not extricate herself. No one but EngUshmen who
are Uving abroad can see -with what jealousy, I raay almost
say hatred, England is regarded by nearly every foreign
power, and it behoves her just now to be very careful how
she casts the first stone. All I trust is, that she never will
be taunted into fighting. But if it is once shown that it is
her duty to fight, I for one feel pretty confident, notwith
standing all the sneers not only of foreigners but even of
many of her own countryraen, that the good old British
war-cry of " Heaven prosper the right," wUl be found to
have lost none of its ancient raeaning.
The Swedish fleet consists of 8 line-of-battle ships
(2 steamers and 6 saiUng vessels) ; 6 frigates (1 screw
and 5 sailing ships); 6 brigs; 18 schooners; 88 gun
sloops (consisting of 12 steamers and 76 saiUng ves
sels) ; 6 small steamers; 112 gun boats (a very effective
force on this rocky island-studded coast) ; 12 smaU tran
sports. In aU 24 stearaers, 237 sailing vessels, with 1215
cannons. The Norwegian array consists of — troops of the line,
19,511 men; land troops, 15,604 raen. In all, 36,115 men.

90

TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

The Norwegian navy consists of 146 ships, -with 854
cannon. The volunteer rifle movement is going on slowly in
Sweden, and there is scarcely so much enthusiasm displayed
in the cause as I should have fancied there would have been
in a country so well adapted for sharp-shooters, and where
the rifle is decidedly a favourite weapon.
The two naval depots are Stockholm and Carlskrona,
and perhaps the best fortified sea-coast town is Marstrand.
There is a mUitary college, Uke Sandhurst, at Carlsberg, near
Stockholm. The Swedes make excellent sailors, and I have often
heard EngUsh captains say that they like to have a Swede
or two very much among their crew. Neither the wages or
the Uving are so good on board the Swedish as on the
British or American ships, and on this account so many
Swedish saUors sail under these two flags. I fancy they
prefer the American.
The annual expenses of the Swedish Govemment in 1860
amounted to 26,911,710 rix-doUars.

1. Head, or crown departments

rqr. rmt.
1,278,400

2. Justiciary

2,198,570

3. Foreign .

479,200

4. Land force

8,727,720

5. Naval

3,306,100

6. Civil department

2,206,950

7. Financial department

4,270,450

8. Ecclesiastical

3,276,400

9. Pensions .

1,168,920

Total

26,911,710

Or about one and a half million EngUsh pounds.
This expenditure must, however, have increased during
the last four years. In 1841 it amounted to Uttle over
16,000,000 rix-doUars.
The taxes are light, indeed, in comparison to England.

JUSTICE. 91
Most of thera seem to be charged upon the land, except a
sraall income-tax. AU these things are managed very
weU. Each pro-vince has its governor, who resides in the coun
try to-wn, and each town its burgomaster. In every district
is a " lansraan," or head-raagistrate, who is regarded by the
peasants as Uttle inferior to royalty itself.
Judges are appointed for each district, who hold a kind
ofdistrict court or assize every spring and autumn at dif
ferent places throughout the country for the trial of criminal
and civil cases.

CHAPTER II.
General Description of Life in the Country — The Inhabitants — Expenses of
Living, and Adviee to the Traveller and Sportsman Visiting Sweden.
No passport is now required to any part of the north, and
the traveUer can -visit Denmark, Sweden, or Norway -with
far less difficulty than he could ten years ago. There is
little trouble at any of the custom-houses, and he is sure to
meet with civility and assistance from every official.
If the English traveller -wishes to reach Sweden direct,
his best plan will be to come to Gothenburg by a steamer
from London or Hull, which leaves both places every week
during the summer for Gothenburg. Messrs. PhilUps and
Graves, Rood Lane, City, are the agents in London ; Messrs.
Wilson in Hull. The London boats are the cheapest, but
in either the first class wiU not exceed £3 besides provisions
on board. This is not much out of the way, but for dogs
the case is different. A pointer was sent over to me by the
Hull boat in 1863, and its fare was £1 Is. 7d. to Gothen
burg. The same dog's fare from England to Australia,
14,000 mUes, would have been £5. Small parcels are also
exorbitantly dear by these steamers.
The length of passage is about the same from both places,
say at longest, three days. The stearaers -wiU run nearly
through the whole year, certainly from February to the mid
dle of November. Frora Gothenburg the traveUer can reach
Stockholra at any tirae of the year in one day by rail, but in
the summer I should certainly recomraend him to go up by
one of the little steamers over the Wener. The passage
wUl probably occupy three days, but this -will be amply
repaid by the sight of the beautiful scenery through which

HINTS TO SPOETSMEN. 93
it passes. In fact, I know not a nicer nor cheaper summer
for the English tourist than to corae to Gothenburg and
travel up to Stockholm in this manner. He will not
require a guide an inch of the way as all the captains on
these boats speak English.
There are no real EngUsh hotels in Gothenburg or Stock
holm, but in raost there is a courier who speaks English.
Living in a hotel at either place -will be about as dear as in
a second-rate London hotel. Blom's hotel and the Gotha
KaUan are perhaps the best in Gothenburg ; Hotel Ryd-
berg in Stockholm.
I should decidedly recomraend any Englishraan (espe
cially a sportsraan) landing in Gothenburg, if he want any
ad-vice or assistance, at once to caU upon ray old friend, Mr.
Duff, British Vice- Consul, a first-rate sportsraan hiraself, and
who is always willing to help an EngUsh traveller.
The EngUsh traveller who lands in a foreign country -with
a good letter of credit in his pocket -will find little difficulty
in getting on, and if he is only -visiting Sweden for the pur
pose of seeing the country, and of obtaining a Uttle chance
fishing and shooting at any place where he may stop, he had
better hire a travelling servant in Gothenburg who speaks
EngUsh (at 3s. 6d. per day and his keep), and when once in
leading strings, leave all to his guide. He -will see the
country in this manner, and I dare say obtain a Uttle sport
ing whenever he chooses to pull up. But as this book is in
tended for a guide to the English sportsman whose means
are too liraited to obtain him good sport in England, and^
therefore, seeks a new field where he may be able to enjoy a
Uttle sport and yet live cheaply and comfortably for a length
of time, I shall endeavour to point out to such a one the
cheapest and best way to go to work in settUng up the coun
try where fair sport is to be had, and where he raay live at
a moderate expense ; and in a future chapter, I shall enter
more fully into the fishing and shooting of this country,
telUng him exactly what sport he may expect to find, what
localities are best to seek it in; and if he only follows ray ad
vice, I do not fancy he will be altogether disappointed.

94 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
But before -visiting Sweden, he must make up his mind to
moderate sport and to work hard for that. _ Considering the
¦wild nature of the country except right up in Lapland (and
my " Spring and Summer in Lapland" will teU him all about
the fauna and sporting capabilities of that land), Sweden is
very badly stocked with game, and this is solely owing to
the game laws being treated quite as nonentities, and there
being no regular gamekeepers to look after the game, except
just in the duck and snipe season. I never raade what I call
a heavy bag in the country, others, however, I know have
done much more than myself.
I will then suppose a man to have landed in Gothen
burg without a friend, and without kno-wing a word of the
language. If he is a raarried man, and thinks of eventua;lly
settling, let him by aU means leave his -wife and famUy at
home till he has taken one trip over by himself to recon
noitre the land. He wUl get on well enough in Gothenburg,
where about every third man speaks English, nor wiU he
require any assistance tUl he comes right up into the country.
It -will be very little use for him to remain in Gothenburg,
where U-ving is as dear as in England, and very little sport
to be obtained at the present day, except by the residents
who have now aU the shooting in their own hands, and are
exceedingly jealous of strangers. There is very Uttle trout
fishing in the south of Sweden, and there are only two or
three salmon streams along the whole range of the southern
and south-eastern coast, and it is quite as difficult to get
leave to fish them as in England, so don't let the English
traveller fancy that he wUl be able to procure sahnon fishing
in every part of Sweden. I refer him to my chapter on
Swedish sporting for further information on this point.
There certainly used to be, and perhaps, at times, still
is, fair duck and snipe shooting in the Gothenburg reed
beds, but now the shooting there is very strictly pre
served by a kind of club ; besides, when an Englishman
leaves home he does not travel to meet EngUshmen ; and I
think no town so undesirable a residence for an English
raan as a second-rate foreign one, where EngUsh customs

HINTS TO SPOETSMEN. 95
and manners are universally aped, and English prices charged
for foreign produce. Nothing but English goes down in
Gothenburg, and they tell a good story of a Gothenburg
swell who went into a coffee roora there and ordered a real
English dinner. He must have real English beef-steaks,
real English porter, in fact he so bothered the girl with his
English orders, that at length she asked him whether she
was also to bring him English salt ; the narae by which our
epsom salts are known in Sweden.
The man who only -visits Gothenburg has seen very
Uttle of Sweden. The Swedes he meets with are spoiled by
the number of English whom they see in this little seaport,
and the few EngUsh who are resident there -will be of little
or no use in introducing him, either to the sporting or
natural history of this fine land, and the scenery around the
town, although pretty, is scarcely Swedish ; so if he wants
to see real Swedish scenery, real old fashioned Swedish
customs, and enjoy a Uttle fair sporting at a moderate price,
he must shake the dust off his shoes at the good town
of Gothenburg, and steara up to the Wener at once ; and
if he raeans to stay any length of time in Sweden, let him
take up his quarters in Carlstad for a few months, till he has
become acquainted with the language and custoras of the
people. He can live cheaper here than in Gothenburg, and
he will be able to obtain some very fair sporting round the
town. It is not the least use a man thinking of settling
in the country where any sport is to be had till he has
learned something of the language, and let him settle where
he will at first, until he knows the language and customs of
the people, his li-ving will cost him 100 per cent, more than
when he has becorae used to the country. An Englishraan
therefore who visits Sweden for a short time cannot give
any opinion as to whether it is a cheap country or not.
But I may as well here say that Sweden is not so cheap
a country after all as we in England suppose, and I
beUeve a man -with a family who is used to and cannot do
without English comforts, will be able to Uve very nearly,
if not as cheaply, in England. But for a single man, who

96 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
does not mind roughing it, and can make himself tolerably
corafortable in peasants' quarters, after he has once mastered
a little of the language, and got a footing in the country,
and who wishes to enjoy a Uttle fair fishing and shooting
Sweden is certainly a cheap country in some respects, and
after aU a good deal freer than any part of England. Such a
man ought to live well on £50 per year, and get some very
tolerable sporting, but he must then hire his own room
and buy his own provisions. There are raany places where
a single raan can board with a gentleman's faraily at about
two shUlings a day, with a peasant for a little less, and till
he gets used to the country, this will be, perhaps, his
cheapest plan. But a raan with a family will find it very
difficult to get settled. I am certain he will have great
difficulty in finding accoraraodation, and that such a
man must reside for some time in a to-wn at EngUsh
prices, and probably at an inn, before he can settle up
country. Very few residents have furnished rooms to
let, and although a single man may obtain quarters any
where, it will be very difficult for a raan with a famUy. A
gentleman with his wife and two small chUdren and nurse
maid could not get board and lodging any where in Werm
land under ten shillings a day; and this very gentleman
who had corae over frora Belgium, said that with his family
be could live there far cheaper than in Sweden, and much
more comfortably, inasmuch that one franc, of which he
got about twenty-five for the English pound, would go as
far as the rix-doUar in Sweden, of which he got about seven
teen for the pound. But if he hires his own Uttle place and
takes Swedish servants, and buys his own pro-visions, he
may certainly do it for less ; but this he can't think about
until he has been at least six months in the country.
I have tried different plans. I have lived -with gentle
men and -with peasants, and I have hired my own room,
and bought my o-wn pro-visions. The latter was by far the
most independent but the dearest plan, for I was never a
very good economist. If a man really means to settle, he
had far better hire a small place, with a few acres of ground)

CHOICE OF LOCALITY. 97
and farm a little. He must at all events have a housekeeper,
and a raan to row him and help him in his shooting excur
sions, and he may just as well employ their spare time use
fully as not. But if he can fall in -with a gentleman or
respectable peasant in a good district, who ¦will board and
lodge him for about Is. 6d. a day at first (and such a place
a single man will be able to get), I am sure he wUl find this
his cheapest plan. There wUl be one great advantage in
this plan, it ¦will give him a sort of standing and introduc
tion into the country, while he is acquiring the language,
and if he only gets himself Uked, which he can easily
do if he behaves ci-viUy and courteously to the gentle
men, and liberally to the peasants, he -wiU find no difficulty in
getting on.
It is not easy to recomraend the choice of a locality for
a raan whose sole object is sporting. The best partridge
shooting is in the south of Sweden, and we had none in
Wermland, where I spent the most of my time. Perhaps,
also, the best open black game and woodcock shooting is in
the south ; but I fancy a stranger wiU now find some diffi
culty in obtaining sport there, as most of the proprietors
fish and shoot themselves. Duck and snipe shooting
can be met -with throughout the whole country in good
localities. But in Wermland, if a man is only settled in a good
locaUty, he wiU meet with every kind of game peculiar to
Sweden (before the severe -winter of 1860 cut thera all
off, we had exceUent partridge shooting in the south of the
province), and in many places, especially tbwards the north,
very good trout and grayling fishing, and even lake trout,
besides nearly every other kind of fish which is met -with in
the southern waters. I speak of this province from expe
rience. I made many good friends there, and I ara cer
tain any other Englishman can do the same. He -wiU
here find the gentlemen kind and courteous, the peasants
civU, and willing to oblige, and besides this (which is now
far from being the case in the south of Sweden), he will
have no difficulty in obtaining sport. if he only bears in mind

98 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
these two golden rules — never to set foot on any man's land,
even the meanest peasant's, -without first asking leave ; and,
above all, to avoid getting the name of a pot-hunter. If he has
a day's shooting or fishing on a gentleman's ground, let him
leave a good share of his game behind him, and a few ris-
doUars and a glass or two of brandy -will obtain him the free
run of any peasant's land. As for fishing, he wiU have little
difficulty in obtaining leave to fish as much as he pleases
on any water in Wermland with a rod and line ; but there
is no real salmon fishing anywhere inland; and as for
the matter of shooting, there -wUl be many wUd tracts where
he can wander for miles -without any one asking him where
he is going.
Of course he must hire a man to row hira, and accom
pany him in his forest rambles — in fact, as a general rough
servant. Such a raan he wUl get for about Is. 3d. per day
in the suramer, and he must buy a boat for his fishing. A
boat wUl cost him nearly £1, a punt 12s. If he -wishes to
travel about (and as soon as he becomes known to the neigh
bouring lando-wners he -wUl have lots of in-vitations, for
Wermland is one of the most hospitable provinces ia aU
Sweden), he can always obtain a peasant's horse and cart
for Is. 2d. the Swedish mile, to take him where he wants.
His dogs he must feed entirely on oatmeal and milk, and
about £1 10s. a year will keep each dog well, and if he
reads further on, he -wUl see at what price, and in what man
ner he can feed himself.
It would be fay the best for any man who reaUy wishes to
spend two summers and one -winter in Sweden, and to give the
country a fair trial, to come up to Carlstad in May, as soon
as there is open water, and live there tiU the season sets
in, when he must look out for better quarters, and this he
wUl have to leave much to chance. Here he must, of course,
take lessons in Swedish, and spend his whole time in master
ing the language. I always found Carlstad a very nice and
pretty summer residence, and the people very kind, and it is
certainly cheaper than Gothenburg. I may add, that a
good many people here speak English, and I know no town

WILD SPOET. 99
in Sweden where they are more anxious to learn, and I am
certain a weU educated young Englishman could get an ex
ceUent U-ving by teaching English. He would make far
more money and be far more independent than many a
poor curate at home, and thus gain an introduction into the
best famUies.
If he wants real -wild Swedish sporting, he had better,
when he moves, go right up into DalecarUa, and the nearer
he camps to the di-viding fell range between Sweden and
Norway the better. But in every part of Wermland he will
get wUd forest shooting. I have heard Trysell, on the Nor
wegian frontier, well spoken of, but I fancy anywhere about
twenty-five or thirty Swedish railes north of Carlstad, would
bring a man into the -wildest forest districts ; and I should
recoraraend him to be somewhere near the fells. I know the
river Klar for quite twenty miles up, and I was much dis
appointed in both the fishing and shooting there, for I was
not near enough to the real feUs, and none of the great lake
trout seem to come far up that river. Probably they are
aU stopped by the faU at Degerforss, about a couple of
Swedish mUes north of Carlstad, where great nurabers are
taken every year in the salmon-trap. Strange to say, I
found very few -wUlow grouse up there, although they corae
much further south ; in fact, very little of any kind of game
on the banks of that river. Bear shooting, as well as elk, is
to be obtained -within about seventy English miles north of
Carlstad. His EngUsh money he had better leave with Mr. Duff, in
Gothenburg, to whom aU his remittances could be raade.
That gentleman could send him Swedish money when he
required it. Whatever part he settled in, there would
always be a town or iron manufactory in the, neighbourhood
to which his letters could be sent from Carlstad, and this he
must arrange with the postmaster there.
He wiU of course bring all his English clothes and tackle
with him, and let his outfit be good. Just what he has
used at horae wUl do here. A rifle will be of very little use
to him, for in bear and elk shooting, I think a smooth-bore

100 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
will answer every purpose ; unless, indeed, he means to try
reindeer stalking on the fells, and then, of course, his rifle
will be indispensable. A pea-rifle would, however, be very
handy for shooting blackcock and capercailUe in the winter if
a man knows how to use it. He had better bring over
plenty of English powder and caps, for these he cannot get
up country. He can buy plenty of powder (but it wiU
not be so clean and strong as the EngUsh) for about 2s.
a pound. I never saw any caps in use up the country,
except the common German rubbish. Very good shot he
can buy anywhere, and his best plan will be to procure
1 cwt. at a time from the manufactory of Skroder and Arpi, at
Guldsraedhyttan. He can order this in Carlstad, and it will
be sent to him packed in 5 lb. packages in a strongbox. The
Swedish nurabers, unlike the English, run up from 00, 01, 2,
etc. to 14, which latter number is the size of a small pistol
bullet. The best sizes I can recommend are — 1 for snipe and
woodcocks, 3 for ducks, black game, etc., 5 for hares and
capercailUe, and one packet (6 lb.) of 10 or 11, in case of a
shot at a lynx or wolf. He can also buy bullets of all sizes,
and the best powder that I have met -with in Sweden, from
the sarae manufactory. By purchasing it in this way his
shot will cost him under 3d. per pound.
I recommend a good strong tweed shooting coat and
trousers for all seasons and purposes, and if he should want
any warmer winter clothing, which he wUl if he comes to
winter in North Wermland, he -wiU get it in the countiy
better than at home, and a few English books of light read
ing will prove a great solace in many a long -winter evening.
The best dog for all purposes wiU be a hardy, general
purpose setter, which will take the water and retrieve. This
will do for aU game in the open ; a pointer will hardly stand
the climate up here. I iraagine a heavy close-hunting Sussex
spaniel would be very useful in the forests, but for general
work in these deep woodlands, where the dog springs the
game, and when it perches stands barking under the hill
till the shooter creeps up and shoots it sitting, I know no
dog except such as they use here. These are only to be pro-

EENTINO SHOOTING. 101
cured in the country, and such a dog well broken to drive
hares and tree capercaiUie or black game, will cost from £4
to £5. Before he starts for Sweden let him make up his mind to
be content -with fair, moderate sport ; this he wUl be sure to
get. I dweU much on this point because many sportsmen
who -write to me from England for information, seera to have
formed very erroneous ideas of sporting in Sweden.
Let him when once settled in the country lay aside his
EngUsh hauteur and exclusiveness, treat the gentlemen -with
courtesy, never trespass (he will scarcely ever be denied if
he asks leave), and let him act with kindness and hearty
freedom and liberality towards the peasants ; he wiU soon
then becorae a favourite with dll classes, and after he has
once got a good name and a good footing, it will be his own
fault if he cannot keep it. Recollect that all -wUl depend upon
the first footing he gains in the country, and above all never to
be stingy in trifles with the peasants. Never grumble uselessly
nor give unnecessary trouble. The peasants are very slow,
and must not be put out of their way.
I never in Wermland heard of any one renting shooting.
I have always been lucky enough rayself to obtain as much of
both fishing and shooting as I wanted, through the kindness
of the neighbouring gentry and peasants, but I daresay a
tract of forest land could easily be hired for a trifle, and, no
doubt, if this was reaUy well looked after, a good head of
game might soon be got up. I know fishing is often let for
a certain share of the fish. But I always had an objection
to renting either the exclusive right of fishing or shooting
in a foreign country. Such a plan is very apt to bring a man
into colUsion and unpleasantness with his neigbhours ; it is far
better to obtain leave to fish or shoot when you please, and
either pay a small sum or give up part of the fish or game, and
have no trouble with preserving., Of course, if a man pur
chased an estate, it would be a different matter. As I have
before stated, sporting was a secondary consideration with
me, and I did not require to be settled in a particularly good
sporting district, especiaUy as I was away from home six

102 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
months out of the twelve, coUecting. So all I wanted was
a home to come to, where I could leave my books and
things in safety when I was absent ; in fact, where I could
have head- quarters to arrange my collections, put together
my notes, etc. ; and I was lucky enough to find just the
place I wanted, at Gardsjo, South Wermland, with my old
friend, Q. E. Stenstrom. My mode of Uving and expenses,
were as follows, and in any part of Wermland I have no doubt
an Englishman, when he was used to the country, could Uve
in the same manner, and probably get much better sport
than I had.
I paid about £3 yearly for my room, and if I had Uked to
have gone into farming, I could have hired some land as
weU, and the whole house pretty cheap, and by laying out a
little I could have made it a very nice summer residence.
But I was always longing to get back to the AustraUan
bush, and could never raake up my mind to settle. I was
surrounded by birch woods with a lake of about 100 acres fuU
of pike and perch in front of me. I paid Mr. Stenstrom's
gardener's -wife, who lived in the same house, about £3 a
year to "do for me," and gave her coffee, which came
to quite as much as her wages (and, I may add, that it is
wonderful how fond these peasant women are of coffee).
I raight have easily hired a proper housekeeper, but this
would have probably been rauch more expensive.
My collecting lads I paid by the piece, and if I wanted
a man to row me for fishing or shooting, I had no trouble
in getting one.
My firing I got very cheap, for little more than the cost of
cutting. I bought the whole of my household furniture,
beds, tables, chairs, Unen, crockery, cooking utensUs,
at an auction for a little more than £8. A few good
English sporting pictures, racing, steeple- chasing, boxing,
and rowing, just to show them here how we do it in Eng
land, made the waUs of my room quite smart, and a Ubrary
on natural history, etc., such as few British naturaUsts could
beat, fflled my book-shelves. My little cabin was quite
a show place fOr the neighbouring peasants, and it was a

MY EOOM. 103
treat to hear their remarks on my pictures. Old " Peter
Crawley" in private dress was taken by all for a respectable
Swedish " bruckspatzon," and a peasant once asked rae if
young John Day on the " Hero" was not our king, for he
never saw so grand a horse and rider in his Ufe before. As for
my books, it was quite a mystery to the peasants what I
wanted them for, and as for my collecting tastes, I believe I
was looked upon by one and all as a harmless monomaniac.
I got my post twice a week from Carlstad, and the " Field "
and " Bell's Life" kept me inforraed of what was going on
in England. My guns, rifle, fishing-rods, hung round the
walls, and if any brother sportsman coidd have travelled up
blind- fold, and opened his eyes in my Uttle cabin, he would
hardly have believed that he was in the wilds of the Swedish
forests. I insured aU my goods and chattels for about £300, at
the yearly rate of 6s. I paid a small tax of 3s. each for my
dogs, but this is not done in all districts, and as I paid no
other tax, although I beUeve, strictly speaking, I ought to
have paid a small income-tax, I used to give away every
Christmas a few quarters of rye to the poor people in the
neighbourhood, and I always reckoned that this little invest
ment brought me far better interest than I could have possibly
obtained anywhere else for my raoney, because I had in re
tum the blessings of the poor and needy. I never could see
that in ray neighbourhood any profuse liberaUty was expected
from me because I was an EngUshman, nor that any attempt
was made to impose upon me on this account, at least, if
so, it was too triffing to be worthy of notice. I certainly
never yet saw a country where smaU favours are so thank
fully received, especially among the poorer classes, and it is
reaUy wonderful what an immense deal of real charity a
man has it in his power to do (and at a trifiing expense) in a
country district, and depend upon it it will not be -without
its return. Wood is universally used for firing here in iron stoves,
and when the ashes are burnt down, the chiraney of the stove
is closed to drive the hot air into the room. By this means

104

TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

and with double windows, the rooms are kept warm in
winter. These stoves are rather dangerous to manage, if
you are not accustomed to them, for the fumes of charcoal
may soon cost a man his life. Considering that all these
cottages are built of wood, and how very careless the peasants
are with their fires, it is really wonderful that they are not
oftener burnt do-wn.
As to my Uving, I could live exactly the same as in Eng
land, if I chose to go to the expense, save that the meat
(except the mutton) was not so good. The bread in the
country is made of hard rye, in thin cakes as large as a plate.
This is hung up, and wUl keep any length of time. In some
large houses they bake only twice in the year ; but they can
also make just as good light wheat bread as in England.
The usual fashion of U-ving in the Swedish gentlemen's
houses is — coffee in bed about six (this custom, which I think
one of the very best in Sweden, is now being laid aside) ;
breakfast about nine ; dinner about one (after a dram and a
little bread and butter) ; a cup of coffee, and half an hour's
nap ; a little snack about five, and supper at eight. In the
summer every one in Sweden is very early, and the short
Swedish summer may almost be said to be spent out of
doors. The prices of pro-visions in my district were, in 1864, as
follows : —

Mutton .

M. per lb.

Beef

dd. per lb.

Pork

4<d. per lb.

Rye meal

2s. for 20 lb.

Wheat flour

3s. for 20 lb.

Oatmeal

Is. for 20 lb.

Eggs .

7d. in summer. Is. 2a

in winter, per score.

Chickens

9d. each.

Hares

Is. each.

CapercailUe cocks

2s. 8d. each.

CapercaiUie hens

Is. 7d. each

' SWEDISH DOCTOES.

105

WUd ducks
Black game
Hazel grouse
Potatoes, about
Tobacco .
BeerPorter Coffee
White sugar
ButterMilk (new)
Pike and perch

6d. each.
Is. 6d. per brace.
Is. per brace.
Is. 2d. per EngUsh bushel.
Is. Qd. to 2s. per lb.
3d. per bottle.
6d. per bottle.
9d, per lb.
7d. per lb.
7d. to Is. per lb.
4<d. per kanna.
2d. per lb.

Clothes of aU kind (except, perhaps, shoes and boots)
are much dearer than in England. We had a shop close to
us, and a shoemaker and tailor on the premises. It is won
derful how many dependents a Swedish estate owner has
about him. On the Gardsjo estate alone there were above
120 men, women, and chUdren.
I never in my life fell among kinder people in sickness
than the Swedes. I have been pretty lucky, and I cannot
sufficiently thank God that,, in a wandering Ufe, I have had
so Uttle sickness. But three or four times I have been rather
seriously Ul here, and then the kindness and sympathy I
received from aU classes was past beUef. As for the peasant
women who nursed me, no trouble was too great for them,
and there was reaUy something beautiful in the kind atten
tive way in which they waited upon me, and, above aU, the
cheerful manner in which they anticipated all my querulous
wants. The doctors are in general very clever. In the
country, a doctor is stationed in every district. He receives
a Uttle stipend from Government, and each famUy pays him
a smaU sum a year, say £2 10s. (and for an accident or
serious iUness there are cheap and exceUent hospitals in
every town). This is exclusive of raedicines, for doctors
rarely dispense here. They write a prescription, which is
sent to an apothecary to corapound. These chemists appear
to have quite a monopoly, and as there is never more

106 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
than one in each small town, they appear to charge very
high. Most country houses, however, are well suppUed with
comraon medicines, and as all the ordinary aUments are
, pretty well understood, the doctor is only called in, in ex
treme cases. The principal sicknesses here are low fevers,
colds, agues, and diarrhoea.
Bleeding is a universal panacea with the northem
peasants. They even bleed for the ague. This ague is a
horrid complaint, and if caught in the autumn is sure to
stick to a man through the -winter. The strongest are not
proof against it, and when once in the frame I fancy it
always sticks to a man. Consumptions are not uncommon.
Diarrhoea is very prevalent. The best cure I know is a
handful of peppercorns washed do-wn -with a glass of brandy.
The peasants here adopt an exceUent plan. They all wear
long leather aprons, Uke blacksmiths, which cover the
breast and reach to the knees. The great thing is to
keep the stomach warm in -winter, and I would always
recommend the stranger who is much exposed to the
weather here to wrap a shawl or flannel round his body
under his clothes.
The principal peasant doctors are old women, who cup,
bleed, and blister, most scientificaUy. These old women
are also the licensed mid-wives of the district, and rarely is a
doctor called in, in a case of labour.
I fancy there is something in this cUmate very prejudicial
to the eyes, at least one sees such numbers of men (often
very young ones) who wear spectacles ; and I do not know
whether it arises from the heat of the stomach or from the
quantity of sugar which is eaten, but I have seen a great
many pretty faces spoiled by the total loss and decay of the
teeth. We had very nice neighbours round us, and if I had
chosen, I need not have been at home half the -winter.
Although the shooting could not be called first-rate, we
had capercailUe, hares, black game, and hazel grouse, in all
the forests. Plenty of ducks and snipe in the season, in
the grass, in the meadows, and in the rushes by the side of

THE SPOETSMAN IN WINTEE. 107
the Wener. I don't know that I ever enjoyed myself
more than I used to do in August and Septeraber, when
I would make little trips, -with my old man in ray
punt, on to the lake. We used to take our pro-visions
with us, and our fishing and shooting tackle, and carap
out, and cook our meals on one of the Uttle islands
which stud the lake. It was not so much the sport I cared
about, as the pleasure I used to feel in wandering free
and unmolested among such beautiful scenery. I used,
however, to pick up a good many birds, and, in 1863,
I bagged above 200 couple of ducks and snipe, princi
paUy the forraer, close round us, and I was not out
thirty times. I could go pretty well where I pleased,
for every one around was kind and ci-vU, and I had shooting,
such as it was, over far raore ground than ever I cared to
walk over.
The only fish we used to get around us, were pike,
perch, and roach, pike-perch (or gos), jack, bream, and
the comraoner fresh-water fish. We had no salraon-trout
near us, although many places in the Wener abound in
thera, and about three mUes north-west we had some very
fair little trout-streams, and two lakes fuU of charr, up to
5 lb. weight, and even larger.
I passed a very happy Ufe, because I had plenty to
do with ray coUecting, else the time would have often hung
very heavy on my hands in the -winter, for at this tirae there
is Uttle or nothing to be done in these forests. If a raan is
ever so keen a sportsman, he is of necessity kept a prisoner
by the weather many days in doors, when he cannot get out
at aU for the snow ; and moreover if he could get into the
forests at this season, they appear to be quite deserted.
I never could fancy where all the forest game is at this
season. In England the shooter reckons on his best and
most varied bags in the -winter. In Sweden the season for
game may be said to close in November, for then aU the
ducks, snipe, and woodcocks have left us. The game birds
which remain in the forest I beUeve all sit quiet in the trees,
where no dog can find them ; and except an odd fox (for we

108 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
shoot them here), a martin, cat, or a hare, there is little
winter shooting in South Wermland.
In fact I cannot deny that life in a bush cottage in the
¦wilds of Sweden d.uring the long Swedish -winter is a dreary,
monotonous existence. I was very well off, but a man
whose sole object is sporting would not have my resources.
My time, as I said before, was fully occupied. I had an
excellent library to tum to (and the old author was not far
-wrong who declared that of all men most to be pitied were
"unlearned gentlemen on a rainy day"), and I had my col
lections to arrange and look after. Moreover I had my
landlord, who spoke EngUsh as weU as myself, close at hand,
and whenever I wanted a change I ran into Carlstad, or
drove over to spend a few days with some friend or other in
the neighbourhood, whose doors were always open to me.
But most likely if a man were settled up in the real wUds,
where the best sport is to be obtained, he would not have
many neighbours within calUng distance, and would probably
meet no one who could speak EngUsh. Even if his sole object
were bear-hunting, he could not always be in the forest ; in
fact, the few bears he might kill would not occupy a great
deal of his time, and many a dreary week would hang
hea-vily on his hands. Of course if a man had his wife and
family -with him, and were li-ving on his own Uttle estate,
the case would be very different, but I am here particularly
addressing myself to the bachelor sportsman, and to him I
wiU candidly say I do not beUeve in any part of the north of
Sweden, he would find sport enough to compensate him
for the lonely soUtary life he must lead during the winter in
these forests. I have had my share of it. I have also
spent five years in the Australian bush. But I never found
that Ufe lonely. We all know what an effect the outer
landscape and climate has upon the spirits, and to be shut up
in a bush hut for five or six months gazing upon a dreary
prospect of snow and pines, with little employment, would
wear raany a man out. But when once the spring sets in,
the case is different, and the proper arrangement in these
northern forests for the man whose sole object is sporting,

" SOCIAL DISTINCTION." 109
should be that he could sleep from November to March,
wake up about April, and never sleep again till November
came round.
To enjoy Sweden thoroughly, a man should -visit the
country early in May, and leave it in the end of October,
and I -will safely say that if two comrades hired a Uttle
cottage up in a good district in North Werraland, spent the
season there, and returned to England every winter, they
could enjoy themselves as much as any two men in the
world, and get some capital sporting. The difference in
the expense of this, and spending the winter here, would
be little more than the cost of the joumey to England and
back. They would leave their cottage and all their traps
very safely in charge of a peasant, and although they would
not enjoy that " social distinction " which the renting of a
Scottish moor (according to the editor of the " Saturday
Review ") confers upon a man, they would have some rat
tUng good sport, and the sportsman with about £100 a
year would very probably at the end of the season be able to
compare books with the rich EngUsh grouse-shooter, who
had paid £200 a year for the raere rent of his moor. But
the Saturday Re-viewer was not altogether wrong, for let
the sport be what it may in a foreign land, it will always
want the charm of horae association to complete it. And
although I have killed more snipe in one day in the north of
Europe than I could perhaps bag in England in a week,
and more wUd fowl in one night's flight-shooting in Aus
traUa than I could weU carry home, I have never felt half
the real pleasure in the sport that I used to do when wan
dering in bygone days with no one but my old guide in the
-wild soUtude of the Crowland fen. Be this, however, as it
may, there is a wide field open here to the enthusiastic
sportsman if he only once comes to know the country — the
grand secret, after all ; it is easUy reached from England, and
quite as accessible to men of moderate means as to their
richer brethren, who are now able to monopolize the best of
the sporting at home.
The English reader who has only associated Sweden with

110 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
ice, snow, and bears, would be struck with astonishment
upon entering a Swedish country gentleman's house, and
seeing the style of Uving. At first the stiff poUteness of the
welcome (for I know no country where the outward forms of
politeness are more strictly observed than here, and in this
respect they are like the French, whose manners are I fancy
much copied) might detract somewhat from its cordiaUty;
but before he had been an inmate of the house for twenty-
four hours he would find himself as much at home as if he had
known the hospitable inmates for twelve months. Notwith
standing, however, all the form and ceremony which is far
too prevalent among themselves, I have invariably seen that
their innate courtesy towards a stranger -vrill cause them to
overlook rauch which they would condemn in a country
man of their own. I have often sat down to dinner in a
shooting- coat, and received quite as hearty a welcome as
the other guests who were in full dress. And I raay here
add that dress is carried to almost too great an excess among
the Swedish gentry, especially in the towns.
But, as is always the case, the female flowers in the domestic
parterre would naturaUy please the stranger the most ; and
what I Uke in the Swedish ladies is this, that although they
never neglect the duties of the house (and I always fancy
that the woraen in Sweden, of aU classes, have much more
to do than the men), you -wiU never catch a real Swedish lady
unprepared to receive you — she is always so neat and clean,
dressed in a becoming style, and ever with a glad smile to
welcome the stranger. Her go-wn is most probably home
made, but it fits her as if tumed out by a first-rate miUiner.
Her whole dress is plain, and -with Uttle ornament! Her hair
(and they often have magnificent heads of hair) is either
smoothed neatly over her forehead or gathered up behind
the head. But the neatest head-dress of all is, I think, a
coloured handkerchief thrown carelessly over the head and
tied under the chin ; this is the usual head-dress with the
peasant women, but not half so much used by -the ladies as
it would be if they only knew how weU it became them. I am
scarcely judge enough to say what style of beauty is most

SWEDISH WOMEN. Ill
prevalent among- the Swedish women. You see as many
dark women as fair, large as weU as smaU, and some re
markably handsome faces. And many a proud titled
English " star " would find it hard to hold her o-wn when
brought side by side -vrith the fresh healthy beauty of the
north. I do not know how it is, but I always felt soon at ease
in their company; there is something so kind-hearted in
their manner that a stranger is at home with them at once.
No affectation, but stUl no forwardness. I fancy more tho
roughly domestic or more affectionate women do not exist,
and were I " Coelebs in search of a wife," it is here
where I should come to seek her.
It is singular, considering the very low state of morals
among the feraales of the lower class (and a peasant rarely
thinks of marrying a -wife until he has Uved with her some
months in open adultery) we rarely hear oi a, faux pas among
the better classes. I never read of an action for crim. con.,
and as for a duel, I do not beUeve that one was fought in
Sweden during my time for love, jealousy, or any other
cause. Nor do I beUeve, save in the case where a man has
left his -wife for a year, a divorce can ever be prayed for.
Yet, -with aU the freedom of manners which is so peculiar to
the lower classes and female servants, especially in the inns,
where scarcely any one thinks of paying a bill without kissing
the pretty girl who has waited on him, before aU the company,
I do not beUeve there is a bit more real immorality here than
in England, for we never by any chance in Sweden hear
of a trial for those crimes, which so often disgrace the
columns of the English papers. The laws, however, appear
to contemplate the possibiUty of a husband going astray,
and the fine in such a case is severe.
Old Acerbi describes a Uttle circumstance which hap
pened to him at an inn when traveUing up through Finland
sorae seventy years since so pithily, that I cannot help in
serting it here : —
" We arrived," says this quaint old traveller, " at Ulea-
borg, where we found a tolerable inn, the only one in

112 • TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the place. At night, when we were gone to bed, we were
surprised by an incident which appeared to us very ex
traordinary in a country of so high a latitude. I have long
been in the dangerous habit, before falUng asleep, of reading
a book for half an hour. This evening I happened to be
reading Ariosto, when I thought I heard three taps at the
-window of our chamber, which was on the ground floor. I
paid not the smaUest attention to it the first nor even the
second time. When it was repeated the third time, I
began to suspect it had some meaning, but as I read Ariosto,
I was disposed to doubt whether it was not an effect of
my imagination, heated perhaps by that of the poet. The
fourth time, however, I had scarcely the shadow of a doubt
that it was somebody who tapped at the window, but still,
to guard against iUusions, I awakened my companion, who
slept in another bed in the same room, and after acquainting
him with my impression, prayed him to listen and observe
whether he could not hear a noise at the window. We
then heard the three taps repeated, accompanied with a voice
which uttered something indistinctly. I rose, put on my
pelisse, and taking out my pistols, went out of the chamber
to see what it might be. But how great was my surprise !
It was a fine girl, who wanted a comer of a bed. I imme
diately uncocked, and laid aside the pistols for fear of doing
mischief." The Swedish gentleraen are in general hospitable to
a fault, especiaUy in Wermland. Good natured, polite,
and courteous to strangers, and when you know them,
some of the joUiest feUows under the sun. They take
life easily, never meet troubles half way, and what I
respect them so much for, is, that they never turn their
backs upon a friend in misfortune. They dress remarkably
well, and unlike many other of our foreign neighbours,
are always scrupulously clean in their persons and Unen.
They are generally fine grown, stout, and tall, often with ¦
remarkably handsome open countenances (for a fine manly
countenance, I think I never yet saw a better one than
that of the present Swedish king) and take them

EDUCATION. 113
altogether, they are as fine and manly a race as one would
•wish to see. We shall, however, seek in vain, among the
gentlemen at least, for the "hardy sons of the north" of
whom we have heard so much ; for as far as I have seen
an Englishman is qiUte as well able to stand the cold with
nothing but a pea-jacket on, as a Swede in his fur cloak,
and he is always more capable of hard exercise, in the field
or on the fells ; and this I attribute to many causes.
In the first place, and this is perhaps to be regretted,
the young of this country do not appear to have the least
partiality for any of those out- door manly exercises, such as
cricket, rowing, foot-baU, etc., in which every British youth
is so proud to excel. Even in the schools, except gym
nastic lessons, wliich are foUowed as tasks, not as pastimes,
and left off as soon as ever the lad leaves school, the muscles
and strength of the boys are in no way caUed into play.
We see no merry meetings in the play ground, the
cricket field, or on the -village green, as we do in England ;
and if by chance there are a few school boys at play
together, it is invariably the smaller lads, for the bigger
ones appear to look upon any sort of exertion at play with
the greatest contempt, " they are much above that sort of
thing." In the winter, when you cannot get much exercise on the
roads or in the forests, there is often very beautiful skating.
Yet scarcely any one seeras to avaU himself of it, except the
peasants, who travel in this way over the ice to save dis
tance. It is true we occasionally meet -with most excellent
skaters and s-wimmers, but take them as a class, araong
the youth of this country, there appears to be a great want
of energy, and no spirit of emulation or wish to excel in
manly exercises; and as we all know that "just as the
twig is bent, the tree's inclined," we shall hardly expect
to look for it among the men. With so many opportunities
•of practice in rowing, we should naturally look for a good
eight-oared crew or two, among the fine gro-wn stalwart
young feUows one sees here; however, I never but once
saw an amateur crew of Swedes, and that was in Gothen-
8

114 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
burg. I suppose the exertion of this exercise was too great,
for the last time I was in Gothenburg, I saw the boat, a
very clean buUt four-oared English cutter, laid up high
and dry.
Even field sports appear to be quite a secondary considera
tion, except with a few, and as there is no hunting in the -winter
as in England, of course horse exercise is Uttle used, and
we very rarely, if ever, meet with those -wiry old gentlemen
-with spare muscular forras, clear bright eyes, and hard
bronzed countenances, -whora, thank Providence, we so often
see in the hunting field at home. We certainly do see
some raost jolly-looking men here, but they are little adapted
for any -violent muscular exercise.
Moreover, the very mode of Ufe for nearly half the year
is antagonistic to all the rules of training which a Barclay or
a Godfrey ever laid down, and the long severe winter has
much to do with this. No one who has not experienced it,
can imagine what an enervating effect so much close confine
raent in those stove-heated rooms (with the thermometer
often ^2° C. warm, double -windows, and the chimney
blocked up, so that not a breath of fresh air can come in) has
upon the constitution. Besides, the food in general use is
too much after the French style, and more calculated to lay
on flesh than muscle. You rarely see plain boUed or roast;
aU the meat is stewed with butter and sauces, and veal and
pork are much more eaten, than good beef and mutton. I
fancy this common corn brandy, which is invariably taken
neat before a meal, is very fattening, unless walked off by
hard exercise.
There is another custom here which, although a very
agreeable one, I am certain is not healthy — I mean that of
taking a nap on the bed or sofa for an hour or so after dinner.
I often indulged in it, but I know I always felt better
when I avoided doing so. It is wonderful in the wmter
here, how much more sleep one seems to require than in the
summer. I feel sure that, with this after-dinner nap,
more than twelve hours out of the twenty-four at this season
are spent in sleep, and I have often heard EngUsh skippers

HABITS OF THE SWEDES. 115
say, in their rongh way, that if you want to do any business
in Gothenburg, you must do it before one o'clock.
But certainly the worst of aU is the inactivity of the Ufe
yon are of necessity bound to lead here during the winter.
A Swedish gentleman at this time scarcely ever thinks of
walking a nule ; he has Uttle or nothing to see after on his
farm, and if he wants to visit a neighbour, he always takes
a sledge, short as the distance may be. We aU know how
indolence creeps upon a man, and there are but few of us
who care to take a consritutional walk for the sake of exer
cise alone. Give me an object in view — afield sports, coUect
ing, or any other which keeps the mind as weU as the body
employed — and I never care for any amount of fatigue ; but
let me have to walk up and down a gravel walk merely for
the sake of exercise, and I shaU tire before I have done an
EngUsh mUe. And this is just the case here. Sporting and
coUecting may be considered quite at a stand stiU during
the -winter. There is so Uttle attraction out of doors, and so
much more -within, in the shape of social rubbers and jo-vial
meetings of friends, that it is hardly to be wondered at if a
man prefers the latter, tiU at length custom becomes habit,
and bodUy exercise a fatigue. Such I know always used to
be the case -with me in the winter, for I always then became
so fat and lazy that it took a deal of strong exercise in the
spring to bring me back into condition.
The peasants, Uke our o-wn, are hardy enough, and bodUy
exercise is sure to keep them in pretty good condition ; but
even with them the hardships of forest Ufe and the cUmate
appear to teU upon the constitution, especiaUy as they ad
vance in Ufe.
After having observed, that scarcely any manly exercises
are foUowed here, of course we may conclude that fair British
boxing is not in fashion, and if a man does happen to get into a
row (which luckUy, however, is seldom the case, and it is almost
sure to be his own fault if he does), he must not look for what
we in England consider fair play. " Up and do-wn " is the
fashion here, and when a man is on the ground, that is the
time to " give it him," and he is lucky if he escapes with less

116 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
odds than three to one against him. I should, however, care
very little in what fashion a man fought ifl had only one to
deal with, for I will back any man who has a little knowledge
of sparring to lick " a rough," even at his own game, by
straight knock-down blows. But the worst of it is, when
foreigners fight, they never let man to man fairly fight it
out, but, as in an Irish row, three or four will set on one, and
it is no use for a poor devil to cry out that he has had enough,
with a mob of cowards on him, not one of whom has the
sUghtest notion of fair play. If ever they do hit here (for
in general they struggle), it is always open-handed, and with
a round hit on the ear. A box on the ear from a strong
Swede would, I dare say, be no trifle, if it reached home;
but I should pity the poor fellow who tried such a game -with
a good sparrer, who would wish for nothing better than
fo» his opponent to attempt such a blow, and leave his whole
face open.
I do not complain of the manner in which foreigners fight.
I ara quite willing to back a good Englishman -with his fists,
who can fight, against any one man, and let that man use
what shifty tricks he pleases, so long as he sticks to his
naked hands, and stands up manfully himself without the aid
of another. It is true that raan is Uttle better than a brute
when his worst passions are roused, and every brute has its
own peculiar tactics ; but still, whatever a raan's mode of
fighting raay be, there should at least be that generous im
pulse implanted in every human breast, which forbids a man
to trample on his fallen foe, and that honest, manly feeling
which will not allow him to use a knife or any weapon against
an unarmed adversary, or to continue punishing him when
he is disabled.
It is for this reason that I always have, and always
shall uphold, as far as Ues in my power, fair British
boxing ; not only because it teaches men a better and less
brutal raode of fighting, but because the rules cf the prize-
ring, become, as it were, a law of the land -when two men
quarrel (which I fear will always be the case as long as men
are men), and because the endurance and forbearance which

BOXING. 117
characterize a fair stand-up prize fight, must afford a useful
lesson to all who witness thera ; and, moreover, teach all
classes to view with detestation, the cowardly practice' of
kicking or striking a fallen foe, or setting two men upon
one, like dogs.
Let the gpponents of boxing at home, and foreigners
abroad, abuse the British prize-ring as an arena fit for no
others than blackguards and brutes. I am not here advocat
ing the systera of British boxing any further than that I
beUeve after aU it is the best and fairest mode of settUng a
dispute, and I ara certain there is one thing which no one
can deny, that if a man, whether he be an Englishman or a
foreigner, happens to get into a row in England, he may be 4
licked on his merits, but in nine cases out of ten the by
standers, although strangers to hira, wiU take care that he
has at least fair play, and that no one shall interfere with
him, but the man that is matched against hira ; and it is sin
gular that this is the case in those countries only where
boxing is practised.
I am not at all contending that there are not Englishmen
who would disgrace the worst penal settleraent ; and, with
the brutal practices of the cowardly garotters fresh in their
minds, foreigners may well contend that all our boasted Eng
lish fair play is nothing but an empty vaunt ; and so I grant
it is with some, but, thank God, these cowardly brutes do not
represent the British nation.
Very much, however, to the credit of the Swedes, the
knife is now going fast out of fashion, for the laws are very
severe against its use. But this is only so very lately ; for when
I first came to Sweden, I have seen in Gothenburg a man's
face spUt open from the corner of his mouth to his ear ; and
I was then told by a friend that you never saw a good man
without three or four gashes across his face. The knife in
use for this cowardly practice is a short-bladed one, and not
used to stab, but to gash the face -with.
Far different, however, was it in the olden days of the
" Bait spannare," where the two combatants, armed with
knives, stripped to the skin, bound themselves together by

118 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
a strap round the waist, so that there could be no ffinching
from the cold steel, and the battle rarely ended until one or
other feU dead from his wounds. These barbarous practices
have, however, happily ceased in this land, and the best
memento we have of the savage custom is Malin's exquisite
statuette group in bronze, as large as life, of the two Swedish
" Bait spannare." This is now set up in the park opposite
the theatre at Gothenburg, and I never saw a more splendid
piece of statuary. The two struggling forms locked to
gether in mortal conflict, the savage, determined expression
in the countenances of the two gladiators, to whom retreat is
impossible, and the distended muscles, are aU so natural, that
one almost expects, whUe gazing on the statue, to see these
bronze figures start into life. I remember being in Gothen
burg the day it was put up, and I of course stopped to look at
it. A few people were grouped around it, and among them
I observed a crew of " Bohus Land " fishermen. Every one
of them had his knife by his side, and when I watched their
stern, determined countenances, as they silently criticised
this statue, I felt pretty certain that the spirit of the old
" Bait spannare " had not died out, but that if a man unfor
tunately came in collision with this crew, the case-knife at
their sides, would be their readiest weapon.
By a singular coincidence, as I was coming back into the
town, I saw exposed in a shop -window a picture of the fight
between Tom King and Jem Mace, which had lately come off
at Thames Haven, and as I pushed my way through the crowd
to have a look at it, I found the crew of an EngUsh ship stand
ing admiring it. Now each of these men had his case-knife
by his side, but, nevertheless, I felt pretty certain \hat if by
chance I got into a row with one of these saUors, his knife
would never be drawn against my naked fist ; and although
I might happen to get a good licking, I should at least be
certain of a fair even-handed fight, and that, even if I had the
best of it, his mates would never interfere. And in the foE
belief that this manly feeUng is owing to the encouragement
of fair British boxing, I have always stood up for the British
prize-ring.

EDUCATION. ll'j
I Uke the system of educating youth in Sweden much
better than in England. It is freer, and much less
expensive. In nearly every town there is a pubUc school
open to aU classes, and peasants' are admitted on an
equaUty -with gentlemen's sons. There is a head rector, and
exceUent professors in every branch of education, and a large
public school-house where the lads meet, and repeat their
tasks. The lads are under Uttle or no restraint, except
during school hours, which occupy frora perhaps seven a.m.
tiU twelve, when the several classes repeat the lessons they
have learned out of school hours. They board and lodge
with different people in the town, at a very moderate ex
pense (I fancy about £15 wiU cover aU the yearly expenses
of their education), they do pretty much as they like,
and, so long as they behave properly, go where they please
out of school hours. Of course they are under the eye of
the different teachers ; nor may they frequent pubUc houses,
or get drunk at home. To their credit I -wUl say, better
braved lads I never saw. No one is ever insulted by
them, nor has a stranger, as is often the case in England,
any fear of meeting a mob of these schoolboys in the
streets ; and nearly aU the hUarity I ever saw thera indulge
in was a Uttle lark of snow-balUng a drunken peasant rolUng
across the court-yard in front of the school-house. The tutors
aU Uve at home with their famiUes, and, unUke the school
raasters and ushers in England, have Uttle or no trouble
-with the lads except during the hours of teaching. They
have a long three months' vacation in the summer, and
a month at Christmas. The salaries of the teachers are
paid, I beUeve, altogether by Government, which is far
more liberal than any other I know, in promoting everything
for the general good of the country ; and each year three or
four professors in the different branches of learning or science
are sent out at Government expense on Uttle trips and ex
cursions to gain information in foreign countries. The
degrading system of corporal punishment is quite unknown
in Swedish schools, and as the boys all Uve separately
th^re is no bullying.

120 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The lads are excellently educated in the Uving and dead
languages, history, etc. Botany and natural history are very
much taught here, and I have thought when I, have seen a
party of these lads coming home, with their tin collecting
cases across their shoulders that perhaps, after all, a quiet
afternoon's ramble in the fields and forests around the
town, may not be a bad substitute for those rougher exercises
in which our schoolboys at home delight, for forming the
future character of the man.
Examinations are held before every long vacation, and '
the boys are tumed out well grounded in all the necessary
elements for whatever course of life they may wish to follow.
Those who are intended for the higher professions go up at
once to one of the universities, Lund or Upsala, where a fur
ther course of two or three years completes their education.
At Carlstad the number of boys yearly educated is about
230, in Gothenburg, 660.
In every country house where the family is at all large,
a tutor and a governess are kept ; she is considered exactly ,
as one of the faraily, and the rich English raight learn
many a good lesson from the Swedes in the treatment of
their dependants. One trait I much like in the Swedish
character is, that they are not too proud to endeavour to
get a Uving by any respectable means. Most of the best-
bred girls receive an excellent education, and they are not
above (in case of being left poor at the death oftheir parents)
taking situations as governesses.
Many of the officers also whose pay is but smaU, and
who have much leisure time upon their hands, employ it
in teaching, land surveying, etc., and are not thought the
worse of for so doing.
However, notwithstanding all their hearty cordiality to
the stranger and their jovial bearing towards each other,
there is rauch pride among the Swedes ; far different from
democratic Uttle Norway, where I believe there'are only two
noblemen in the whole land, and these titles are to die out
with the present holders. Unfortunately, it is not the case
here as in England, that the estates of the nobiUty are

HABITS. 121
entaUed, consequently, the title is very often nothing more
than an empty sound, and I cannot fancy a more unen
viable position, than that of a nobleman who has nothing
but his title to carry him through the world. I do not
like the custom of any government indiscriminately granting
empty honours. If a man has really done anything to
deserve it at the hands of his country, then let that
country reward him, not only with honours, but also with
something substantial to support them; but when I enter a
crowded assembly and see one-half of the men in the room
decorated with a ribbon or a cross, and hear them addressed
by a dozen high- sounding titles, I am very much tempted
to ask myself whether distinctions so easUy obtained can be
worth the wearing.
Take them altogether, the Swedes are a very nice nation
for a stranger to Uve araong, when he gets used to the
country ; but it will be found very trying for an English
man till he gets accustomed to the ways of the people and
understands the language. If a man is fond of gaiety, he wUl
be surprised at the number of baUs and soirees, which are
held in every town of any size during the winter, and if he
is fond of his quiet rubber, and can play a good game, this
is the country for him. The gentleraen are excellent card
players, and passionately fond of the game, and this is not to
be wondered at, when we consider the long winters in which
they are so much thrown upon their own resources, and that
very few of them care for any deep reading. Yet they are all
excellently versed in poUtics and the ordinary topics of the
day; and although books appear to sell as well in proportion
as in England, and they are much cheaper, yet I scarcely
ever saw a really good Ubrary in a country gentleraan's
house. Both ladies and gentlemen are fond of music, and many
have capital voices. A stranger, especially an Englishman,
-wiU at first be very apt to break through many Uttle rules of
good breeding, of which no Swede is guilty ; for instance, on
entering a shop, and, stranger still, a common public house,
you are expected to take off your hat and keep it off as long
as you ape in the shop or room ; and really what with this, and

122 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
lifting it to almost every one you meet in the street, your hat
seems rarely to be on your head, and as an old friend of mine
once observed, " Were it not for the weather, and symptoms
of baldness, I should certainly carry my hat under my arm or
leave it at home altogether." I never yet could fancy that
there was any real sincerity in aU this outward poUteness.
One thing wUl strike the stranger on entering a country
house here, and that is the scrupulous cleanliness in which
the rooms are kept. Carpets are not much in use, which
surprises me, considering how much warmer they make the
rooms, but the floors are always beautifully clean, and no
wonder, for I never did see such woraen as these are for
scrubbing. They seem to be always at it. In fact, the
American saUor's creed would apply well to the Swedish
woman servant, —
" Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou art able,
And on the seventh shalt thou holy-stone the deck, and scrape the cable.''
There is one curious fashion, however, here. You rarely
find any soap in the washing-stand even in gentlemen's
houses, and a man must of necessity carry his o-wn soap with
him when travelUng through the country, as surely as he
would his hair-brush. For a long time I never could solve
this enigma why soap alone should be denied you. It was
not, I felt certain, from stinginess, and it could not in every
instance arise from forgetfulness. At length I asked an old
friend what was the reason, and he told me that it was not
considered nice to use the same soap which another man had
used. Now, I think this was carrying his scruples rather
too far.
Bear in mind one thing if you wish to stand weU with your
kind hostess, and that is, never come into her room in snowy
weather with hob-nailed English shooting-boots on, for you
rarely see here a good scraper or mat at a door. I recoUect
once makingthis mistake, and I shaU never forget the agoniz
ing glances which the lady of the house cast at the Uttle
puddles of muddy water which dotted the boards, as the snow
melted from the soles of my iron-clad boots. I hardly ever felt

HABITS— CLOTHINa. 123
so ashamed of myself in my life. The Swedes have an ex
cellent plan, they always wear goloshes, which they sUp off
their boots in the hall before entering the room.
The country houses are often very prettily built, and the
grounds very tastefuUy laid out, but the rooms are generaUy
too large, and have too many windows in them to suit my
ideas of snugness; for nothing looks barer than a large
haff-furnished room without a carpet, an article which,
strange to say, you rarely see in the north.
A hint to the sportsman. The warmest and best cloth
ing for your feet here in winter are double-soled knee-boots
to pull on over your trousers, large enough to hold two pair
of thick stockings. If you sledge much in the winter, you
must have afrir-Uned cloak or "pels," and a pair of Uned
outer boots to go over your inner ones. For the forests
in the -winter, a good sou' -wester -with ear flaps, flannel
overaUs next the skin, a long waistcoat, and good pea-jacket
and gloves, Uke mittens, with only one trigger-finger, will
stand any degree of cold I ever met -with. My thermometer
in the winter was my gun-barrel. To ascertain the degree
of freezing I just put my tongue on it, and if the skin stuck
I knew that the cold was something severe.

CHAPTER ni.
A CHAPTEE on SWEDISH PAKMING.
Although not . professing to be much of a farmer myself,
I have, during a country Ufe been thrown much among
farmers in many lands, and in Sweden where nearly every
country gentleman farms his o-wn land, it is impossible to
reside in the country without in a certain degree becoming
interested in agricultural pursuits. Moveover, for some
years I have lived on the best farming school in Wermland,
where I have had good opportunities of seeing the highest
style of farraing in the raiddle of Sweden, and as it cannot fail
to interest the EngUsh reader, I shall endeavour to give him
a sUght idea of the econoray and system of agriculture of
Sweden at the present day.
The reader who has glanced over my general description
of the countiy wUl be able to form some idea as to its
capabiUties for agriculture, and although Sweden (-with the
exception of four or five southern provinces) cannot certainly
be called an agricultural country, yet there is hardly any other
which I know of, whose inhabitants are so much dependent
upon the produce of the soil for their subsistence, especially
when we consider that seven-eighths of the population live
in the country, every one of whom is more or less a faa-mer.
1 may here add, however, that I have seen some very
slovenly farming, in Skane, which is their crack farming
province ; in fact, although they are much more favoured by
climate and the nature of the soU in the southem provinces,
1 doubt if their system of farming itself there, is at aU before
Wermland. Much as the Swedish farmer has to contend with

SWEDISH FAEMING. 125
in the matter of cUmate, soil, and bad seasons, especially in
the midland districts, it is very clear that agriculture is every
year making good head, for into Wermland alone (which can
certainly not be called a farraing pro-vince) in 1848, as much
as 227,254 cubic feet of corn, or about 18,000 quarters,
were imported, and the export was about 5116 cubic feet,
whereas in 1860, the export of corn from that pro-vince
exceeded the import by 200,000 cubic feet, or nearly
16,000 English quarters.
Government does much to forward the science of agri
culture here, and the farming schools which are established
in every pro-vince are most excellent institutions. The
farming school at Gardsjo is a good type of the class.
The manager, Mr. 0. E. Stenstrom, is the proprietor of
the estate, which is about 2500 English acres, 260 of
which are under his own cultivation. He receives from
Government 4000 rqr. yearly, for which he has to keep and
educate in agriculture twelve free pupUs, peasants' sons in
the province, nominated by the directors of the school. Each
of the free pupils remains on the farm for two years, has to
give his work for nothing, and in return receive his food, and
instruction in the practical, as well as theoretical part of
the business. There is a head overseer who overlooks the
work, and the principal gives lectures every evening during
the winter. There is a veterinary surgeon attached to the
school, and workshops for the manufacture of agricultural
implements. The pupils live together in a large house,
and are kept under strict regulations. Before lea-ving they
are pubUcly examined by the directors as to thfeir capabilities,
and after receiving their certificates, have no difficulty in
obtaining situations as working baUiffs on the neighbour
ing estates. There is one of these schools in every pro-
-vince, and it must be clear that these lads who are nothing
but raw peasants when they first come to the school,
are sent out into the country after two years' discipline, very
different men than they would have been, had they stayed
at home. And no better proof of this can be given than the an-

126 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
swer which I received from a peasant when discussing
labour in general with him. He observed that formerly it
was capital to work for a gentleman on his farm, but now
they had aU got those inspectors from the schools, and a
labourer was obliged to do a good day's work, where formerly
he worked pretty well as he pleased. Moreover, the pea
sants in the neighbourhood have an opportunity of seeing
how the school is managed, and although they are very hard
to turn out of their old ways, they in a certain degree
endeavour to imitate the better example which is set them.
The director also receives into his house a certain number of
gentlemen pupUs, who pay 600 rqr. (or above £35) a
year for their board. (What would Mr. H. Overman say
to this ?)
Many young Swedes go over yearly to Scotland for a
year or two to learn the practical part of the business, and
come back well fitted for overseers. They have a curious
idea in Sweden, that England itself is not an agricultural
country, and that we are much dependent upon Scotland for
our produce.
There are farming societies in every district, and there
is a staff of professors who are paid by the head farming
society at Stockholm, to go round the country and give
instruction where they are needed, in the differeht branches
of science. Thus, if I want to drain a moss, to improve my
flock of sheep or cattle, or to stock my fish-pond, I
have only to give notice to the board at Stockholm, and
down coraes a professor to tell me what I should do. There
are also Govemment establishments in different parts, where
horses, cows, and sheep, are stationed to improve the.
breed. In fact I do not believe any other country can be trying
more, according to its means, to put its agricultural pros
pects on a better footing ; and as it is only within the last
twenty years, that the landed proprietors appear to have
begun to stir themselves on this important subject, and we
have already seen the good results of their endeavours, I
do not despair but that in a few years agriculture in Sweden

SWEDISH EAEMING. 12V
will be on a very different and far better footing than it now
stands. Before entering further into the subject, I can safely
say, although I know Uttle of the country, that Norway
is far, very far behind Sweden in an agricultural point
" of -view ; and although there may be some fine vaUeys in
Norway, and I dare say some good land, I am quite certain
that I am right in recommending any man who means to
try farming in the north, to choose Sweden in preference to
Norway, although a description of the system of Swedish
fanning in general -wiU suffice for both countries.
But however much Government may do, however much
a few private individuals may strive, to re-model the system
of agriculture in Sweden, the agricultural prospects of the
country can never flourish, untU two monstrous e-vils are
remedied. First, until men of little or no capital, altogether renounce
the ruinous practice of buying farms on raere speculation,
raising probably two-thirds of the purchase-money on mort
gage, at 6 per cent, interest, and entering on the land and
farming it themselves, -without a shUling wherewith to im
prove and work it.
And secondly, until we see most of the farras in the
hands of a class of men on the same footing as the EngUsh
farmers, men of practice, not theory, who are dependent on
their farms alone for their subsistence, who have been
brought up to the plough from their childhood, and know
their business ; who enter their farms upon a certain length
of holding, with a proper capital in hand to do justice
to the land, and a practical knowledge as to how that
capital is to be employed. Then we may see agriculture
flourish in Sweden, and then, and not till then, shaU we be
able to judge of its capabiUties as an agricultural country.
What would England be if the land were farmed by gen
tlemen farmers, who had a very superficial knowledge of their
business, and Uttle or no capital ?
It was aU very well for the editor of a Uttle Carlstad
paper, when noticing a treatise on EngUsh farnoing, written

128 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
by a countryman of his own (where, by the way, we are
told that much of the land in England is in far worse con
dition than in Sweden, and worse managed), to give us his
gratuitous opinion that the cause of such bad farming, m
England, is the despotic manner in which the tenant farmers
are treated by their landlords, the rich English lords, who,
according to the said editor, are worse than Russians, aud
who only care to hold their tenants under, that they may
trample over their lands with their horses, dogs, and steeple
chases !
I would ask the worthy editor where he supposes the
income of these "storm ricke" lords, as he terms them,
would come frora, if the tenant's land were destroyed by his
landlord's horses, and steeple chases ?
However, as far as I have seen of them (and this has not
been a little), the EngUsh farmers are quite able to "hold
their own," and as for steeple-chases, I wish the sapient
editor could see one in some of our midland counties,
between hunters worth perhaps £150 (3000 rqr.) each,
ridden by the farmers their owners, over lands probably in
their o-wn occupation. Perhaps, however, he fancies we ride
our steeple-chases in the summer !
It raay probably be in a measure true, as Bishop Agardth
says, that it would be better for any land if as rauch of it
as possible were in the hand of the possessor, who worked
it hiraself. So it probably would be, if that possessor
were a real farraer, for then he could by working it, gain a
much better return on his capital, and have a decided inte
rest in impro-ving his own estate. But I will ask. How could
a large landed proprietor in England who owns perhaps ten
to twenty thousand 'acres of good "working land," cultivate
it all himself, even if he were a practical farmer? No, he
knows better than this. He lets it out in parcels to men
of capital who can work it, and contents hiraself with
li-ving a gentleman's life on the rental he receives from
thera. The Bishop seems entirely to lose sight of this fact, that
farming is quite a business in itself, and that no English farmer

AGEICULTUEE. 129
can enter upon a farm without possessing fully as much
capital to work it, as he could buy an estate of as raany acres
for in Sweden. And does he suppose that such a man would
invest so large an araount of capital, if he were only allowed
to hold his land as a tenant-at-will ? But let us hear what
" Sam SUck," the Araerican, says on this subject, and it is
not very likely, much as he advocates the use of "soft
sawder " when seUing his clocks, that he will flatter the
EngUsh. Sam observes, in his pithy style : —
" Yes, too much land is the ruin of us all on this side of
the water. Afore I went to England I used to think that
the unequal di-visions of property there, and the system of
landlord and tenant, was a curse to the country, and that
there was more dignity and freedom to the indi-vidual, and
more benefit to the nation, for every man to own the land he
cultivated, as with us. But I've changed my mind. I see
it's the cause of the high state of cultivation in England and
the prosperity of its agriculture. If the great raen had the
land in their o-wn hands, then every now knd then an im
provident raan would skin the soU and run it out. Being
let to others, he can't do it himself, and he takes plaguy
good care by his lease, that his tenant shan't do it either.
Well then, there he is, with his capital to raake great im
provements, substantial repairs, and so on, and things are
pushed up to perfection.
" In Nova Scotia there are hundreds and thousands who
would be better off as tenants, if they would but only think
so. When a chap spends aU his money in buying lands, and
mortgages them to pay the rest of the price, he ain't able to
stock his farm and work it properly, and he labours Uke a
nigger all his Ufe, and dies poor at last, while the land gets
run out in his hands, and is no good for ever after. Now,
if he was to hire the farm, the money that he paid for the
purchase would stock it complete, enable him to hire labour,
to wait for markets, to buy up cattle cheap, and seU thera to
advantage. He'd make money hand over hand, while he'd
throw the cost of all repairs and improvements on the owner.
But you might talk till you were grey-headed, and you
9

130 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
wouldn't persuade folks of that in this country. The glorious
pri-vUege of having a vote to give to some goney of a
member carries the day. WeU may they call that a dear
pri-vilege, for it keeps them poor till their dying day. No,
squire, your EngUsh system of landlord and tenant is the
best for the farmer, and the best for the nation. There
never can be a general state of high agriculture -without it.
Agriculture wants the labour of the farmer and the money
of the capitalist — both must go hand in hand. When it is
left to the farmer alone, it must dwindle for want of means,
and the country must dwindle too. A nation, even if it is
big as our great one, if it has no general system of landlord
and tenant adopted in it, must run out. We are undergouig
that process now. I'm most plaguy afeerd we shaU run out,
that's a fact. A country is but a large estate at best, and
if it is badly tilled and hard cropped, it must in the end
present the melancholy spectacle of a great exhausted
farm." If the reader turns to my chapter on Swedish statistics,
he wUl find raention made of an " Hypotheks," or Mortgage
Company, which is estabUshed in Sweden. I never studied
very deeply the machinery of this gigantic loan society.
I had plenty of opportunities of seeing its workings, and
this was quite enough for me.
It appears that this mortgage fund is borrowed (I pre
sume upon the security of Government) from Germany, and
a certain portion is let out to the various loan societies esta
blished in the different pro-vinces, in order to lend out again
to purchasers of estates. These societies, when a man is
desirous of purchasing an estate, advance him so much, say
about one-half of his purchase-money, on mortgage at six
per cent.; the deeds of the estate are lodged in their hands,
and the company's money is of course safe, because they
have the first claim. I beUeve this payment of 6 per cent.
clears off not only the yearly interest, but a portion of the
mortgage capital, and in forty years the whole debt is can
celled. This seems aU very fair, and one might well argue
that it could make no difference to the farmer, whether he

AGEICULTUEE. 131
paid a certain sum yearly to a landlord in the shape of rent,
or to a mortgage company in the shape of interest. No
more it would if he were a real farmer, and were certain that
the returns of his farm, if properly managed, would leave
hira a fair surplus, after his interest and expenses were
paid. And, above aU, if he had a sufficient capital left,
after buying and stocking his farm, to work it properly ;
then this mortgage society would not only be of great ser-
-vice to the landowner, but a blessing to the country, because
any raan would naturally feel more pride in impro-ving an
estate if it were his o-wn, than if it belonged to a stranger.
We have seen before that, aUo-wing the cultivated land
in Sweden to be 4,000,000 tunnland, the interest on these
mortgage debts gives a yearly rent-charge, of about 5 rqr.
per tunnland, upon every cultivated tunnland throughout the
country. Now it is quite clear that the land can bear this,
and that it is not the only cause why the Swedish farmers
are kept poor.
According to Sanderson's statistics, in 1861, the ascer
tained acreage of Great Britain was nearly 78,000,000 acres,
of which nearly 25,000,000 were under a rotation of crop
ping, and 14,000,000 in permanent pasture, or in aU about
39,000,000 acres, capable of producing food for man ; lea-ving
a balance of about 39,000,000 acres of unreclaimed land,
12,000,000 of which, now only covered with coarse grass,
could be made capable of carrying good crops.
He takes the value of the food produce of these
39,000,000 acres on an average, at £4 per acre. I beUeve
we may take the average rent of land throughout Britain at
£1 10s. per acre, so that, after paying off this yearly rent-
charge, li Sanderson's statistics are correct, there remains
only a balance of £2 10s. per acre in the farmer's hands to
pay his expenses, taxes, and living, interest on capital in
vested, etc.
Agardth reckons tha;t, after all impediments are de
ducted, there should remain in Sweden an area of above
50,000,000 EngUsh acres of land, capable of cultivation.
It wiU not, however, be fair to charge the 4,000,000

132 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
cultivated tunnland of land in Sweden alone, with the inte
rest of this mortgage debt, because much other land is
mortgaged, and some estates not at aU : but let us lay a
yearly rental of 10 rqr. per tunnland on aU the cultivated
land (and take the country through, I fancy there is more
worth less, than above that sum) in its present state. And
we will also reckon according to our last calculation, that
at the present day, 5 tunna of com, is the average yield for
every tunnland of cultivated land throughout the country,
at the average price of about 10 rqr. per tunna; and this
-wUl give us a yearly return of 50 rqr. per tunnland, .from
which, if we deduct the yearly rent of 10 rqr., we leave a
balance of 40 rqr. (or above £2 5s.) in the Swedish farmer's
hands per tunnland, where-with to pay labour, taxes, etc. ;
and aUowing, according to our before-quoted calculation, a
sum of 25 rqr. per tunnland for cultivation, seed, and taxes,
there stUl remains 16 rqr. per tunnl^andfor his maintenance.
So after all he is not so badly off, and this is the fair way
to look at it.
This calculation is made after the present yield ; and now
I wUl insert another letter from a practical Swedish farmer,
written in 1863, which piits the raatter in another Ught, and
a better one for the farraer, if his land is only properly ma
naged ; because although I do not think com will rise, I am
pretty certain that it wiU not faU below its present price.
This letter not only bears me out in my -views of this, to
Sweden, all-important question, but it will give the Enghsh
reader a far better idea of Swedish farming as it is now car
ried on, and what it might be, than anything I can write on
the subject. The writer says : —
" There are two things to which we have had occasion
more than once to allude. The first is, that the land in
Sweden is overwhelmed with debt on account of the hypo
theks, or mortgage loans, and other causes ; and the second,
that estates have been driven up in the market to false and
unnatural prices. Not that we lay much stress upon this
latter, because we assert that scarcely a single estate in

AGEICULTUEE. 133
Sweden during the period of high prices, has been bought
too dear by a purchaser who had anything to lose, but that,
on the contrary, not one in ten has been bought with the
purchaser's own capital. This is where the fault Ues, and
it is on this account that land in Sweden does not, as they
justly say, give interest for the purchase-money.
" From this source has arisen our agricultural distress.
Our farmers need more capital, and therefore these debts
have arisen.
" The question now arises, what agriculture in Sweden
really is at the present day, and to what it ought to come
with sufficient capital.
" Considering this important question, we must first set
forth agriculture as it now stands undisguised, in order
that we may hereafter the more readily show the reason why
agriculture in Sweden does not stand as high as in Belgium,
Saxony, Scotland, or other lands, whose natural relations
are very similar to our own. For this purpose we will
neither choose the best, nor the worst side of the question,
but take a moderate -view of it ; for, notwithstanding the
very great improveraent that has taken place in agriculture
within the last twenty years, it is certain that there are
very few- estates in Sweden which have risen above the
medium we have taken.
" Let us take an estate of an area of 200 tunnland (244
EngUsh acres), in a good farming district, of which 100
tunnland are arable, the other 100 consisting of bad meadow;
the produce of which iu its present state wUl hardly pay for
getting, and the rest, woods and mosses, (and this is a very
fair general description of most of the Swedish estates at the
present day) . As we are speaking solely of agriculture, we
wiU not aUude to any estate which gives an additional income,
by brick or tile-making, mUls, timber, or the Uke.
" The land, as is usuaUy the case in Sweden, is poor, and
in bad condition ; the buildings, probably, in fair order, but
very inadequate and insufficient for an improved system of
agriculture. " The price of such an estate, as times now are, to purchase.

134 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
would be above 30,000 rqr. (about £1760 EngUsh, or nearly
£8 per EngUsh acre), to which we must add such Uttle capital
as would be required to work the farm. Thus — rqr.
Purchase of the estate . . . 30,000
Six horses, at 200 rqr. each . . 1200
Fifteen cows, at 1 00 rqr. each . . 1500
Implements  1000
Advance for maintenance of servants,
cattle, etc  760
Household furniture .... 660

Total  36,000
Or a Uttle over £2000 for the full purchase of a 244 acre
farm, and the stock and impleraents in its present state ; of
which sum the interest after the rate of six per cent., (the ,
common rate of interest here,) -wiU be 2160 rqr., or about
21 rqr. per tunnland of cultivated ground.
" We will now make a summary calculation of the proceeds
of this farm, and for the sake of shortness, without going
into minute details, we -will reckon the gross produce at 40
rqr. per tunnland, or a little over £2 per EngUsh acre, for the
land capable of cultivation, and this, it wiU be seen, is lower
than we have reckoned it before, but I expect that one-half
of the farms as they are now managed, do not return more,
-without minding whether part of that produce is sold direct,
or first turned into butter, flesh, wool, or cheese. Therefore,
the gross produce of the 100 tunnland -wUl be 4000 rqr.
" From this we must now deduct the cost of cultivation,
such as servants' wages, repairs, taxes, etc., and we shaU not be
far wrong if we put this at 2000 rqr., or 20 rqr. per tunnland.
Consequently, there remains out of the whole gross produce
of the estate only a net sum of 2000 rqr. wherewith to pay
the yearly interest of 2160 rqr., lea-ving a yearly deficiency
of 160 rqr., and the farmer gets nothing for his trouble and
labour. (And this is how farming at the present day stands
generally throughout Sweden.)
" Now it is very clear, according to this, that the purchase-

AGEICULTUEE. 135
money of this farm is too high, and that the farmer would be
in a far better position if he rented the land capable of being
tilled, at 10 rqr. per tunnland; and another thing we must
remark, that the 100 acres of rough land is not calculated to
give one shUUng return. Now this is hardly fair, for if this
100 acres of rough woodland were so utterly barren as to Ue
waste altogether, no one in his senses would borrow money
at six per cent, interest to buy it, I suppose, however, if
the buyer had capital in hand, he would be able to make
something of it.
" We will suppose (as is usuaUy the case) that he has a
hypothek et's loan or mortgage to half the amount of the
purchase-money, or 15,000 rqr., and that the whole of his
Uttle capital, 21,000 rqr., is swallowed up in the balance of
the purchase-money, and the necessary expenses of entering,
as shown above, so he is obUged to meet the surplus expense
by discount loans, (because he can raise no more by mort
gage), and the produce of his farra cannot be increased by
irapro-ving the soU, for that wiU require a longer time than
the discount loan wUl have to be paid in.
" We wiU now make another calculation over the sarae
farm, worked with a proper capital, be the sarae borrowed or
owned, of aU that a real farmer wiU require. rqr.
Cost price of farm .... 30,000
100 tunnland underdrained, at 75 rqr. per
tunnland  7500

Artificial manures
2000 barrels chalk
New buUdings, and repairing old
Eight horses, at 300 rqr.
Forty cows, at 100 rqr.
OnebuU . . . •
Irapleraents Com for sowing, say .
Advance for nourishment of people
Household furniture .
Total .

4600 20008000
2400
4000 500
1000 600
and cattle 25001000
65,000

136 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
"It wiU be seen that the additional capital required for
carrying on the farm at an improved rate, -wiU come to about
as much as the original cost of the farm, and the net re
serve must now cover interest for 65,000 rqr., which, after
the rate of sit per cent., will be 3900 rqr. yearly,
" The produce of the farm now, after it has been well
drained, well manured, and with proper farming, cannot be
reckoned at less than 100 rqr. per tunnland, and this is rather
under, than over the mark. (And I raay add, that my friend
Mr. Stenstrom says that it is decidedly under the mark on a
good farm, farmed properly and in good condition ; and he,
moreover, said, that he would willingly give fifteen rqr. per
acre rent, for such a farm.)
" To raise this sum at ordinary market prices, we shall
require to produce on each tunnland, 5 tunna wheat, or 7
tunna rye, or 5 tunna peas, or 8 tunna barley, or 100 tunna
turnips, or 30 tunna potatoes, or 3000 lb. of hay.
"Notwithstanding we have an improved system of farming,
and, consequently, more labour, our faUow wiU not increase
in proportion, and the wages and expenses of carrying on
the farm should not now exceed 24 rqr. per tunnland. De
ducting this sura of 24 rqr. for expenses frora the gross
income of 100 rqr. per tunnland, there will reraain 76 rqr.
as the net produce of each tunnland (which, for the whole
area, gives 7600 rqr.), and when frora this sum we deduct
3900 for interest, there remains a yearly gain of 3700 rqr., or
37 rqr. per tunnland (a Uttle above £2 per EngUsh acre).
" If we further follow the results on the same estate under
a different state of culture, it is plain that in the first in
stance the insufficient capital employed, must sooner or later
end in the destruction of the estate, and the ultimate ruin of
the farmer. Whereas in the latter case, when the o-wner
for a useful purpose, incurs a further debt of S0,000 rqr., the
produce of the land will yearly increase, and not only leave
an interest on the capital employed, but besides that, a
yearly gain, which in eight years will pay off the increased
capital which the farmer has borrowed, for the improvement
of the estate."

AGEICULTUEE. 137
I may hej-e add that the writer of course supposes the
farm to be in the hands of a practical farmer, and in a good
farming district.
We wUl now turn to the before-mentioned letter in my
farming statistics, which reckons that at the average price
of corn and the present growth of an average of five tunna
to the tunnland, farming, as it is now carried on, is not
paying, and this I believe, but I also beUeve everything
that is stated in the letter I have just inserted. And any
man who carefuUy reads the two statements, -wiU soon see
the reason why farming does not pay here as it is carried on
at present, and moreover that it could be made to pay if
it were only carried on properly.
I have shown both the above letters to practical men,
and they aU agree that the figures are pretty correct, and in
the main -wiU apply to nine-tenths of the purchased farms
in Sweden. Assuming this to be so, we shaU see that, in good
hands and worked -with a sufficient capital, farming in
certain parts of Sweden might become as profitable as in
England ; and tha|i a practical EngUsh farmer who knew a
little of the language and the habits of the country, with a
capital say of £4000, might according to the above calcula
tion, purchase an estate in Sweden of about 260 EngUsh
acres, stock it properly, and if he worked it as it should
be, raight calculate upon a very fair retum for his capital
invested. Moreover, the farm would be his o-wn, and could
never deteriorate in value by proper management ; but pro
bably in ten years' time it might be of considerably raore
value under a proper system of cultivation ; and we have alto
gether left out the 100 acres of rough meadow or woodland,
and it would be odd if these could not be made something
of, by a good practical man. I fancy at the present time
many a large farm in Sweden could be bought for the sarae
money, if the buyer went into the market with ready cash.
I should never wish to induce any British farmer to
leave the old country, and seek to gain a li-ving in a foreign
land, especially one where the language is new to him. At

138 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
first he would have much to contend -with, especiaUy in a
land Uke Sweden, where a total ignorance of the language
and the habits of the people, the severity of the cUmate, and
the length of the winter, would try him sorely. And pro
bably as a speculation, many of our EngUsh colonies offer a
far better field, at a much smaller outlay of capital.
Happily, moreover, few men are more averse to leaving
old England, and settling in a foreign country than the
farmers, and no wonder. I spent my early years much
among them, and since then I have mixed much -with farmers
of other lands, but in no other country have I found a class
of men who lead such truly happy Uves as the farmers of
England. No matter what new country he may seek, the
British farmer is sure to leave behind him, horae comforts
which he can never meet with abroad. Whatever faults he
may find with old England, and however much he may
grumble at her taxes, her institutions, and the imaginary
ruin which too often stares him in the face, he loves her at
heart perhaps better than any other of her sons. He is, as it
were, peculiarly a part and parcel of her soU, and trans
planting hira to a foreign land, is like lopping a branch off
the old British oak. His native -village church, in which so
many quiet Sabbath mornings have been spent ; the innocent
occupations of his early rural life ; the neat homestead, the
well-tilled fields, the well-shaped cattle, which it was his Just
pride to gaze upon, while feeding in meadows such as one
never sees out of England ; the social meetings at his weekly
market ; the merry chat at the covert side, — wUl haunt his
memory to the last.; and every one of these raust be relin
quished the moment he turns his back upon old England.
The adventurer or man of business leaves his native home
with scarcely a sigh of regret, and in the thriU of adventure
or the aU-engrossing pursuit of money-making, wiU soon
forget the land of his birth, and like a true citizen of the
world, accommodate himself at once to the manners and
customs of the strangers araong whom he is thrown ; but
not so the farmer, especially one who has passed the meri
dian of life.

AGEICULTUEE. 139
Still there must be many young farmers in our over
stocked land, who through necessity (we wUl trust not
through choice) yearly leave the British shores to seek a
fortune in foreign climes, and to a hard-working practical
farmer with a small capital, I think Sweden just now offers
a pretty good field. At first, such a man would have Uttle
difficulty in finding employment on a farming school for a
year, the director of which could speak English ; or at any
rate he could board for a trifle, and learn the language and
farming in return for his work. And I wUl here add that it
would be the most egregious folly for a man to purchase an
estate, or to think of settling in this country — if he means to
have anything to do with land — till he had gone through such
a course. By the end of this time he could have learnt the
language, the habits of the people, and the raode of agri
culture. He raight then always find employment ; if he had
no capital, as a baUiff on an estate, or if he had capital,
by renting a farm himself. Farms are always to be rented
as weU as bought. A man certainly can enter a farm here
cheaper than in England ; all implements well made after
English models, can be obtained cheaper than at horae.
Living is decidedly cheaper. And we have just sho-wn (from
what I consider to be a very fair calculation) what return a
farm in proper condition, in a good farming district, could be
made to give. We -wiU now suppose a man to buy this farm
as a simple rnoney speculation.
In our calculation, we have valued the actual cost price
of the 244 acre farm at a Uttle under £2000, and 122 acres
of it, as of Uttle real benefit to the farmer in its present
state. We must bear in raind now that we are not alluding
to a forest district, where the forests -wiU give a special re
turn, and must be bought after their timber value ; but to a
tract of open land in a farming district, where the woods
are only plantations, and where many of them may, by cut
ting, burning, and hacking, be made to carry crops in time.
We wiU therefore, for the sake of arguraent, suppose all the
rough land to be worth iraproving, and let us in round nura
bers reckon the improvement of the whole farm of 244 acres

140 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
at the rate of £5 (or 90 rqr.) per Swedish tunnland, which
will give us a sum of 20,000 rqr. to add to the original cost of
the farm [30,000 rqr.J , and if we add 20,000 more for improve.
ment of buildings, artificial manures, etc., the cost of the
farm in an improved state will be 70,000 rqr., or about
£4000. We will now suppose the land to be in first-rate condi-
tion, and the purchaser wishes to let it. It should be
worth 15 rqr. per tunnland in its improved state all round
which would give him a yearly retum of 3000 rqr., or a httle
more than 4 per cent, on his capital. We have probably
valued our improvements, as well I fancy as the purchase-
money, rather too highly. So we wUl say that if this farm, in
its improved condition, were let to a good tenant, it would
return the purchaser 5 per cent, on the capital invested, and
the farmer who worked it would get also a return, after all
his expenses were paid. The tenant would, however, requh-e
a capital of at least 12,500 rqr., or £700 English, to come
in -with, or a little less than £4 per EngUsh acre, to work it
properly ; and we -will now see how the farmer would stand,
supposing his returns to be 100 rqr. per Swedish tunnland,
which, as I have before said, is not a bit too much. This
wiU give hira 20,000 rqr. yearly. We must bear in mind
that I ara reckoning every tunnland to give an equal return,
which probably would not be the case, and I have not de
ducted the faUows ; but as I have valued the farm high, and
as I feel pretty certain that, in a wheat district, many an
acre would give a far greater return, we may reckon on a
return of something like 100 rqr. per tunnland aU round, of
course supposing it were put into good condition, and in
the hands of a persevering man who knew his business ; and
such are the men who are wanted as farmers in Sweden;
they would, I am sure, receive every assistance and adrice
fi'om the neighbouring gentry, to start them in their new
field. Then — rqr.
Cost of cultivation, 26 rqr. per tunn
land  5000

AGEICULTUEE. 141
rqr. rqr.
Yearly rent, at 15 rqr. per tunnland . 3000
Interest on 12,500 rqr. outlay, at 6
per cent ...... 750

Let us add, however, 6 rqr. per tunn
land more for taxes and incidentals,
or  • ¦

8750

1250

10,000

and deducting this from 20 ,000 rqr., we have a net yearly
surplus of 10,000 rqr., above £500 sterling, off a 250 acre
farm ; or 50 rqr. per acre, for U-ving, etc., after aU expenses
were paid.
This shows to what farming might be brought in a
good district in Sweden, with a proper capital and in good
hands. We can hardly, however, reckon that this calcula
tion -wUl apply to Wermland, and the midland districts. It
-will also prove that farming in Sweden will no more pay
without proper attention, management, and capital, than in
England ; but it also proves, I think, that the farmer who
farms his land as it should be, requires no protection from
Government. To an English gentleman of smaU capital, say about
three or four thousand pounds, who was fond of farming, field
sports, and a country Ufe, I reaUy do not know where he
could invest his capital better than in Sweden. In what
ever part he settled, he would be sure to have some fair
sporting and fishing, and much freer than he could in Eng
land; although he might not find things at first just the same
as in England, yet when he became settled among them, he
would find the Swedes very good neighbours, andl really think
property will in time increase in value. But he must bear in
mind one thing, nothing can be done in the north -without
some capital, and above all things let him live at least
a year in the country on some good estate, and learn
the language and habits of the people, before he perma-

142 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
nently settles, or invests one shUling in land; and with
ready money to go into the niarket, he will always find an
estate to suit him. But do not let him be in a hurry, and
above all, let hiTn choose a good district. I fancy from what
I have heard, the Isle of Gotland would suit a British farmer
better than any other part of Sweden.
Although really practical working farmers are hard to
find, I know no country in Europe where the true country
gentleman is better represented than in Sweden, nor any man
who passes a happier, quieter, or more domestic life, than a
Swedish country gentleman who lives on his own estate,
happily free from mortgage debt.
In such a case, a certain portion of the produce of his
land (the principal part of which he farras himself), goes to
the support of his faniUy and household, and the sale of his
surplus com and timber covers incidental expenses. Thus
he passes his life quietly and happily in the bosom of his
family, a true country gentleman in every sense of the word,
with just employment enough to keep his time occupied ; and
the cares and maintenance of his famUy, instead of being an
anxious burden on his mind, add a double zest to Ufe. His
wife is, in nine cases out of ten, a model in the manage
ment of his household and famUy, industrious, careful, and
sa-ving. His chUdren are broughtup at home under their
parents' eyes — the daughters, as girls should be, who at a
future day will themselves, in their tum, be called upon to
superintend the cares of a household; the boys till such time
as they must leave their homes, and launch out into the world
to seek their own fortunes. It is, therefore, not to be won
dered at, that we see such true pictures of domestic happi
ness in these Swedish homes, where the members are so
closely thrown together, and so much of the year is neces
sarUy passed indoors, and such simple and domestic tastes
prevail. Let his system of farraing be what it may, such a
man, if he is only free from debt, can always provide for the
wants of his famUy, and live comfortably, and respected by
all. I do not mean to say but that by a better system he
might materially increase his income, still, if he only attends

AGEICULTUEE. 143
to his affairs at home, and does not altogether leave the
whole concerns of his farm to an inspector, he cannot help
keeping things together, if his estate is unencumbered, and
he has learnt to regard it as a family home. But far dif
ferent is the case -with a young man, who upon the strength
of an early marriage, purchases an estate on mortgage,
and saddles himself with a yearly burden in the shape of
interest, which the produce of his farm can scarcely pay,
(certainly not in the way he is obUged to farm it through a
want of capital, and at the usual rate in which he begins to
Uve), and, therefore, on his outset into life, hampers hira
self with a debt of which, (unless by some lucky circurastance
or other he is enabled to sell his estate at an advanced price)
he may never be able to clear himself; and it is just these
young men who are looking out for an estate to bring a new
married -wife home to, who are so eagerly sought after by
land speculators, " worth always ten per cent, at least on the
purchase-money," as an old land dealer once observed to me.
It is my opinion that at the present time estates here,
especially in Wermland, have been driven up to a false
value, by the mania of land speculation. Many seem to
think that the value of estates is yearly rising in Sweden,
and that it would be a good speculation to buy up land at
its present frice, and hold it till a rise in the raarket. This,
I confess, I can hardly see, but I fancy that with ready
money, many farms might be bought cheap, and if only Swe
den remains at peace, land wUl certainly rise in value. The
Swedish prices for grain are regulated entirely by those
of England, and with the English markets in their present
state, it is hardly likely that much rise will take place in corn
in Sweden, for, taking the price of oats in England as high
as 22s., the Swedish farmer can never reckon on selling his
at home, for more than 16s. the quarter. We have shown
the returns which the land gives in its present state, and
what it might be made to yield if a proper capital were
laid out on it ; but in their present state as far as I can
see, estates are about at their fuU value. Doubtless, a
man who knows his business, and buys his land -with ready

144 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
money and a sufficient capital in hand to improve it, will.
obtain a good retum for his capital, and probably double the
value of his estate ; but then he must expend capital on it;
and certain it is, in Wermland during the last ten years no
great rise has taken place ; for I could quote numerous
instances of estates bought -within my recollection, at what
would appear to an EngUshman ridiculously low prices, the
proprietors of which have always been in trouble for the want
of capital to improve them, and if these estates were brought
into the market now, I very much question whether many of
them would reaUze their original cost, certainly not, if the
purchaser paid ready money.
I really do not see any fair means of calculating the value
of an estate in Sweden, for so few are in the hands of tenant
farmers. Thus it is hardly possible to value the land at so
raany years' purchase, on the return which it gives. It
would be all very weU for the seller if he could always sell
at his own value, for the invariable answer you get if you
ask what such an estate is worth, is, " Oh, he wants such-
and-such a sum for it."
They have the oddest way of valuing estates here that
can well be imagined. If a small estate be for sale, it is
advertised that it wUl feed so many horses, so many cows,
and that the occupier sows so many bushels of spring and
autumn corn. I see an estate in the north of Wermland
now advertised for sale, the items of which may interest the
EngUsh reader.
The estate consists of house, etc. tunnland.
Cultivated land . . . . .158
Pasture and meadow .... 70
Wood  867
1095
Eight years' circulation can sow 50 tunna oats, 10 tunna
rye, 25 tunna potatoes ; and can feed 7 horses, 2 pair oxen, 35
cows, 10 young cattle, 30 sheep. The mortgage debt on

AGEICULTUEE. 145
the estate is about 38,000 rqr., and the value set on by the
mortgagees is 56,000 rqr.
Now valuing the wood at £1 per acre, or £867, to deduct
from the value of the whole estate, which in round numbers
we -will reckon at £3000 English pounds, there remains a
Uttle over £2000 for the purchase of the rest of the farm of
228 tunnland, or say, 270 English acres,, at about £11 per
acre. It is very doubtful, even at this price, if the farm in such
a district would be a good speculation. The wood may be
worth rauch raore, but this all depends upon the situation.
Another method of calculating the value of an estate here
I learnt from a practical man. He first reckoned how many
cows the farm could feed, and aUo-wing each to give the
yearly incorae of 150 rqr., he calculated this as the yearly
value of the estate, supposing the corn crops, etc., to pay
for labour, living, and aU other expenses. But I am sure
I do not know how raany years' purchase they would calcu
late on this return, in buying the farra, I fancy not nearly
twenty-five. But to recur to the subject of these mortgage debts. Were
it not for the faciUty of obtaining money on mortgage (which,
however, appears not to be quite so easy now as formerly),
this mania for buying estates on speculation would be in some
degree checked ; at any rate the buyers would have to take
their capital out of their own pockets, and they would not
invest that capital so rashly, unless they saw there was
a safe retum for their investment ; and they would not buy
a large estate with as little refiection as a cow or a horse,
as is often now the case. We all know if a man can obtain
credit -with a tradesman, be it a taUor, shoemaker, or what
not, how raany more articles he will purchase, than if he had
to pay ready money for thera as he bought them ; conse
quently, such surplus goods nine times out of ten are un
necessary — and this is just the case with the present system
of buying estates in Sweden. Not one-half of the men who
now purchase estates here, have any business to do so, for
they have not sufficient capital to hold them, and a chance of a
10

146 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
rise in the market which may never take place is all they
look at. Perhaps not one-half are sound farmers, or have
sufficient capital to make the full value of their land if
they hold it themselves ; and I have in more cases than
one, known raen purchase estates on speculation, and in
the second or third year the mortgage company have
taken possession, because the yearly interest was unpaid.
With such a system, how is it possible to know of what the
land is capable !
StiU, however, if every man who purchased an estate with
the intention of farming it himself, was something of a prac
tical farmer, and as long as he had to make his U-ving by
farming, did his work Uke a farmer, and lived like a farmer,
there would not be so much the matter, even if he had only
a small capital. But there seems to be an idea here that
any one can farra, and at the sarae tirae live Uke a gentle
man. How such a notion has got into people's heads I can
not imagine, for no business, I should say, requires more
practical experience, more close attention and looking after,
than that of a farmer, and especiaUy in Sweden. But here,
any young man who is scarcely out of his teens, and
has probably never ploughed an acre of land in his hfe,
seeras to fancy hiraself capable not only of managing a
large estate, but of farming one himself, with Uttle or
no capital. If farraing on such a system can answer, then, indeed,
our hard-working EngUsh farmers, who have been brought
up to the plough from their childhood, and yet do not con
sider it prudent even to lease a farm for seven or fourteen
years with a less capital than £5, and even sometimes £10
per acre, must be sadly behind the rising generation, and
had better throw up their farms at once.
I have dwelt long upon this subject, for it is an important
one. Sweden is a country with great capabiUties, and
with a better system of management, would be in a very
different position frora her present one.
We wUl now say a few words as to how the farms are
managed. As will be seen by the foregoing remarks, there

AGEICULTUEE. 147
are very few farms here held on lease by tenant farmers ;
most of the landed proprietors occupy their own land, and
farm it theraselves, with the aid of a working bailiff, whose
wages will probably be £15 or £20 a year and his keep.
This expense would, of course, be saved to a practical farmer
who looked after his business himself.
Most of the day labourers here are what they call " tor-
pare," i. e., they are servants at wUl on the estate, and hold a
small piece of land and a cottage at a fixed rent, but for which
they do not pay in money, but by work. By their contract
they are obliged to work for their landlord on his farm when
ever they are required, at a fixed sum by day. One day's
work -with a horse or bullock, is valued in the summer at
one rqr., in the -winter at about lOd. ; a man's work is reck
oned at about the same. A day's work of a torpare
female servant is reckoned at about 4d. in the suraraer, 3d.
in the winter. These torpare are, in fact, all sraall farraers
on the estate, but -without one shiUing of capital, (bound to
pay the rent of their own farras by doing work for their
landlords when they ought to be doing it at home) ; they
grow their own produce, and usually own a horse, a cow or
two, and a pig.
I cannot say I altogether like this system. There is far
too much dependence about it, and the poor torpare are
obUged to be too much under the tally system. Their hold
ing is often a very poor one, and invariably let too dear, and
the holder is scarcely ever out of debt. He is obUged to
work for his landlord whenever he is called upon ; to buy all
his food and seed corn of him, at a far dearer rate than if he
went to raarket with ready raoney ; and just at the very tirae
when their labour is of raost value on their own Uttle estates,
they are, perhaps, most wanted on the head farm. The
consequence is that, as far as I could see, their own land is
generally in a wretched state ; and, depend upon it, a day
labourer, who is paid regularly so rauch a day, and hires his
own cottage, is far better off, and certainly far more inde
pendent, than one of these torpare. Moreover, they frequently
Uve out in the forest, far from the home station, and their

148 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
horses or buUocks are often of a very poor description, and I
could never fancy they did a proper day's work.
A good day labourer's wages on a farm in Wermland,
may be reckoned at about Is. a day throughout the year-
more in suraraer than in winter ; but I fancy wages are now
on the rise, as labour becomes more scarce. The day's work
in summer is too long for either man or horse to do properly.
The wages of a good rough farming man, to board ia
the house, are about £7 a year, but on account of the
railways, and other works which are being carried on,
they are yearly rising. Many of our Wermland labourers
go every summer into Noi-way, or up north of Stock
holm, where they work by contract, and can eam 2s. 6d.
to 3s. a day during the summer, and as living for a
peasant must always be cheaper than in England, I consider
labourer's wages higher in proportion in Sweden than in
England. Labour is scarce just now in Sweden, and without
these torpare, gentlemen would probably have hard work to
carry on their farms. The wages of a feraale farm-servant
will probably never exceed £2 a year, and her keep. Some
of these torpare servants' wages — for even they must keep a
servant to work at times for the landlord of the estate — ^will
be scarcely £1 a year.
It is the custora here, and one which cannot be too highly
condemned, to impose work upon the female farm-servants
which should only be done by men. They have to slaughter
the calves, and often the sheep.
The wages of a good fem&-le servant in the house -will
rarely exceed £2, besides a few presents at Christmas;
a housekeeper has raore; and, for hard work, coramendme
to a Swedish feraale servant. 'They never appear to know
rest, for if they have an hour to spare, it is not wasted, as
there is always a loom or spinning-jenny to sit do-wn to ; and
I think it hard that whereas, in the autumn and winter, the
farming man's work is all over by about five o'clock, the
poor drudge of a female servant, can hardly finish her work
tUl bed-time. I never could understand how the parlour servants (for the

SWEDISH SEEVANTS. 149
peasant woraen and farmers' servants are often coarse and
dirty enough) manage to dress so neatly, and look so weU as
they do upon such small wages. They are often remarkably
pretty, and it is a real pleasure to see how cheerfully they go
about their work. I have frequently been rather surprised at
the very pretty housekeepers one sees sometimes in the coun
try gentlemen's houses; and I have been told that this is
rather a fancy of the lady of the house, because it keeps their
husbands at home. I wonder whether an EngUsh wife
would be so accommodating.
It is the custom in Sweden, whenever you stay a night at
a gentleman's house, to give a little compUraent to the ser
vant. This is called " Dricks penningar." It is no great
tax, and one which I am sure I never grudged. The custom
is universal. I always thought one shUling per night to the
girl whom I saw most about, was quite sufficient, or if I stayed
a week I would give five rqr. to her, to divide with her com
rades. Nothing is expected if you do not stop a night. In
the inns it is not the custom to give anything to the waiting
girls, if you only take a meal. A couple of rix-doUars to a
wood- watcher, if you have a day's shooting on a gentleman's
land, wUl raore than satisfy him.
The prices of labour in Sweden have risen nearly 100 per
cent., within the last twenty-five years, and the price of corn
within the same time, 75 per cent.
Of course, throughout this wide-stretched land, there
is as much variety in the soil, as in the climate, and
there are few estates of any size in Sweden upon which
you will not find most of the varieties of soU which the
farmer requires, as weU as rauch which he does not require.
But, like England, Sweden has its rich as weU as its poor
districts. Taking the land in general, I should say it
was a poor, hungry soU (with patches of deep land here
and there, especially by the sides of the rivers and lakes),
everywhere capable of great improvement by ground drain
age and care. But I fancy, especially in the midland districts,
a man requires a very good practical knowledge of the soU
before he enters a farm. I narae this because I often notice

150 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
that corn will grow pretty well in some places, while in others
close by, and apparently just the same to look at, nothing
appears to do well. Probably much depends upon the under
surface, especially in this country, and I will never beUeve in
the doctrine which I have heard some raen preach, that all
lands raay be made alike, by good cultivation and manuring.
The standard crops of the country — rye, oats, clover, arti
ficial grasses, and potatoes — appear to grow pretty weU on
most farms in good years ; but in the midland districts the
failure of crops, partly from the climate, but principally from
want of proper drainage, is not uncommon.
It can readUy be understood that in a country Uke the
middle of Sweden, where the cold snow-water deluges the
ground, often in the end of April, and even in May, how
much under- draining is needed.
Rye is the principal corn grown in Sweden. In Werm
land it should be all in by the middle of August, and I have
heard Mr. Stenstrom say that it wiU make from 25 to 50
per cent, difference, whether he gets his seed in early or late
in that month; the harvest -wUl probably fall in the end
of that month. There is certainly something extraordinary
in the growth of com in this country. The seed sown hi
August will probably have a shoot of not longer than six
inches by the middle of the next May, or in about nine months ;
by the middle of June it will be in ear (and they then reckon
it has attained half its growth), and in two months, or per
haps six weeks more, it -wUl be ripe and fit to cut ; and yet
we see, although the seed seems to lie idle in the ground for
nine months, if they delay a fortnight in getting it in, they
nearly lose the crop altogether.
As I said in ray first chapter, the measure in use here
is the tunna, and at a rough calculation we may reckon
this at four and a half EngUsh bushels, and the tunn
land is rather more than the English acre, although for oui-
present purpose it wUl suffice, if the reader supposes two
tunnas to be equal to the English quarter, and the tunnland
as one English acre.
It is nearly impossible to give a good general average of

AGEICULTUEE. 151
the crops in the midland districts, so much depending upon
the weather and climate ; and much of the land is in such
wretched order that, unlike the EngUsh farmer, who can
generaUy calculate upon his return with some certainty, the
Swedish farmer in the midland districts, can hardly ever
reckon when he sows his corn, how much he wUl reap. The
case, however, would be very different if the land were well
drained. And do not let the reader suppose that there are
no good farmers in Sweden. There are many practical men
who are only kept down by want of proper capital, and if
these men rented their farms instead of buying them, their
returns would be far different.
Artificial manures are coraing more into fashion, and I
think that chalk, which is tolerably cheap and easy to pro
cure, is a capital top dressing for the Swedish land, which is
so fuU of vegetable raatter. Guano answers weU for an
autumn dressing, but the summers are often too dry to use
it in the spring. I wonder, considering how much they are
wanted at home, at the quantity of bones they annuaUy ex
port frora Sweden. Composts are much used ; peat-earth,
of which there is always plenty on most farms, mixed -with
dung, is the only thing I ever knew a peasant use, up here
at least, except " clean muck."
I will now give the averages of the farm in South Werm
land, on which I lived, but the reader must bear in raind
that the occupier is a practical farraer. The farm, however,
is not a first-rate one, although much improved within the
last ten years. The land in many places is not bad, but
nearly aU of it wants draining, and as the arable land
lies much in patches, it is difficult work. This very farra,
however, will prove that the land even in Wermland,
if weU done by, might be raade to give far better returns.
I have seen the corn returns for this farm ever since it has
been in the possession of the present owner, and they are now
just double what they were in 1851, when he entered upon
it. However, where one farm in Werraland is better, twenty
are worse. But even on this farm, want of capital for under-
draining, bringing waste land into cultivation, and improving

152 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
old land, keeps it much back ; and I have not the least doubt
that if the open land were improved, as suggested by the
writer of the letter above quoted, the same favourable results
might be expected on this farm.
If the rye is sown early in August on a well-pre
pared fallow, three-quarters of a tunna seed to the tunn
land, they -will sometimes get back ten tunna. But this
crop is very precarious (as rauch owing to the want of
draining as anything), and throughout Wermland we can
not take the yearly average of the rye crop at more than
six tunna to the tunnland, and this year (1864) I do
not fancy it wUl give so rauch. I see the returns of
1863, which was, I think, a fair average year in Werm-
land, throughout the whole pro-vince were seven tunna
of rye, to every one tunna sown, and of oats four to
five tunna. A tunna of good rye here will weigh from 260 to
300 lb., and its market price in the spring of 1864, was
sixteen rqr.
In preparing a fallow for rye, they ought to use 100
cartloads of manure (each of which cartloads wUl contain
3 tunna, or about 12 EngUsh bushels) to the tunnland,
but they very seldom put on more than 60 cartloads to
the tunnland, and this, we must remember, has to stand in
the land always six, more frequently eight years.
Sometimes when they cut down a bit of forest here, they
burn aU the trees as they lie, in the eiarly suraraer, and after
they have cleared off the burnt logs, they spread about the
ashes, and then sow rye, which they scratch in between the
stumps of the trees, with a little two-pronged rake. I have
seen some wonderful crops of rye grown thus ; of course
very patchy, but thick where it did stand. After the rye,
they sow grass seeds. In a few years the old stumps rot
away, and an open field is left in the place of a forest. But
this will not do in all forest land.
Wheat at present seems to be only a fancy crop in
Sweden, but I have seen some capital crops at Gardsjo,
when the land has been fairly treated, which proves that
with care the land would soon be adapted to its culture, and

AGEICULTUEE. 153
I wonder it is not more attended to. An average crop wUl
probably be 6 to 8 tunna to the tunnland, or quite as much
as rye. It -wUl weigh about 300 lb., and average in the
raarket, perhaps 25 rqr. per tunna. They usually sow of red
wheat three-quarters of a tunna to the tunnland, and spring
wheat, if they can only -get it in early enough, generally
does well.
One thing has often struck me as curious. I never in
my life saw a field of corn of any description weeded in
Sweden. Certainly they do thin out the tumips, and hoe
up the potatoes, but in raost of the corn-fields one sees
nearly as many weeds as com.
Wermland is not a good barley province, but by good
draining, the land might be made to carry crops. It is im
possible to give an average of this crop in Sweden, which
varies from 6 to 10 tunna per tunnland, according to cir
cumstances. It should weigh 260 lb. per tunna, and fetch
in the market about 12 rqr. per tunna.
Oats, however, seem to be pecuUarly adapted to the soU
and climate. They are usually sown three years in suc
cession on the sarae land, sometimes, after the old system,
sis years running, just cast in, without any manure; and
can we wonder with such close cropping that we often see
such wretched crops ? I declare I have seen such oat crops
soraetimes that I have wondered how a man could ever mow
them. I should say, take the whole province through, that
the oat crop in Wermland will not average 5 tunna to
the tunnland, but where the land is not too closely cropped,
and pretty fairly done by, the retum will comraonly be
from 6 to 8 tunna. On new meadow land just broken
up they, however, occasionally get immense crops, and I
knew one instance, on a new bit of reclaimed land by the
side of a river, when the return was 12 tunna per tunn
land. The principal seed oats here, are black, white, and
potato oats. They wUl weigh from 160 lb. to 260 lb. per tunna,
and the price in the spring, 1864, was 7 rqr. per tunna.
Beans are but little grown, especially in Wermland, nor
do I think I have seen anything like what we should call real

154 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
good bean land in the middle of Sweden. Peas and vetches
seem to grow in most parts. I am told, however, that
around Gothenburg and in Bohus Land they grow some
capital bean crops.
Potatoes in the spring of 1864 were worth about 5 rqr.
per tunna (but they became scarce, and in June the poor
peasants had to pay 8 rqr. per tunna for their seed), and
for Swedish tumips about 4 rqr. In Gardsjo they generally
plant 15 tunna of potatoes to 3 tunnland of land, and get
back at tiraes 150 tunna, and they can reckon on their potato
crop better than any other.
In 1864, however, in which the spring was so cold and
backward, many of the potatoes were not planted untU the
second week in June, and yet they said if the rain came soon
they raight reckon on a good crop.
To show the variabUity of this climate, we often at night
had 2° of frost at the very end of May, whUe in the second
week of June the therraoraeter in the sun at five o'clock,
p.m., stood more than once as high as 108° F.
Turnips are as yet but Uttle grown, especiaUy in the
midland districts, for the land is not in sufficient heart
to carry good crops. I have remarked that the turnip crop
is very precarious ; the best crop at Gardsjo, was about 200
tunna, or 800 bushels to the tunnland.
On good ground, but it must be weU underdrained, car
rots wiU grow well, and the crop at Gardsjo has yielded 200
tunna to the tunnland.
The clover and artificial grass crops are excellent, and as
there is in this country no rich old natural meadow-grass as
in England, it is the standard hay crop. The usual seed
sown is white and red clover and Timothy grass mixed,
30 lb. to the tunnland, sown on rye or wheat in the spring,
often on the top of the snow (very rarely on oats). A real
good crop wiU yield as much as 10 loads to the tunnland,
but they often get much less. The price of a load of
such h^y weighing 400 lb. will be from 7 to 9 rqr. I have
known it even higher. The usual price of oat straw is 51s.,
and of rye straw 31s. per load of 400 lb.

AGEICULTUEE. 155
The natural meadow grass growing by the sides of the
rivers, lakes, and swamps, is coarse and rough. I have
seen the poorer farmers cut rauch of the rough hedge grass,
and even the buU-rushes, right out of the lakes and rivers
for their cows in the winter. They also collect many birch
branches in the summer, and stack them as -winter food for
the sheep.
Except on an occasional gentleman's estate, you rarely
see a stack of corn ; all is stored in large barns. In fact,
there are very few Swedish farraers in a position to hold
their com in stacks, and generally they have to drive it frora
the field to the thrashing machine at once.
Of course as cattle cannot be out during the -winter, a
straw yard weU fiUed with store oxen is never seen.
The usual rotation of crops is : — 1st. A dead faUow,
followed by rye or wheat, sown in August on land properly
manured. 2nd. Grass and clover so-wn in the spring ; this
will stand always two years, and give a good crop ; some
times they let it stand even four years. 3rd. Oats. 4th.
Oats or barley. 5th. Oats and tares. 6th. A bare faUow,
and then rye again.
One of the greatest disadvantages to the Swedish farmer
is the want of regular country markets, where he can meet
his friends as in England, chat over the state of the crops,
and sell his grain. It is true there are fairs two or three
times a year in every town, where they seU their cattle, but
if a man has a good supply of corn to sell, he must either
ship it himself to Gothenburg, or seU it to a commissioner
in the country, who is employed by some Gothenburg
corndealer to buy up on commission. As there is only
about one such in each district, and the sa-ving of land car
riage is a great object to the farmer, who is generally too
poor to hold his com, he is often obliged to sell at the
buyer's price. The poor peasant drives his little loads of
com, or other produce into the towns, where it is bought up
by the small shopkeepers, and its sale being all he has to
depend upon for the Uttle necessaries of life, he is obhged to
seU at any price ; and as the keg always stands invitingly in

156 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the corner of the shop to wet the bargain, the buyer has
by long odds the best of it.
It always struck me that too many hands are employed
on the farms here. I knew a farm of about 260 acres of
open land, and the number of days' work in the year done
on that farm araounted to 3600. There were 40 cattle
in the byre, besides the farm horses. Now at the rate of
300 days work in the year, this would be the same as if 12
hands were daily employed on the farm throughout the year.
Surely this raust have been far too many, if every one did a
good day's work.
One great drawback to the Swedish farmer in the mid
land districts is the shortness of the suramer, especiaUy in
such a year as 1864, when the spring was so late. Not a
plough could be put into the ground tUl the middle of May,
and the first thing that had to be done then, was to get the
oats and potatoes in. The winter faUow was just as it lay ia
November. This had all to be prepared, manured, ploughed,
and the rye sown by the middle of August, when the harvest
woiUd begin, and in aU probabiUty not a stroke of out-door
work could be done on the farm in the way of ploughing
after October. So it wUl be seen that, except drawing
dung, all the out-door work of the farm must be done in
about five months. They are bound to work hard in the
summer, but the work is generally behindhand.
We have Uttle idea in England what an immense expense
and trouble, the keeping up the fires in a Swedish gentle
man's country house, entails upon the occupier. At Gardsjo,
which being a farming school was of course a large estabhsh
ment, 400 fathoms of firewood were consumed yearly. It
is true the occupier got this for nothing out of his forest,
but the expense of cutting, splitting, etc., was no trifle.
They reckoned that 1200 days' work at 9d. per day would
be occupied in the year, in providing firing only. Had the
occupier been obliged to buy, he must have paid about
6 rqr. per fathom.
The Swedish peasants in general farra their own estates,
and notwithstanding that they will stick to the old-fi

THE SWEDISH PEASANT. 157
ioned ways and implements of their forefathers, and most
resolutely set their faces against aU iraproveraents and inno
vations, they always manage to raake a good living, and
often, by sheer hard work and extreme stinginess, to save a
Uttle money. They certainly are in fact the mainstay of
the country.
The real Swedish peasant, or "bonde," is an ori
ginal. I have heard it observed that a Yorkshireman is
the hardest study of man — not even barring a Scotchraan, —
and that a Yorkshire farraer " out-Herods even Herod."
For a Yorkshire farmer read " Swedish peasant." I had
the pleasure of U-ving with a peasant for a year, to whora I
paid 1 rqr. per day for my board and lodging ; and I never
wish to repeat the experiment. I had then a good oppor
tunity of studying their character, and their household
econoray. Their stinginess is past aU belief, and rix-doUars
their sleeping and waking thoughts. I never could find the
real key to their hearts, except by branvin. Next to branvin,
a bit of tobacco is the best ; and no raan whose business Ues
much among the peasants, should be without a roU of tobacco
and a bottle of brandy, for they -will do much for these that
they wiU never do for money. Like a pinch of snuff among
the Scotch, or a whiff of the short dudeen among the Irish,
a quid of tobacco and a dram, is the best introduction to a
Swedish peasant. His nectar is bran-vin; and it has this
great advantage in his eye, that he can manage to get com
fortably drunk on it for 6d. The real old-fashioned peasant
is often a heavy drinker and a heavy swearer. But for all
this, he is industrious and hard-working, honest as times go,
and, after aU, there is something to my fancy very sterling
and genuine in the character of the true " bonde " of the
North. He is always civil, friendly, and weU-disposed ;
kind, I beUeve, at heart ; and even when in his cups, far
less boisterous than his counterpart in our own country.
He is proverbially inquisitive, very chatty (it is wonderful
what shrewd reraarks he often makes) and fond of asking
questions, but easily satisfied with any answer you may
choose to give him; and although covetous after money.

158 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
it is surprising how far he will go to serve you for a trifle.
It is better to be careful in deaUng with them, and, above
all, let ready-money on either side, form the basis of the con
tracts. You need never try to drive one of them out of his
regular beaten track. If you want anything done for you,
you raust let him do it after his own fashion ; but one thing
you may always depend upon, it -wUl be done. He is always
very civil ; touches his cap when he meets you, with an open,
hearty frankness, that shows he is wUUng to form a good
acquaintance with you at once. He is often, however,
exceedingly ser-vUe to those who have a larger handle to then"
names than himself, and scrupulously addresses every one
by his titles. Titles are much more in fashion here even
than in England, and I have read a notice of the death of
some old officers in a Swedish paper, in which the titles
alone have occupied six Unes. I was once shooting with an
English friend, and the peasant who was with me did not at
first seem to be at aU at his ease. At last he called me on
one side, and begged to know how he should " style" my
friend, if he spoke to him. "Oh," I said, "'Baron'
is good enough for him." And ray friend was highly
deUghted throughout the day with his new title, which
the peasant took care not to omit whenever he addressed
him. Fattening cattle for the butcher seems hardly to pay;
at least, it is not the fashion. They are -wretched butchers.
The way in which the bullocks are slaughtered is bar
barous in the extrerae, and I am certain I have seen a
calf or pig nearly a quarter of an hour in agony before
it died. There is some capital beef, however, in Gothen
burg. This is probably to suit the tastes of the North Sea
skippers, who set the English fashions in this little seaport,
and in some of the gentlemen's houses, I have tasted an
excellent round of beef. It is an open question -with me
whether it would not be a good speculation for an Enghsh
cattle-dealer to buy up a hundred or so of the Swedish oxen,
at about three years old, send them over to England, and
give them a year's run to get them fit for the butcher. I

CATTLE. 159
have seen some very big-framed oxen here, and I suppose
for £10 a head, a cattle-dealer could pick up as many as he
pleased. But the beef which is principally used in the coun
try to-wns is slaughtered by the peasants, brought in, and sold
ih the open markets. This is really what our sailors would
call " old horse," for it is chiefly either from worn-out oxen
or cows past milking. Such beef is worth about 2-i-d.
a lb. The calves are generally kiUed a day old, and such
veal, which you might almost suck up through a quill, is
worth about 2d. a lb. I wonder what nutriment there
can be in such stuff as this. You never, in a town, see a
clean butcher's shop ; and any one who has been used to
the neat appearance of the butchers' shops in any English
town, -wiU indeed be disgusted to see the carcases which
are brought into the markets in the peasants' carts. The
pork, however, is exceUent, although the Swedish peasant's
pig, when living, is about as unclean and nasty an animal to
look at, as can well be imagined. A fat pig of about
twelve months' old should weigh, when slaughtered, above
400 lb., and I have seen the sheep here of EngUsh race
weigh in the carcase 60 to 70 lb. Mutton is perhaps worth
3d. per lb. ; and pork, 6s. for the 20 lb. In the country
every famUy kill their own meat, and October stands in the
almanack as " Slagt manad," or slaughtering month. Every
part of the animal seems to be used up, and the blood is
much reUshed. These blood puddings are the only things
I could never stand.
It is strange, considering that butter and mUk are two
of the staple commodities of the country, and so much of
both are used, mUk forraing one of the principal articles
of food, especially among the lower classes, that the cows are
not better looked after. The peasant who does not keep
a cow is considered poor indeed. On some of the gentle
men's estates, it is true, we now and then see a very well
built and clean airy cow-house, but in general the cow-
byres are low, dark, and dirty, and the cows sharaefuUy
done by ; they have hardly a handful of Utter to stand on,
and nothing to eat in the -winter save straw. In the middle

160 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
of Sweden they are brought into the house, about the end of
October, and rarely leave it again tUl the middle of May.
During the summer they pasture in the forests and grass
lands, and during the -winter the principal food is rye straw
with a little hay. They often have no Utter to stand on, and
generaUy nothing but the bare boards to lie on, -with per
haps the luxury of a little saw-dust sprinkled over them.
The race of cows pecuUar to the country are small, hardy
Uttle animals, and the general yield of milk among the
peasants' cows is probably 300 kanna, or about 200 Enghsh
gallons per year. But by those who look upon the cow in a
proper Ught as nothing more than a " milking machine,"
which will give a return only in proportion to its food, be
that good or bad, the cows are better tended, better fed,
and the yearly returns of mUk, of course, proportionaUy
greater. At Gardsjo, where the cows are of the small
Swedish race, the quantity of mUk given in 1862 by 26 cows
was 16,566 kanna, whereof 19 cows produced 12,160, or 640
kanna each. At Warpnas, another dairy farm in the neigh
bourhood, — a much better paying farm, — where the cows
are of the large Ayrshire race, the average retum of milk
for each cow, was 926 kanna in the year. It is very doubt
ful, however, whether on such an estate as Gardsjo these
Ayrshire cows would have done better than the httle
Swedish cows, certainly not on the same keep. About £4
may be taken as the usual price of an in-calf heifer in the
country. MUk, new, -with the cream on, in the country,
may be quoted at 3d. a kanna; skimmed mUk, 2d.;
butter, 6d. to Is. a lb., according to the time of year, and
cheese at all prices according to quaUty, from 2d. to 9d.
These prices, however, do notTule the markets in the towns,
and a man who happens to have a dairy within an easy dis
tance from a to-wn, always finds it a profitable speculation.
In the state the land is now, I am convinced the little
Swedish cows are best for the Swedish farraer ; but as agri
culture iraproves, and they begin to turn their attention
more to stall feeding, a judicious importation of large Enghsh
breed -wiU, of course, improve the present race.

SHEEP— HOESES. 161
The sheep have, however, been much improved by crosses
with Che-viots and Leicesters, and considering the price of
wool, the immense quantity that is annually required here
for warm winter clothing, to say nothing of the vast supe
riority of a good juicy bit of mutton, over a tough old cow,
or a two days' old calf, I much wonder that sheep farming
is not more generally attended to. It is true, that in
the raiddle of the country, they raust be under shelter for at
least six months out of the twelve, and although, of course,
at this time they should be weU fed, during all the rest of
the year, they can always get a good picking in the woods
and plantations, round about the home farra. But as agricul
ture iraproves, doubtless this source of profit to the farmer wUl
not be neglected. You rarely see a goat further south than
North Werraland, and I wondered I saw none in Lapland.
The Swedish horses are compact, docUe, hardy little
feUows, showing no great breeding, but well adapted for the
climate and roads, and like the cows, they can rough it upon
any fare, and in any quarters. They average from four
teen to fifteen hands, and though you often see larger,
I like the small breed best. The carts they draw are smaU,
and well suited to the roads and country. Doubtless if our
large EngUsh carts and horses could be introduced into the
country, the farmers would get through their work quicker
and better ; but I do not beUeve our large horses would
stand either the cliraate or the roads, except, perhaps, just
in the very south, — certainly not with the keep and atten
tion the little Swedish horse gets ; and instead of trusting
too much to foreign aid to improve their breed of cattle,
I should recomraend the Swedish farraer to do raore justice
to his o-wn breed, which must be better adapted to his
country. Not that I -wish, for a moraent, to check enterprise
and improvement, but in farming an ounce of practice is,
above all things, worth a pound of theory, and we must
bear in mind that what wiU suit one country, will not suit
another, and an injudicious introduction of foreign customs
and cattle, instead of tending to improve the native system,
may have quite a contrary effect. 11

162 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Horses are dear in Sweden, and certainly would never
pay for importing to England, except in extraordinary
instances. Fifteen pounds is about the price of a useful
country nag, such as we should see in a butcher's or green
grocer's cart in England, but without the style. The Swedes,
however, are not an equestrian nation, and riding on
horseback is not fashionable here, for except among the
mUitary, or an occasional to-wn sweU, you rarely see a
Swedish gentleman " outside a horse." The miUtary seat
is in vogue, and as there is no racing or cross country
work in this country, when you do see a man riding, he
always appears to be trying to distress and take as much
out of his horse as he can. Our firm, neat, short, English
cross country seat and style of riding, where the rider
tries to save his horse as much as possible, is not under
stood, and of course not being understood is ridiculed.
One of these stiff bumping style of riders always appears
to me to be doing a bit of penance, and in a great state of
raisery. I never saw what we should consider a real good trotter
in Sweden, and although they brag much of the Norwegian
horses, I do not beUeve there are many, if they were fairly
timed, that could do an English mile, even running (for they
do not trot fairly), under the three minutes. It is true that
" Rattler " was imported into England from Sweden, but he
was brought first from America to Gothenburg. I have
seen in print, that the best Norwegian trotters have been
red. " Slepnar Varg," who trotted 1200 feet in thirty-five
seconds, and " Myers Rappo " were red. " Erick Milvolds," a
stalUon, which trotted 1800 feet in sixty- two seconds, was
red ; and also " Valders Trafnare," which in 1835, was sold to
a Swede for 500 specie doUars (2000 rqr. Swedish), was red;
and afterwards sold, they say, which I much doubt, to Louis
Napoleon for 30,000 francs. One Norwegian mUe is equal
to seven EngUsh mUes and eighty yards, and 100 Norwegian
pounds to 112 English. Thirty and three-twenty-thirds
Norwegian feet are equal to thirty-one EngUsh. Now
assuming that these distances were correctly measured and

POULTEY— TAXES. 163
properly timed, which there is no reason to doubt, and
allowing 5,416 feet Swedish to be equal to an EngUsh mile,
and the Norwegian foot is not much longer, we shall
find that "Erick MUvold," going the rate of 1800 feet
in sixty-two seconds, even if he had kept up the same
pace for a mUe, would not have covered raore than the
EngUsh mUe in about three minutes; so he could hardly
have held a candle to the American cracks "Peerless,"
" Plying Cloud," or " Lady Flora," or even to sorae English
cracks, which I am not too old to have forgotten, and among
thera my own Uttle favourite "Miss Kitty." But in a
country where no prizes are given for corapetition, it is
hardly worth whUe one man trying to have a better horse
than another. StUl Norwegian horses are rauch thought of
in Sweden, and " Oh he's of Norsk race " is a wonderful
recommendation from a Swedish dealer.
Domestic poultry is hardly so much looked after in the
country as it should be, when we consider that a score
of eggs at Christmas wiU, in many towns, fetch Is. 6d.
Peacocks, turkeys, geese, ducks, and fowls, pigeons and
tame rabbits, -will aU thrive in South Wermland.
The taxes on the farraer appear to be very raoderate ;
I, however, did not pay them, and I have heard the
men who did so, complain bitterly. All the relief of the
poor in the country is out-door, and the poor-rates are
levied in grain in our district, after this fashion : — Early
in spring an auction is held, to which aU aged and helpless
paupers are brought, in order to be let for the year : each
pauper is put up to bidding, after the manner of a Dutch
auction, to see who wUl take and keep him or her for a
year, at the lowest price, and a good deal of speculation
often goes on among the assembled farmers. A helpless
old pauper, out of whom they can get no work, wiU probably
let out for eight tunna of oats for the year, while one who
appears to have some Uttle work left in him, wiU be taken
for much less. The man who hires him of course has to
keep and clothe him for the year. I have heard that the
best speculation is in helpless old women, because they

164 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
cannot get about to beg. This yearly quota of grain is
di-vided among the several farmers in the district. Ihave heard
this practise rauch condemned, and it certainly does appear
to be a kind of traffic in huraan flesh. I cannot, how
ever, see what other plan could be adopted in this thinly
populated country, where the houses are so wide apart, and
there are no unions or district workhouses as in England ;
and raoreover very few are so utterly destitute as to have
no relation or acquaintance who -wiU take him or her, so
the system, I consider, works very fairly.
Besides, I reaUy believe the Swedish peasant is generally
kindly disposed towards the poor and unfortunate, and these
poor old bodies are perhaps quite as kindly treated as the
paupers in our English unions, and they certainly are
rauch freer. I often used to stumble upon these old boys dur
ing my summer rambles in the forest, where they regularly
waylaid me for a Uttle bit of tobacco, which was aU they
appeared to want. There is certainly, however, something
rather raelancholy in the reflection that one can hve long
enough to be of no use to any one, and have to be hawked
about to the end of the journey, to see who -will keep us for
the lowest price. These old men are called " root-grubbers,"
and soraetiraes they are not let out for the whole year to one
farmer, but aU the farraers in the parish, if their holdings
are small, take one or two of them in tum; they thus
travel round the -village with their swag, Uve a week or
so with one farmer, do a Uttle bit of work, then are passed
on to the next, and so on. When I lodged with the afore
said peasant, we had one very nice old root-grubber who
used to pay us flying -visits. He was a good-looking, quiet
old man, of near sixty, who had seen better days, and
showed it by his subdued air. StUl he never complained.
The first tirae I saw him was I recoUect at Christmas, a time
when of all others, the houseless and friendless are most to
be pitied. " Res est sacra miser," says the old Latin poet,
or in plain English, a person in affliction is a sacred thing;
and never was a more beautiful sentiment uttered in any
language. I was determined that for one night at least the

THE PEASANTEY. 165
poor old boy should forget his loneliness, and I took care
that he had his share of the bottle, which in Sweden is never
empty at this festive season. On bidding the old feUow
good night, I slipped a rix-doUar into his hand, and his joy
¦was unbounded. I asked him what he meant to do with it,
and hardly cared to hear his answer, as I felt pretty con-
¦vinced in my own mind that a roU of tobacco, or a bottle of
finkel, was all he would think of. But no such thing.
" Now," he said, " I can buy a new psalm-book," and,
fumbUng in his pocket, he puUed out a little book of hymns,
which was so dUapidated as to be fairly dropping to pieces.
This Uttle book, probably aU his earthly riches, had
been this poor man's sole companion in his cheerless wan
derings, his solace in many a bitter trial. There was no
cant here ; no vain display for the sake of exciting compas
sion. It was evident that this book had been well studied,
for he pressed me to hear him read a simple Uttle hymn,
which as he said was the raost beautiful in it. When 1
went upstairs into my own room, and looked at my Ubrary
of many volumes, I wondered which of us had derived the
most real pleasure frora our studies — rayself with a library
worth raany pounds, or this poor old wanderer with a
single volurae worth perhaps a shiUing, but which single
volume told him hourly, in language which cannot err, that
if aU his friends in this world forsake him, the poor raan
has stUl one true Friend left, who wUl never desert him, let
the world frown on him as it may.

CHAPTER IV.
On the Swedish Meld Sports and Eishing, which will equaUy apply fo Norway,
save as regards the Localities.
Although no country in Europe can be better adapted by
nature, for the habits of nearly every species of wild game,
bird, and animal, (and the following Ust of Scandinavian game
will prove to the reader that Sweden is as rich, if not richer
than most other European countries in this respect), I can
safely say that I have never yet shot in any country, where I
have found so much difficulty in making a reaUy heavy bag
of game as in Sweden, save just in the very wilds of Lapland.
And bad as the sporting now is generally throughout the
country, and especially in the populated districts, it is every
year becoming worse, owing to the laxity of the game laws
and the destruction of the forests. This may be accounted
for in many ways, especially as regards the feathered

In the first place, the severity of the weather and the
lateness of the springs in the midland and northem districts,
very frequently entirely destroy the early clutches of eggs,
and if the second clutches are hatched off, the young birds
are always sraall and very backward, and the chicks are
easUy shot off, by the pot-hunting sportsman, when the
early season comes in.
Secondly, the whole country is overrun -with vermin.
Foxes, martens, weasels, stoats, and thousands of eagles,'
falcons, hawks, owls, ravens, and crows, wage a continual
war throughout the whole year on the birds or eggs.
Thirdly, the game laws, as they now stand, are very badly
framed, and worse observed. The season for shooting every

GAME LAWS. 167
kind of game begins too early. Scarcely any country gen
tleman will go to one shUling expense in the preservation
of game. Nearly every peasant is an arrant poacher in
heart as well as in practice ; and as long as gentlemen wUl
continue to buy game at aU seasons of the year, without
asking any questions, the peasants will continue to shoot it
whenever they have a chance. I think I need not give any
more reasons, why game should be scarce in Sweden or
Norway. StiU if a proper code of game laws were framed, and
well observed, a good stock of game might soon be got and
kept up at very Uttle trouble and expense, for the whole
country abounds in localities, and food, fitted for every
species of European game ; but never untU a certain tax, say
20 rqr. per year, is levied upon every one who carries a gun,
for the purpose of shooting game. This would be no hard
ship, for any raan who could afford to give up his tirae to
shoot for pleasure, could afford to pay a sraaU tax, and every
one who shoots for profit, should by all raeans pay for it.
A small tax is now very properly laid upon every dog.
This varies in different provinces, but is nowhere more than
5 rqr. per year ; and this does not go to the crown, but is
appUed towards the maintenance of the poor of the parish,
or however else the parishioners think proper. This has
already done an immense deal of good in many districts,
and some hundreds of poaching curs have been destroyed
throughout the country.
There is at present no Ucence required for shooting in
any part of Scandinavia. The fine for trespassing varies so
much in different districts, that it is impossible to give an
idea of the sum a trespasser wUl have to pay if caught, but
I believe one universal sum wUl soon be adopted. On
some estates it will be as high as 50 rqr., in others not
more than 5 rqr. It is always better for a stranger to
ask leave before he sets foot on any raan's land; for
although he may not be caught, yet if he be, any pro
prietor or woodwatcher has a right to seize his gun, dogs,
or tackle, which are held over in pawn tiU the fine.

168 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
whatever it is, has been paid. And should the trespasser
resist, the fine -wUl be hea-vy, and he -wUl be put to a great
deal of trouble.
There are no regular gamekeepers in Sweden, as in Eng.
land. On every estate there is a " skop vaktare," or wood
watcher, who has to look over the forests as weU as
the game ; and his time is too fuUy occupied with the timber
to devote much to the game. There is a head Grown
" Jagare " in every province, appointed by the Cro-wn ; but
except in the appointment of "skalls," I never heard that
they did much in the way of preserving the game. In fact,
Sweden, on account of the scarcity of the people and the
immense tract of wild land which nobody looks after, is a
very difficult country to preserve. Still I know no country
where a better show of game might be kept up, if only
proper means were adopted, and the wholesale destruction
of the old birds in the breeding season, and the young birds
before they can well fly, were prevented. The guns in gene
ral use among the peasants are of the most primitive
description, and in the northern forests a shot gun is scarcely
ever seen. A sraall pea rifle of the coarsest manufacture is
used for all species of game, and it is wonderful vrith what
accuracy these peasants shoot. The Swedish powder is in
general sad rubbish, and as the ginger-bread German caps
are in use also, the birds, if fairly on the wing, stand a
far better chance than in England. You do not often meet
with here what we should call a crack shot, although I
raust say I have seen some Swedes shoot remarkably well;
but a peasant rarely tries a flying shot. The northem
sportsmen invariably shoot with shot two to three sizes
larger, than we use in England. Almost all load with paper
instead of wadding ; and as a shooter's powder-flask and
shot-pouch are always stowed away in a game-bag, and as
these are generally on the old draw-out principle, loading is
a matter of sorae tirae. I once had the curiosity to time a
peasant loading a single gun, and the operation occupied
just eight minutes. They are much cleverer here at running,
than flying shots. There is scarcely a good gunmaker in

GUNS— ACCIDENTS— POINTEES. 169
Sweden, and the guns used by the gentlemen are often
of the worst German manufacture. I am certain that a
good working English gunsmith could get a very fair U-ving
in Gothenburg. Some of the old Swedish barrels are excel
lent ; but as every coraraon smith can knock up a peasant's
gun for from 10 to 12 rqr., we cannot wonder that sorae
very curious tools are turned out. I recollect such a gun
bursting in the hands of a peasant near us, and when I
examined the barrel, the breech-plug was stuck in like a
cork, -without the shadow of a screw. When this man was
taken to the surgeon at Carlstad, he said that it was the ninth
accident of the kind he had attended during the last six
weeks ; at least, so the peasant told me. In everything
relating to game, and shooting, the Swedes may be fairly said
to be at least fifty years behind the EngUsh. The sports
men you generaUy meet out, are sadly careless -with their
guns, and as every boy of ten years old, or thereabouts,
carries a gun, I only wonder that fatal and serious accidents
are not much more common. Strange to say, I could hardly
ever persuade a Swedish sportsman to adopt a real old-
fashioned English shooting-coat and highlows. A long
frock-coat and Ught Wellington boots drawn over the
trousers, and a leather game-bag to hold everything, indis
criminately mixed, is the sporting dress in fashion out
here. But a very great improvement in all matters relating to
shooting, has been introduced into the North within the last
fifteen years. Still, although almost every man and boy
shoots a little, there is not rauch really enthusiastic sporting
feeling in any class, and few will go to expense in pre
serving. Some very decent pointers and setters can be bought in
the south of Sweden, of EngUsh breed, and at about English
prices. They are all broken in the French language, and
one of the greatest faults they have, in my opinion, is that
they are for everlasting drawing on their game. Distemper
is as common among dogs here as in England, but it takes
a rather different form. Madness is, I fancy, rare; but the

170 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
regulations respecting looee dogs in the towns, are very
stringent during the summer season. I have observed a
rather curious trick with old pointers out here, which I never
saw in England. If they find their game at a distance from,
or out of sight of, the shooter, they wUl come back from the
point, and, standing on a rock or hUl -within sight, bark to
fetch bim up ; and this is very useful on these rocky moors.
The Swedish-made powder is generally wretched stuff,
and I never yet could meet with any, even of the best quahty,
cleaner and stronger than our EngUsh F. F. This costs
about 2s. a lb. EngUsh powder may be pi'ocured in
Gothenburg at 4s. a lb. Formerly the import was for
bidden, now the duty is very trifling. No caps except
German rubbish can be obtained in the country. Very fair
shot can be bought anywhere at about 3d. a lb. Any
English sportsman -visiting the North, must not neglect to
bring over his powder, caps, and spare nipples, and all his
English fishing tackle, with him, for although a new shop has
been lately opened in Gothenburg, where aU kinds of fishing
tackle can be bought at about EngUsh prices, the man com
ing from England should never trust to these.
The artificial bait is in general use for spinning here, as
it saves trouble. But the fish have already begun "to
tumble " to them in the waters where they are most in use,
and wUl hardly look at them now. I fish very Uttle ; but ii
I do, I never use any other bait than a small roach or
large bleak, spun upon a flight of three casts of treble
hooks. I may mention that the spoon bait which the
Araericans claim as a modern invention, has been in use
among the Swedish peasants, for more than half a century.
The blade of an old tin spoon, with a large single hook
soldered on to the thin end, and a rude swivel attached to
the broad end, is the pattern. Use triangle hooks the
size of those recommended by Mr. PenneU in his art of
" Spinning for Pike," but by no means adopt his fashion of
flight. Perhaps we are all very stupid out here, but I never
found a man yet who' could spin a bait properly with it,
and we tried to copy his pattern exactly. Nothing beats a

EISHING TACKLE. 171
ffight of three treble hooks on gimp for pike, on twisted gut
two or three sizes sraaUer, for salmon and lake trout. Use
no lip hook, but sew the mouth of the bait round the gimp
or gut. Any fishing tackle maker -will furnish this pattern ;
but mind that the bottom hooks which curve the taU of the
bait, are whipped pretty close into the bend of the next
triangle, or the tail wiU never keep its bend. This is a
fault I almost invariably remark, in aU the flights of spinning
hooks I have seen come out of the shops. We generally
whip our hooks for the flight, into about ten inches of gimp
or gut, and to the end of this, loop the first swivel, not too
small. I like then a trace of treble gut, or strong gimp for
heavy fish, about two to three feet long, with two swivels to
loop out the main line, which I would always recomraend to be
of good plaited hair, and from eighty to one hundred yards in
length. It is not easy to give directions about leads, for they
vary so much -with the depth and s-wiftness of the stream. It is
always best to find out some fisherman who is used to fishing
the particular water, and he wUl show his leads. I have
seen men use nearly one pound of lead, when fishing some of
the strearas in the south of the Wener, and in our inland
lakes, especiaUy in the summer, I have caught best with
scarcely one ounce. A stiff twelve foot three, jointed rod
¦with a spare top or two, and lots of large standing rings on
it, is the best kind when a rod is used ; but when ro-wing
round the grass in boat-fishing for pike, by the side of a river
or lake, a much easier and simpler plan is adopted ; instead
of a rod, use a wooden winder or reel, round which the line
of about forty to fifty yards is wound. This the fisherman,
who sits in the stem of the boat, holds in his hand, or even
sticks in a hole made in the gunwale of the boat, letting
the line, to which are attached his bait and leads, run
out behind the boat, while the rower puUs gently and
quietly round the lake, or by the side of buUrushes, where
the pike always Ue. The fisherman feels directly he has
a bite, and hauls the fish up at once. This is really the
laziest kind of fishing, biffc it has this advantage — the tackle
is very portable ; and if an artificial bait is used, there is no

172 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
trouble whatever. And as during the summer, one is much
on the water in this country, it is just as well to have such
a bait hanging at the end of your boat as not. Large trout
are often also taken in this way, and I have caught perch
above four pounds ; but the real trout or salmon fisher will
always spin his bait with a rod, and use a natural bleak
when he can get it. I may mention that in all the lakes
and rivers in the interior, spinning is almost the only kind of
fishing adopted, and a good spinner with proper tackle, will
be able to catch lake trout, pike, jack, and perch, in any
waters where they are to be found. A fly rod and tackle
may be taken as an accompaniment, but aU the hea-vy work
will be done by spinning ; and I may add that half the
success of the fisherman wUl depend upon his boat, and the
man who rows him ; for raost of the fishing in the interior
has to be done from a boat.
Every lake and river is full of perch, and the common
EngUsh fresh water fish, and the bottom fisher wiU find as
much sport as in England, in almost any water here. There
fore I need say no more, than that his good EngUsh tackle
will be all that he wUl require, and a smaU punt, at about
a cost of 16s., which he can manage himself, -wUl render him
independent, and afford him many a quiet hour's amusement
wherever he is stationed.
I shall have a few more words to say respecting fishing
at the end of this chapter ; but as what Ihave written above
is indispensable for the fisherman to know before starting,
I thought it best to put it in, at the beginning of the
chapter, where it will have more chance of being read.
The reader will find further on in this chapter, a Ust of
both game birds and aniraals met with in Sweden, with
the locaUties which they frequent, and a little information ,
respecting the methods adopted for, their capture. I shall
here, therefore, only state briefly that when a man is once
settled in the country, he will have no difficulty in obtain
ing shooting and fishing in almost any district, but he
must make up his mind to be content with moderate
sport. The best and wildest shooting is certainly to be

SHOOTING. 173
obtained in the neighbourhood of the great dividing fell
range between Sweden and Norway. I do not suppose
it would matter rauch, on which side he was stationed. I
should of course prefer the Swedish side as knowing the
country best, and I fancy the sportsman will find things
far cheaper, and the peasants less exorbitant, and more
accommodating in Sweden, than in Norway. He -wiU require
to be up as far as 62° north lat. at least, before
he will reach any of the true feUs for ptarmigan. In the
north of DalecarUa, and on the feUs towards the Norwegian
frontier, every species both of furred and feathered game
peculiar to Sweden, except perhaps partridges, are to be met
with, and trout and char fishing in every lake and stream. The
whole south of Sweden up to about 59° is rauch raore open,
and the forests much smaller, than when we reach Werra
land. There is exceUent partridge and black garae shooting
in raany parts, and the English sportsman may here enjoy
some good open shooting to his pointers or setters, which
he cannot do much further north.
The Island of Gotland would, I fancy, be an exceUent
station for the sportsman, and the snipe and woodcock
shooting there is exceUent. The double snipe breeds there,
and it has been reckoned, at a rough calculation, that about
200 birds are yearly kUled at the present day on this island.
A sportsman from that island, -writing in the " Swedish
Sporting Magazine," says that the greatest number of
comraon snipe which he has known to fall to one gun in
one moor, was nineteen, in five hours shooting, but this
gives us scarcely any idea of what the shooting really is there.
The same writer observes, respecting the woodcock, that
probably every spring 1000 woodcocks visit this island for the
purpose of breeding. Of these he reckons at least one-third
are shot, before and during the early breeding season
while "reading." If we now refiect that the remaining
two-thirds are scattered over about twenty square miles
(300,000 tunnland) it is easy to guess, that the sportsman
may beat over a good deal of ground without flushing many
cocks. The woods on Gotland are beautifully adapted for

174 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
woodcock and black game shooting to a pointer, for they
are principally composed of fir trees quite free from branches
till long up the trunk, with a luxuriant under growth of
high thick heather. The island is interspersed with open
marshes or mosses, affording excellent localities for all
species of waders. There is good coast shooting aU round
the island, and capital duck shooting both inland and out
at sea. There is plenty of partridge shooting on the island,
and the cUraate is so mild, that now and then woodcocks
reraain there throughout- the winter. Living is cheap,
the people are kind and friendly ; it is altogether a most
interesting island, and I know no part of Sweden which I
would prefer to Gotland for a year's residence. It may be
reached easily from Stockholm by steamer.
The Swedish game laws are undergoing alteration,
and, -will, I think, in future, be much raore strictly
observed than heretofore. In aU probabUity the fol
lowing wiU be a synopsis of the new Swedish game
laws. BUcs are only to be lawfully shot in August and Septem
ber, and the season is to close before the pairing season,
which takes place early in October. The fine for kUhng
an elk out of season to be about £15, besides £5 to the
owner of the land on which the elk is killed. It is the
custom in sorae of the northern forests, to kUl the elks with
a sort of natural bow and arrow, formed of a young tree
bent across the forest ride. This is very dangerous for
horses and other cattle, ahd these " Elg Ledar," as they
are caUed, are to be prohibited under a fine of £50.
The season for capercailUe, roedeer, wUd reindeer,
hares, black game/ hazel grouse and wUlow grouse, to
comraence on the 10th August, and close on the 15th
March. For partridges from the 20th August, to the 1st Novem
ber. I cannot see why partridge shooting should commence
earUer in Sweden than in England, and it might very well
last tUl December, for very Uttle snow faUs in the south of
Sweden, before that month.

GAME LAWS— WILD ANIMALS. 175
Por swans, comraon wUd ducks, eider, and double snipes
(why woodcocks and common snipe should not be protected
I cannot see), from the 10th July, to the 15th March.
The eggs of all the above-named birds are to be pro
tected. The fine for kUling any of the above-mentioned
game, except elk, or buying it out of season, to be|from
10s. to £10.
No dogs to be used for hunting in the forest from the
15th March to the 10th August, except for bear, wolf, lynx,
or glutton. If these laws are only properly observed, in a few years'
time, we may expect to see as good -wild shooting in Sweden
as any country in Europe, for nothing keeps the stock of
game do-wn in this country, so much as the total and wanton
disregard of the laws relating to its preservation.
The fine for trespass wiU probably hereafter be from
10s. to £5.
These laws wUl only relate to Sweden, not Norway. I
do not, however, see how game can be protected, unless
regular game-keepers are appointed on every estate.
The Ust of animals pursued either for sport or profit in
Sweden includes the foUowing : — The bear, wolf, elk, rein
deer, roedeer, lynx, glutton, otter, marten, badger, fox,
Arctic fox, hare, squirrel.
The red deer is occasionaUy raet with, according to
NUsson, in some of the forests in Skane and Western Got
land, and I believe also on the west coast of Norway; but it
is certainly so rare that I cannot include it in ray Ust. I
never either saw or heard of one being kiUed in Sweden.
Here and there a fallow deer may be seen tame in a park in
the south, but they were never wild in Sweden.
The beaver may be said now, to be entirely rooted out of
all parts of Sweden, except the very north. Sorae few,
however, stiU remain in the -wUds of Lapland and Finmark,
for between the years 1857 and 1860, 67 beavers werekUled
up towards the North Cape.
The Ust of feathered game wUl include the capercaiUie,
black grouse, hazel grouse, ptarmigan, willow grouse, par-

176 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
tridge, quail, woodcock, great snipe, common snipe. Jack
snipe, land rail, coramon -wild duck, teal, widgeon ; and
some others, such as swans, geese, diving ducks, golden
plover, and waders.
The Bear. — As I never killed a bear myself, or even joined
once in a " skaU," I can give the reader very little infor
mation, respecting the chase of the bear. But there are
plenty of them stUl, up in the forests of North Wermland
and Dalecarlia. I do not suppose that a man who really
meant bear-hunting, would have . any difficulty in kiUing
three or four in the winter, with the assistance of one of the
professional bear-hunters who Uve up here. But in the first
place he must remember that to follow the chase of the
bear here in the winter, it is absolutely necessary that he
should be able to run on " skidor," or the long snow-skates
which the Laplanders use. He cannot do anything without
them, so his first lesson in bear-hunting will most probably
be his most difficult one. These snow-skates are from
twelve to fourteen feet. long, about as broad as a man's foot,
and turned up at the point. The foot is stuck in two loops
in the middle of the " skidor," and the wearer shoves him
self along, first one leg, and then the other, over the snow,
keeping himself on the balance with a pointed stick (which
cannot sink in, o-wing to a round shield placed about eight
inches up it) . When the snow is well frozen, and a man
can run weU on skidor, it must be a delightful mode of tra
velling, for then there is no necessity to lift the feet from
the ground, but to keep gliding along over the frozen sur
face ; but when the snow is in a bad state it is trou'^jlesome,
and very laborious work, for the leg has to be Ufted at each
step, and the weight of the skidor is considerable. However,
no man can do anything at all in the northern forest or up
in Lapland during the winter, without the skidor, so it is al
important that a sportsman who really means to camp in
these forests for a winter, should first learn to use them. I
cannot run on them myself, nor did I ever raeet with any
Englishman, except Mr. Lloyd, who could; but I should
say that an active young fellow, who did not mind a few

BEAE HUNTING. 177
bumps, would learn to run on skidor as easily as on a pair
of skates. The forests being now disturbed so much by timber-
cutters, the bear is disappearing from many tracks ;
they are stiU, however, to be met -with in many parts
of the forests where charcoal has been burnt, especiaUy up
in Dalecarlia; and any EngUsh sportsman who has a
¦vrish to spend the -winter in bear-hunting, may settle
in the Uttle to-wn of Mora, Sara Idre, or Transtrand
(aU which places can be easily reached by road), in
Dalecarlia, where he -will be in the very middle of the best bear
district, in autumn, and obtain an introduction to one of the
afuer jagare, or head huntsmen, who will soon put him into
the way of obtaining his desfred object. There are several
regular bear-hunters in this neighbourhood, and in a late
number of the " Swedish Sporting Magazine " I see the
naraes of six, who in aU have killed about 116 bears. But
" Finmark Amt " must be the happy hunting ground
of the Scandinavian bear-hunter; for we read in Mr.
Barnard's " Sports in Norway" that, according to a
Norwegian pastor, " there is a hiU in his parish where a man
may feel certain of seeing a bear any day he goes there."
The bear is rarely kUled in the summer, although one
would fancy that this were the best time, as they are
then wandering about over the forests in search of prey. I
fancy they are very poor then, and the skin is worth nothing.
In the winter, as all know, they lie up in winter quarters,
or, as it is caUed here, go to " ide." They rarely take pos
session of their ide, which is either an old deserted ant-hiU
or a Uttle cavity under a faUen log, tiU the first snow-storm
sets in, and so it is not difficult to ring them. This " ring
ing " is the process which is used by the bear-hunters, to
discover the place where the bear has gone to ide, or taken
up his winter quarters. As soon as they discover the track
of the bear in the snow, it is foUowed step by step tiU the
hunter has reason to beUeve it has taken to its den
at no great distance. " This," as Mr. Lloyd teUs us, " is
indicated by his proceeding very slowly, and in a crooked
12

178 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
direction, or rather by his doubling in the same manner as a
hare, for as long as he goes in a straight Une, he has no in
tention of lying do-wn." The man now leaves the track,
and commences an extended circle round the suspected
part of the forest. Should he succeed in completing this
without again meeting with the track, he knows, of course, to
a certainty that the bear is within it ; but if, on the contrary,
he finds the aniraal has proceeded beyond his intended
circle, he commences another ring, and so on till he is
certain that the bear has not gone on. This is often a long
and troublesome occupation, requiring great patience and
silence, but one of all others particularly suited to the north.
ern peasant. As soon as the bear is ringed, he may be said
to be as good as killed, for although he may be disturbed
from sorae cause or other, and travel further in search of
another ide, he is now well and carefully watched.
If any English sportsraan is in the jieighbourhood, the
peasant wUl gladly sell the bear, -with the chance of killing it,
to hira for probably from £5 to £10. (I never bought such a
chance myself, but reckoning the skin at 50 rqr., and the
meat, say 600 lb. — the general weight of a full-grown beai^-
at 3d. per lb., this would be, probably, about its fuU value.)
Of course, now the man who has bought the bear has only
to find and kill hira, and this I fancy, with the assistance of
these peasants, is no very difficult task.
I am not about to enter into a description either of
the habit or the chase of this animal, for if I did, I must
borrow all from books. Any one who wishes to know
raore on this subject may consult the fountain head, Mr.
Lloyd's "Northern Field Sports," and here he vriU find
full information. AU I can say to him is this, that 1
believe a man who really meant business, would not have
mueh trouble in killing four or five bears up in North Werm
land or Dalecarlia (if he behaved liberaUy to the peasants)
in the course of any winter, and I think he might reckon,
that with one thing and another, every bear, if he wished to
kill it for himself single-handed, would cost him £20.
I beUeve Mr. Lloyd rarely used a rifle. A double-bar-

BEAE HUNTING. 179
relied Manton, with two bullets in each barrel, was his
favourite weapon, and only in one instance out of the
numerous bears that gentleman has killed has he been seri
ously mauled. He told me himself that he did not con
sider a revolver would be the slightest use against the charge
of a wounded bear. Blocked in as a man is with snow, and
his pockets perhaps full, in nine cases out of ten, he could
never get it ready in time, nor if he did, would a small re
volver bullet have the least effect in stopping the charge of a
bear. The only chance appears to be to cast yourself down,
and "take your punishment Uke a man," without a groan
(for the better you " play possum," the better the bear will
behave to you), and leave the rest to Providence. It does
not appear, as we all fancy at home, that the bear always
advances on his hind legs to hug you in his forepaws. The
bear which attacked Mr. Lloyd charged him " end on end,"
and knocked him head over heels in a raoment. As Mr.
Lloyd describes it, " in a second or two he was upon me, on
aU fours, like a dog, and, in spite of a slight blow that I
gave hira on the head with the muzzle of my gun, for I had
no time to apply the butt, he at once laid me prostrate."
The scene is depicted in an excellent tinted engraving
in Lloyd's "Scandina-vian Adventures;" and as it is not
every one who has it in his power to relate such an adven
ture as this, I make no apology for borrowing the follow
ing very graphic description from the pages of the sarae
book : —
" Had not the beast been so very near me," says Mr.
Lloyd, "when I fired my second barrel, it is probable, from
his wounded state, I might have got out of his way, but flight
on my part, from his near proximity, was then too late, and
once in his clutches and (now that my gun was discharged)
totally unarmed, the only resource left rae was to tum my
face to the snow, that my features might not be mutUated,
and to lie motionless, it being a generally received opinion
in Scandinavia that if the bear supposes his -victim to be
dead, he the sooner desists from his assault. In ray case,
however, although I played the defunct as well as I was able.

180 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the beast mauled me somewhat severely, about the head in
particular. My body also suffered greatly from his ferocious
attack, which extended from the neck and shoulder do-wn-
ward to the hip ; but he did not atterapt to hug or embrace
me, as we in England seem to imagine his custora to be when
carrying on offensive operations, nor did he seemingly molest
me in any way -with his claws ; aU my wounds were, to the
best of ray belief, inflicted -with his fangs.
" This goes somewhat to corroborate the idea that com
monly prevaUs in Sweden, that in attacking a man, and
beyond holding him fast with his claws, the bear never, in
the manner of the lion or the tiger, strikes with his paw,
which they say is his usual habit when making an onset on
horses or cattle. If this be true, it is well, as otherwise,
from the very great muscular power of his arm, annihUation
would probably quickly foUow the blow. But after all, no
inference can fairly be dra-wn in my case, as the beast's for
bearance towards me might have arisen simply from my re
maining quite passive. Had I, on the contrary, been on
my legs, and offered resistance, I might probably have felt
not only the weight of his paws, but the pressure of his em
braces. Neither at the time of receiving my first fire, nor
whUst making his rush, did the bear, as is usuaUy the case
when enraged, utter his usual half roar, half growl, even
when I was lying at his mercy. No other than a sort of
subdued growl, simUar to that of a dog when disturbed
whilst gna-wing a bone, was made by the beast, and so far
from coraing at me with open jaws, as one would suppose to
be the case with a wUd beast when making his onset, his
mouth at the time was altogether closed.
"The pain I suffered from his long-continued attacks
was bearable. When I had my Umbs in his jaws it more
resembled their being stuck in a huge -vice than any
thing else. But when his jaws grasped, as they did,
the whole crown of my head, during which I distinctly
felt the fleshy part of his mouth to overlap my fore
head, and his fangs very deliberately scored my head, my
sufferings were intense. The sensation of his fangs slowly

BEAE HUNTING-CEITICAL POSITION. 181
grating over the bare skuU was not that of a sharp blow, as
is often the case when a blow is inflicted, but rather, (though
very much more protracted) the craunch one feels during
the extraction of a tooth.
"From certain circurastances I have reason to believe
the bear continued to maltreat rae for nearly three minutes,
and as I perfectly retained my senses the whole time, ray
feelings whilst in this horrible situation are beyond the
power of description. But at length the incessant attacks
of my gallant little dog drew the beast's attention from me,
and I had the satisfaction of seeing him retreat, though at a
very slow pace, into the adjoining thicket, where he was at
once lost to -view.
" Immediately after he had left me I arose, and applied
snow by the handful to my head to staunch the blood, which
was flowing from it in strearas. I lost a very large quantity,
and the bear not a Uttle, so that the snow all around the
scene of conflict was literaUy deluged with gore.
" From the -wretched state of the snow, and the distance,
my comrades did not join me untU a rainute or two after
my antagonist had retreated, and when I was on ray legs
bathing my wounds. Elg [his servant], whom I had called
twice by name at the instant the bear was about to close
with me, had no idea I was in jeopardy, but merely that I
required his aid in kUUng the beast. Under any circum
stances it would have been impossible for him to have rescued
me, for at the time of the mishap he was considerably below,
on the hUl-side, which was precipitous, and a dense brake,
moreover, intervened. When, therefore, he came to the
spot, and saw the blood on the snow, he, without noticing
the state I was in, looked about him and inquired for the
carcase of the bear, and was taken a good deal aback when he
found that in this instance it was the beast, and not myself,
that had proved the victor.
" At first, frora the pain of my wounds, and the weak
ness consequent on loss of blood, which ran from my head
so as almost to blind me, I thought myself much raore hurt
than I was in reality, and disabled for that day at least. So

182 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
that, on my comrades coming up, I forthwith directed Elg
to put an end to the wounded bear, whose tracks were
deeply marked with blood, which he effected in about ten
minutes, and within two or three hundred yards of the spot
where the encounter between us had taken place. And a very
few minutes afterwards, having in the interval greatly re
covered myself, and put my gun, which in the milee had been
buried in the snow, in order, I rejoined him on ray skidor."
I saw Mr. Lloyd a short time after this occurrence, and
he then related the fact to me just as quietly as he has
described it in his book. He adds : —
" Our prize (which is now stuffed in the British Museum),
a male, was emaciated from age, as we iraagined, and his
fangs either broken or greatly blunted. To the latter cir
curastance my preservation, under God, was probably at
tributable ; for had his fangs entered my person in every
place where they had left indentations, I must have been
literally tom to pieces. As it was, I escaped wonderfully.
My body, to be sure, was covered with severe contusions,
for (the skin being only sUghtly raised) wounds they could
hardly be called. Two or three days subsequently, indeed,
the whole of my left hip, and the adjacent parts were per
fectly black. My right hand and wrist were a good deal
hurt, for at the commencement of the affair, how I know
not, I got my hand into the mouth, and even partially down
the very throat of the beast, where it seemed as if embedded
in slaver. My skull, for a considerable extent, was laid bare
in two places, one wound, by the doctor's account on the
foUo-wing day, being eight, the other nine inches in length,
though part of both were of course superficial ; but from my
hair being cut very short, and the fangs of the beast' thus
readily passing through it, I escaped being scalped, as
would inevitably have happened had it been worn long,
after the fashion of the Swedish peasants.
" HappUy, however, I was so Uttle disabled by the in
juries inflicted on my person by the bear, that I contrived
to make my way the same evening to my quarters, a dis
tance of seven or eight miles, and with the exception of

BEAE HUNTING— A SKALL. 183
the last two, when I obtained a horse, either on skidor or
on foot. But for a long time subsequently I suffered much
from my wounds and weakness, arising from loss of blood ;
not sufficiently so, however, as to prevent me (though it
was certainly a great effort) from taking the field again four
days afterwards."
So it wUl appear from the foregoing account, that the
chase of the bear is not altogether unattended with danger ;
and all I hope is, that should any of my readers be placed
in a Uke position, he -wiU have " as safe a deUverance."
The chase of the bear, however, in winter, in these
forests is not a boy's game ; and Mr. Lloyd declared to rae
himself that he has gone through as many hardships and
perils in the course of his bear-hunting life as any of our
mighty Nimrods in the -wUds of Africa.
If ever I went bear-hunting I should Uke to see a "skall; "
but this game will not suit the real bear-hunter, who wishes
to keep aU the profit as weU as all the adventure to himself.
These skalls, or hunts, take place when a certain number of
peasants are called together by the authorities of the district
in which any mischief has been done by bears or wolves at a
certain station, to encircle the forests, and drive all the garae
within the Uraits of the cordon, or beaters, up to the guns.
They are, in fact, battues on a large scale, carried on under
certain rules laid down by the Crown huntsman, or other
head man who has the management of the affair. I have
no space here to describe the arrangement of a skall, nor
would it be at aU interesting to the reader. I can only say,
that if any British sportsraan who was residing in Werraland
wished to join one, he would have no difficulty, on applying
to Mr. Falk, of Rysater, the head jagare, or huntsraan of the
pro-vince. Due notice of the skaU is always given in the
churches, for it is corapulsory on the peasants to attend
without pay, and even to bring their own provisions
with them, and raany come to the meet from a long
distance. The summer skaUs are the largest ; but as garae
is always afoot at this tirae of year, and wandering about
more than in the -winter, they are not always successful.

184 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The -vnnter skalls are smaUer, and generally pretty certain
of success. The largest skall in my recollection took place in Mora
parish, in DalecarUa, in Midsumraer, 1856. They drove the
forests for three days up to Wengan Lake, where the skaU
place was fixed. The men engaged araounted to 5,000,
and the line of beaters extended above 50 Enghsh
mUes. Sixteen bears, young and old, were killed, which, as
many of the peasants observed, was very Uttle to compen
sate for the loss of about 25,000 days' work at this busy
season of the year.
The Elk stands next on my Ust. It wiUbe seen that only
two months are allowed for the chase of the elk, and most
probably the season wiU hereafter be Umited to August and
Septeraber. Owing to the stringent manner in which the
elk are now preserved, they are graduaUy spreading over
the midland forests, and there is good sport to be had in
many of the forests in South Wermland ; but they do not
go further south, nor do they range further north than about
64°, or just where the southem limit of the wUd reindeer in
Sweden ends. But in Norway the -v^ild reindeer come
further south, and in that country the elk goes as far upon
the feUs as the pine grows. With us they appear to
have their favourite forests and haunts. They chiefiy
frequent wild desolate forests far away from the dwelling
of man, and are partial to swampy, low tracts near water,
where the sallow, -willow, aspen, and other green trees,
grow, of whose bark and leaves they appear to be very fond.
In these tracts they keep together during the summer,
generaUy in faanUies, of rarely more than six to eight. In
the autumn, however, they congregate in small flocks of
fifteen to twenty. They now usually keep about one spot,
and such a place is called in these forests an " elgstand."
Towards winter they again separate, and draw up into the
higher forests, into the thick pine woods, where they seek
shelter from the wind and storm. The rutting season is in
the end of September, and now the old raales are often dan
gerous to meet in the forests. The female brings forth ia

ELK HUNTING. 185
the middle of June, at the first birth one, afterwards two
calves. The way in which we always hunt them in our
forest is by having a small " skall " — planting the guns
across a certain part of the wood, and -beating up to them.
We very often, of course, have a blank; but the best
"skaU" I ever saw was in 1861, when we kUled four elks,
and sent one away mortaUy wounded, which we lost. A
good rifle is, of course, the best thing for this sport ; and my
advice would be to an EngUsh sportsman who coraes here,
either for bear, elk, or wUd reindeer shooting, to bring over a
short, heavy double rifle, which will carry a two-ounce baU,
for I never yet saw an elk fall stone dead to the first shot
-with an ordinary bullet. They always carry it away some
distance, and often fall dead in the forest from internal
hemorrhage, a long way from the place where they are
shot. Another way of kilUng them is to foUow them -with an
elk hound, trained for the purpose — which wiU bring
the elk to bay, and the shooter then creeps up and kiUs it ;
and this is perhaps the surest way of shooting wild reindeer
on the fells. This is often laborious, but exciting, sport.
Such a dog is of no use except for elk and lynx, and when
properly broken, wUl cost about £10. I do not think it is any
use trying to stalk them in the forest without a dog, though,
of course, by wandering about a man might get a chance
shot. The principal destruction of the elk hitherto has taken
place in winter, when their worst enemies, the wolves
and " sked lopare " (peasants who can run on skidor), make
often sad havoc among them. At this time it is very diffi
cult for the elk to run, because it sinks into the snow, and a
wolf or man on snow skates (skidor) can sUde over the top
surface. However, I do not fancy there are many wolves in
the middle of Sweden just now, at least certainly not about
us ; and as the fine is very hea-vy for kilUng an elk in forbid
den time, and it is strictly enforced, the breed wiU consider
ably increase in a few years. It's not very easy, moreover,
to kUl an elk without being found out (especially among

186 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
these inquisitive peasants), for it is not as easUy carried
home in the pocket as a hare. There may probably be
some wild forests up in North Wermland and DalecarUa,
where the elks might be the property of those who kiUed
them; but, I beUeve, if a stranger kUled an elk
hereabouts, he must either pay for it, or give it up to
the owner of the forest, unless he had leave from him to
shoot elk.
An elk is worth not a Uttle, especiaUy to a peasant. I
remember at one peasant skall, got up here in 1 863, a fine
old bull elk was killed. He was sold as he lay for 150 rqr.,
or about £7. A large male elk of five years old, which was
carefully weighed, when he was skinned and cut up, weighed
as follows : —

Swedish lb

The fore-quarters ....

. 300

The hind-quarters ....

. 260

The back, -with the neck

. 60

The head, with the horns and ears on .

. 60

The feet, cut off at the knee

. 32

The raw hide .....

. 60

The intestines, without the blood

. 400

So, altogether, the full weight of the beast was 1100 lb., of
which we raight reckon 600 lb. good beef. But I have
seen and killed them larger. It is on record, and I really
believe this is true, that a young buU killed in autumn, in
Nerike Land, weighed over 1400 lb.
The meat, when fresh, is capital, very like juicy beef,
but darker, with a fine gravy taste. It is worth in a town
about 6d. a lb. The skin is worth Uttle or nothing, ,
except for harness and making leather breeches.
The habits, size, colour, and forra, of our Swedish elk, so
precisely agree with those of the North American moose in
every respect, that unless some minute osteological differ
ence can be found to exist (as is the case in the beavers of
the two countries), I think we may fairly consider them as
one and the same animal.

EEINDEEE. 187
In a correspondence which I have lately had on this sub
ject with Captain C. Hardy (of Nova Scotia), so well known
to all the readers of " The Field," he tells me that in the
last molar of the upper jaw of aU the moose which he has
examined, a sraall tubercle is affixed to the inner side, which
is not to be found in the cariboo or other deer. It may be
peculiar to the American moose. I have not the skull of an
elk by me to see if this is the case with our elk, but I wUl
certainly try and procure one next autumn. I fancy, how
ever, from what Nilsson says, that it is so. Will, however, so
trifling a mark of difference as this, even if it does exist,
serve alone, to form a good specffic distinction ? I agree,
with Captain Hardy, that if we can prove that the fore
head of our elk is invariably broader than the Araerican
moose, as he says, the two differences put together might
be something. The Wild Reindeer. — Of the chase of the wild reindeer I
know nothing from personal experience. They are, how
ever, to be met -with on many places on the Norwegian
feUs, and doubtless a good deer-stalker raight have sorae
capital sport. But a raan who wishes to foUow it raust
be accompanied by a professional hunter, who knows the
haunts of the deer in his neighbourhood. It is needless to
say that it is only on the feU ranges they are to be found,
and about July the best place to look for them is in
the meadows which Ue between the feUs themselves. It
appears that the fell range between Bergen and Christiania
is the best tract for wild reindeer in Europe.
I have no advice to offer on this sport further than to
say, that the man who would make up his mind to rough it
might find some sport among the wild reindeer on this
Scandinavian feU range ; and, as there are regular
hunters here who Uve by it, he would soon, -with a good
guide, be able to get araong these men, who would doubt
less, for a consideration, help him. But I think he would
have to go through a good deal of trouble and hard
ship before he kUled his first reindeer, and the sport
he would most likely raeet with, would hardly com-

188 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
pensate him. However, he will see this sport very weU and
graphically described in " Barnard's Sport in Norway," to
which work I refer him.
The Roedeer, as I have before said, is confined to a few
woods in the very south of the country, and being private
property, permission must be obtained before any are shot.
It is reckoned that in the woods of South Skane upwards
of 2000 roedeer are to be found.
The Wolf. — I know no regular method of hunting the wolf
carried on here. Those which are kUled are either by chance
or in skaUs. Some are taken in traps and pitfaUs, and one
plan they adopt is, for three men to drive round a frozen
lake at night in a sledge with a pig. They make this pig
squeal by pulUng his ear, etc., and this attracts any wolves
within hearing (for of all aniraals the pig is most Uked for
food by the wolf), who come down and follow the sledge
often within gunshot. It is very clear that there are not
half so many wolves in this country as is supposed. It is
only in the winter that they come down into the midland
districts, and they are very rare now. I recollect a
few winters back three or four prowled around the town of
Carlstad, and were often seen, but not one was shot. I
observe very few wolf-skins in the winter raarkets at Carl
stad, araong the fox-skins which are brought down by the
peasants from the north of Wermland, so I fancy they are '
not often killed. A wolf-skin here is hardly worth so much
as a fox-skin. Except in Lapland, I never saw a wolf in
any of ray forest rambles.
The Lynx is also rare, but it is distributed sparingly over
the midland forests, and as it is principaUy confined to the
deepest forests, it is not often kiUed. We have a family
at the present tirae in a forest not far from us, and they
have done a good deal of damage. They are not imfre-
quently seen, but as yet not one has been shot. The way
to shoot the lynx is to foUow the spor in the snow with a
good hound, when he will often tree.
The Glutton is almost entirely confined to the northern
fells, and it is only by chance that one is killed, except by

OTTEE— MAETEN— EOX. 189
the Laps. I have, however, known one or two killed in the
north of Wermland or Dalecarlia. There is no certain
method adopted for killing them.
The Otter is pretty coraraon over aU the country, but I
never heard of any otter hounds here, which, however,
would afford excellent sport, for in the banks of many of the
small streams round us, I frequently see the otter's spor.
The Marten. — The pine-marten is not at aU uncommon,
and of aU skins here it is the most prized. It is scarcely
necessary to add that the winter is the only time when
the skins of any -wUd animal are sought after, or of
any value for fur. We always kUl the marten with or-
without a dog by foUowing the "spor" in the snow
tUl it " trees," or takes refuge in the cleft of a rock. This
is not at all difficult, although often tiresorae work. A good
raarten-skan is worth from 10s. to 15s. I know of no
regular professional hunters, at least such as get their
li-ving solely by the chase, Uke the trappers of North Araerica,
in fact there is not garae enough in this country to support
any raan solely by hunting or , shooting, and every peasant
shoots a Uttle just round his own house. I wonder, however,
that they do not turn their attention to trapping more than
they do, for notwithstanding all the devices one sees de
picted in books on northern sporting, you rarely if ever see
any in use, save just to take fish.
The Fox. — " Tally ho ! hark away !" This cheery sound
is never heard in these forests, where " old Charley " dies
the ignominious death of a felon, without any funeral honours.
It would be certainly irapossible to foUow hounds here on
horseback, but in the early winter, when the ground is bare^
a good deal of fun could be had -with a few couples of
beagles and harriers, in the chase of both fox and hare.
The hunters of course must foUow on foot with poles, and
pick in as weU as they can. Foxes are both trapped and
shot here solely for the skins. In shooting them, the sarae
kind of hound is used as for hares, only a little larger. As
there is Uttle to describe in such sport, I need dwell no
longer on the subject, save to say that there are plenty of

190 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
foxes in these forests, and that a good skin is worth about
9s. or 10s. The Arctic fox is confined to the very feU
tracts. The Hare never hardly lies out in the open, in the mid
land districts, although you find them at form the same as
in England, among rough grass in the south, and on the
bare fells in the very north. With us they always lie in
the woods, and a smaU kind of hound, of no particular breed,
soraething Uke a terrier, is used to drive thera. Hare-
hunting is, par exceUence, the sport of the Swede. There
seems no particular art required, save a knowledge of where
the shooter should station himself, as soon as the hounds
have the hare up, for she always comes back to her starting-
place. I always consider this hare-shooting very poor
sport indeed, for these hounds drive very slowly, and often
do not bring the hare back for hours, so if a man gets about
a couple of shots in the day, he is well content. These little
hare-hounds raay be very clever in their way, but they
run riot a good deal, and I have often thought that the
caustic remark of an old English huntsman would apply to
them very well, " It was principally our opinion that the
hounds were running hare at all, they did not know them
selves one half the tirae what they were running."
In an article in the last number of the " Swedish Sport
ing Magazine," on the decrease of game in Sweden, the
writer gives us the result of 21 battues or skalls in Scania
in 10 years, from 1842 to 1852, at which he was present
(in which there were never less than 25, but generally from
25 to 50 raen), and the whole number of animals seen
and kUled in the 21 battues amounted to (Listen ! aU ye
EngUsh gamekeepers) — 50 foxes seen, out of which 27 were
killed; hares, 54 seen, 38 shot; 1 black cock. The
best day's sport was 10 hares and 2 foxes. I think this
-will pretty well prove -that the Swedish game laws require
re-modelUng. The Squirrel. — In Lapland and the far north, where
the skins are very grey in autumn, the squirrel is eagerly
sought after, and 40 skins are worth perhaps 8s. In

CAPEECAILLIE. 191
the middle of the country, they are never so grey. In
some districts there are a good many squirrels, but they
are, however, always scarce in those forests where the pine-
martens abound. Autumn and spring is the time to kUl
them for the fur.
It wUl be seen by the above list that the fur-hunter wUl
find but little encouragement in Sweden, and there is no
large game to tempt the English sportsman, save the bear
and the elk, in these forests.
The feathered game will, however, afford him more
amusement. The CapercailUe was, I suppose, comraon once over all
Scandinavia. Now, however, it is driven entirely out of the
south of the country, and but few are met with, tUl we come up
into the Wermland forests. From thence up to the North
Cape they are, however, tolerably numerous even now,
in those districts where the woods are not too much dis
turbed. Most of the male capercaUUes are shot here — or,
properly speaking, poached — in the spring, when they are
playing with the hens, at the first dawn of morning. This
play, or " lek," has been too often described to need repe
tition. It is certainly a very poaching way of doing the
business, but stUl, if the old males are not shot till after
they have played for a fortnight, and mated with the hens,
(and the " lek " lasts above a month) not so much harm is
done. It is very rarely that you find a brood of capercailUe
out in the open, generally in the deep forests, and perhaps
the only way to make sure of kiUing either them or
black cock is to use such a dog as is broken to these
forests, which springs them from their feeding-places on
the ground, and when they perch, which they will soon do,
especially if they are young, stands under the tree, and
barks at them till the shooter creeps up and knocks them
off their perch, — such shooters are very properly called in
Sweden "kryp skut^re)" This may seem a very un
sportsmanlike way of killing them, but I reaUy think it is
the only way to get birds in these deep forests. Some of
the old " kryp skuttare " are rare hands at caUing. Such a

192 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
chap sallies into the woods with his dog in August and
September, when the young broods can just fly. They are
almost always on the ground in the day-time at this season
of the year, and when his dog springs them they fly up and
perch on the neighbouring trees. He now takes up his dog
and sits very stUl for a quarter of an hour, when he begins
to iraitate the call of the young bird, to bring the old hen
first within shot of him, for if he once gets her, the young
birds are as safe as if they were in his pocket. After
he has bagged the old hen, he then imitates her caU,
and the young birds come flying round him, often pitching
on the very tree under which he is sitting. He need rarely
leave his seat tUlhe has cleared off the whole brood. Caper-
caUUe, black grouse, and hazel grouse are all swept off in
this way. This game, however, wUl not do after about Sep
teraber. The best day's capercaiUie-shooting I ever had
was in Lapland, when I kiUed in August seven fuU-grown
birds (and all but one, fairly on the wing) in one afternoon.
I see by the " Sporting Magazine " that in the -winter of
1862 between fifty and sixty loads of capercafflie, black game,
hazel grouse, and wUlow grouse, were sent away from seven
parishes in North Dalecarlia. Each load contained eighty
brace of capercailUe, or if not they reckon four black grouse,
and eight wiUow grouse, or hazel grouse, to each brace of
capercaUlie. So there is stUl a good deal of game in some of
these northern provinces. These were aU trapped or shot
by the peasants, who principaUy use " Iod bossa," or small
pea rifles, rarely a shot gun.
The Black Grouse is met with every where from the
very south of Scania, and on some moors there is ex
ceUent black game shooting in the open. But in the mid
land and northern districts we rarely find them in the open,
except in long heather, just outside the forests, in the early
part of the season. With a good setter, I have no doubt a
man might pick up a good many odd brace in the open
patches of heather in and about aU these forests ; but after
that he must look for them in the forest, and use such a dog
as I have before recommended. I have sometimes fallen in

HA2BL GEOUSE-PTAEMIGAN— WILLOW GROUSE. 193
with a covey of black grouse on one of the islands in the
Wener when duck-shooting, in August and September, and
had some very nice sport.
The Hazel Grouse. — This, to my fancy, the finest of all
our forest game for the table, is never met with in the south
of Sweden, but from the south of Wermland far up into
Lapland, it is common in all the thick woods, especially
such as have stony rises in them. They are never seen
in the open, but occasionaUy in the thin woods of birch
and fir mixed, which skirt the deeper forests ; their prin
cipal home is deep old rocky fir forests. I see the AccUraa-
tization Society are desirous of introducing this bird into
England, but in my opinion it would never thrive in any
EngUsh forests which I have seen, (and of the Scotch forests
I know nothing) . Small belts of fir would not certainly,
however, suit the habits of the hazel grouse. Moreover,
there is no bird so difficult to rear in confinement. They
are never seen in a tree until they have been frightened up
from the ground, and the only plan by which I have ever
shot them has been to hunt them up with one of the before-
mentioned hounds, and shoot them at perch, for they never
fly far. Their call is a soft whistle, and, with a Uttle metal
pipe, no bird is more easUy called to the shooter.
The Ptarmigan is only met -vrith on the snow fells, and I
suppose no further south than the Do-vre fell. From the little
experience I had up in Lapland, I should say ptarmigan shoot
ing, -with a brace of high ranging setters, on these fells, must
be the finest kind of shooting, and it brings a man araong
scenery which he never forgets. I am certain on some of
the Lap fells, a man might kill twenty-five or thirty brace in
a day with ease.
Tlie Willow Grouse comes much further south, even into
North Wermland, and it is certainly the commonest of all
game in tUe forests at the foot, and on the sides of the
feUs, right up into Lapland ; but they never wander far, and
the sportsman wUl not find them in any of the forests, which
lie at a distance from the true fells. A good setter, -with
a beU, would be the dog for this work, but he should
13

194 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
not range too wide, or a well-broken Sussex spaniel, well
under command, might answer in shooting these forests.
The wiUow grouse generaUy frequents pretty open places in
the forests, especially near water where there are bushes,
and I noticed that all the Lap forests which I saw, were much
more open than those in Wermland; and a man has a
much better chance of a flying shot than with us, for if he does
chance to tramp up a bird from the ground in our woods, it
is out of sight before he can get up his gun. There is no
teUing what quantity of -wiUow grouse a man could bag in an
August day in some of these Lap forests. UnUke aU the
other forest game, the wiUow grouse never perches on a tree
and when sprung soon drops again.
The Partridge. — I have seen as good partridge ground in
the south of Sweden, (barring the turnips) as ever I saw in
England, and I am certain in some places a man could make
as heavy a bag as in Norfolk ; but in the south, most of the
gentlemen shoot themselves, and since the deep snow in
1860-61, we have had no shooting worth speaking of in
Wermland, which we may, in a sporting point of -view, say, is
the northern Umit of the partridge in Sweden, although
before 1860, a good many used to be found around Fahlun.
With us they thrive very well, and if I had an estate here I
would soon have them back again, for I would buy up a lot of
birds from Scania in the autumn, where they net them, keep
them under cover through the -winter, and turn them ont in
the spring ; and if there were a deep snow in the winter, I
would net aU the covies I could, (and this could be easily
done, for at this time they come right up to the dwelUngs),
keep them through the winter, and turn them out again in the
spring. It is strange no landed proprietor does this. They are
all complaining of the scarcity of game, and yet few wiU go
to any expense or trouble in preser-ving it, and consequently
in this land, which, by nature, is better adapted for moat
kinds of game than any I know, a man has the greatest diffi
culty in making a heavy bag.. I dare say, however, that the
severity of the winters, and the abundance of foxes and birds
of prey, tend to keep them down a good deal; but how

QUAIL-WOODOOOE-SNIPE. 195
can any one expect a good show of game where there are no
real gamekeepers, and every peasant is a poacher ?
The Quail is so rare in Sweden as hardly to be worth
noticing in this Ust. Land rails, however, are common
everywhere. The Woodcock and Snipes. — We now come to a class of
birds that are more independent of man, than any of those
we have mentioned, and not so easily shot out. The
woodcock does not go up into Lapland, and the principal
breeding haunts are the midland forests. The crack
woodcock shooting is certainly on the southern and western
coasts, during the periods of migration, especiaUy in the
autumn. The coverts there are better suited to them than
our midland forests, and as we only find them before
they pack, we never make much of a bag in Wermland. I
recoUect some years ago dropping in with a large ffight in
Scania, in the end of October, and, if I remember right, I
bagged twenty-one woodcocks, one hare, and one black
cock, and left off for want of powder. I got them in a large
patch of oak stubs of perhaps a hundred acres^ and I saw so
many birds, that I am sure I could have bagged twenty-five
brace to my own gun, had Ught and ammunition served me.
Next day I beat the same ground weU, and did not see six
couple of cocks. The wind had shifted in the night. I
generally shoot them here when they are reading, and in a
good stand can often kiU three or four in an evening.
A friend in Gothenburg wrote me word that, in the spring
of 1864, he kUled forty woodcocks round that place when
they first came over. I know there is some pretty good
cock ground round Gothenburg.
The Great Snipe. — There is something mysterious about
this bird, and there is no telling with any certainty here
how many you may bag in a day. Whether they are decreas
ing in numbers or not I cannot say, but this I know, we see
very few now in the middle of the country. I never yet
found out rightly where they chiefiy breed, but I am certain
some at least do in the raiddle of the country, for I have
received the eggs from North Wermland, and shot very young

196 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
birds in our meadows ; and a friend of mine this year took
two nests near -Gothenburg. Upsala is a great place for the
double snipe, and thpy must breed there in considerable
numbers, if it is true as we read, that in one May very
ately, eight hundred of these birds were sold from this dis
trict. As these were all shot on their playing grounds just
before laying, we need not much wonder that they are yearly
becoming scarcer. The best afternoon's shooting I ever had
was in a rough tussocky meadow not far from this. I bagged
seventeen ; but I beUeve Mr. Lloyd has done more in the
Gothenburg marshes, where even now there is at times a
tolerable sprinkling. They corae do-wn to us the earliest of
all the snipes, and leave, the soonest. I generally expect to
find the first about the middle of August, and I never kill
one after Septeraber. They do not lie in the wet like other'
snipes ; dry tussocky meadows, but not far from the water,
is the place to look ,for the double snipe. I think they are a
very local bird, I may here remark that all the snipes on
their downward passage follow the course of the large rivers;.
by the sides of which there is usuaUy capital snipe'
ground. Every one knows how uncertain are their habits
— here to-day, and gone to-morrow. If a man had the luck
to fall in with a hea-vy wisp, I dare say he would make a great
bag here. I have two very good grounds in my neigh--
bourhood, but I never shot ten couple in the day on either
of them, though, -with a good dog, I dare say that might be
done -without rauch trouble ; but whenever I go, I can always
make sure of five or six couple, and I could shoot both
grounds, I fancy, on alternate days, from the beginning of
Septeraber, to the raiddle of October, -with the same results. ¦
The snipe in Sweden are very local, and Ue much in
smaU wisps, and rise together. I know one tract of splendid
meadow, about five EngUsh miles long, every yard of which
looks excellent snipe ground; but, strange to say, there are
only about five places on aU this ground where the snipe he.
They appear to lie in much wetter ground here than in Eng
land, probably on account of the warmth of the season when
we shoot them. The common snipe begin to draw down

WILD FOWL. 197
early in September, the .jacks scarcely till October ; and
although you may flush a few jack up to the middle or even
the end of October, the cream of our snipe season ends in
the middle of October.
Wild Fowl. — The common ducks in our midland reeds
are the wild duck, the teal, and the widgeon ; but the
former is by far the commonest. All three breed with us
in Wermland, and no others, except the mergansers. One
part of the country is admirably adapted for flapper shoot
ing — immense reed beds, and long, marshy grass ; and
about the end of July, when the birds are pretty strong
flyers, a man may -with ease kill ten to twelve couple in any
day, if it is a fair season. But much depends on the boat
and man you have to help you. A boat is indispensable for
duck-shooting here ; for although there are many places
where you can wade, most of the birds Ue out by day in the
rushes and reeds, that fringe the lake or river. A flat-bot
tomed boat, rather snipy at the end, which draws very Uttle
water, but wUl stUl hold two comfortably, is the best sort ;
and if you have a good man to help you, without making
too much noise, you may often have a rattling day's sport.
The narrower the boat, the better, of course, she goes
through the reeds; a big heavy punt is always getting
stuck, and the man makes so much noise pushing her along
that the birds hear it, and rise up from aU parts of the
reeds out of shot. A dog, unless he is a good retriever,
is of very little use for this work ; in fact, he often does more
harm than good. A man who does not mind wading wUl
always get most sport; but water-boots are notof the slightest
use here, for you must nearly always be half-way up your
thigh in the water, and every now and then you slip into a
hole up to your waist. A man must be very cautious
when wading in ground which he does not know weU.
Towards the middle of September the ducks get very strong
and wild, and the water then becomes too cold for wading with
out boots. The old mallards are assuming their full plumage
again, and when a shot is fired the ducks rise from all parts
of the reeds. About the end of September they begin to

198 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN.
pack, leave the reeds, and large flocks assemble by day in
the open waters. It is now impossible to approach them
without a punt gun, and that would be hardly safe in our
large lakes. Towards the middle of October the golden eye
comes down, and many stop in the large rivers tUl very late
in the winter. The weather now begins to get chUly and
inclement, and the duck-shooting in Sweden may be
considered as over ; and with it the shooting season may
be said to close in the midland districts, except for
hares ot an odd shot at forest game. I never could
tell which way the scoters, and scaup, or geese, come
down from Lapland. It must be along the coast, for they
certainly do not pass through the midland districts ; and the
same remark will apply to most of the waders. We rarely
see any -wild swans in our district, but plenty of diring
ducks, and many waders, especially ruffs and reeves; the
geese only visit us in the spring and autumn.
I have above given the reader a list of what game he may
expect to find in Sweden, and I will now say a few words on
the fishing ; a few general hints on this subject wUl suffice.
For all the common fresh-water fish such aswe have in England
the angler cannot go wrong, let him camp where he -will;
and I need not give him any ad-vice as to the tackle, etc.,
required, for just the same as is used at home -will do here.
To the salmon-fisher I can only say that none of the Swedish
rivers appear to equal the Norwegian. The salmon-fishing
on the few rivers in the south is now, I beUeve, all taken up;
but I fancy all the rivers on the eastern coast north of
Stockholra are free. However, from aU accounts it does not
appear that there is any very great sport to be had in
these rivers. StUl salmon must and do come up all the
rivers, that have an outlet into the Baltic, but I do not
believe they have been tried regularly Uke the Norwegian
streams ; and if I were a devoted salmon-fisher, and weU off,
I would come up to Stockholm in the end of May, hire a
good guide, and proceed from river to river up the coast,
see what the Salmon-fishing was like, and then hire
the stream. I am certaia I should find many a good

SALMON EISHING. 199
fall, for it is impossible that such magnificent rivers as one
sees all the way up between Stockholm and Happaranda, can
be without fish. I suppose the Norwegian tackle and flies
would suit all these waters, and I should certainly try spin
ning. The large lake trout are met with in all the great
lakes, and are always taken by spinning; in all the Lap
waters charr, grayling, and trout abound. Almost aU the
streams in North Wermlr.nd are full of trout, and charr are
met with in all the feU lakes. I should certainly recommend
any man who wished to fish the Lap lakes properly, to bring up
a portable boat large enough to hold two weU. I cannot fancy
any place where a party of real sportsmen, properly equipped
with tent, pro-visions, etc., could spend so happy a summer
as camped out on the Lapland fells. As with the game, so
with the fish, very Uttle care is taken to preserve them, and
the consequence is, that a man does not get the sport in
Sweden that he expects. StUl there is good fishing in many
places yet to be obtained ; and to prove this, we need only
refer to Mr. Lloyd's Scandina-vian adventures, in which he
gives us the result of his fishing at Ronnum, a Uttle south
of Wenersborg, with the rod, during one particular season — '
in all, 580 fish (including 120 lake trout, weight, 1796 lb.,
and 364 pike), which weighed 2864 lb. I know the fish
ing at Ronnum is not vvhat it was in his day, but this I
also know, that there are many places as good now, if a man
only hits on the right one, and much good shooting to be
had, if he were to hire a large manor, and go to a Uttle
expense and trouble in preserving his game. The salmon
do not ascend the Swedish rivers very far, on account of the
numerous water-faUs, and consequently they are not taken far
from the sea ; but as I have before said, trout and grayling
are to be met with in all the streams in North Wermland and
DalecarUa, and certainly that is about the best district for
an EngUsh sportsman to pitch his tent, in Sweden. It is
reached without difficulty, and I am sure a good season's
sport might be had there by looking about. As it has not
become the fashion for EngUshmen to hire either fishing
or shooting yet in thia country, thia ia just the very

200 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
time for a man to find out a good stream or manor; and
that both these are to be found in Sweden, as well as in
Norway, I am pretty certain. Although I do believe
that, from some cause or other, of which we are ignorant,
the rivers running into the Bothnia or the Baltic, on the
eastern coast of Sweden, are none of them such good salmon
streams as those on the west coast of Norway, stiU I do
not think we are yet in a position to speak of their
capabilities, for so few of them have ever been tried, with the
rod and line in good hands. There are some capital faUs in
both the Lulea and Tomea rivers, where we know that lets
of salmon run up ; and why should they not come up other
rivers, of which there are so many between Stockholm and
Tomea ?
Respecting theNorwegian salmon rivers,! cannotdo better
than quote the foUowing excellent remarks from the pen of
a correspondent in "TheField" of August 20th, 1864; and as
they formed the conclusion of a capital description of a visit
to Norrland in 1863, we may rely upon their correctness.
He says : —
" From all I can gather, and have seen, I do not think
Norwegian salmon-fishing repays the trouble, and time, and
cost. The best rivers, as the Namsen and Alten, for
example, wUl give from 1200 lb. to 1800 lb. of sahnon
a rod, and to catch this requires an absence from home of
at least three months. Any tolerably good Scotch river wiU
give as good results in the same time. The fishing is not at
all, in a general way, of the sort that I, as a sportsman, hke.
It is nearly all — particularly in the best rivers — from a boat,
and I can make out but comparatively few rivers which are
fished from the shore. This is somewhat the fashion of the
rising generation of salmon-fishers : lounging back -with his
legs weU up, a huge regalia projecting like a bowsprit from his
bow incessantly, with the last horrible sensation novel in his
hand; he has a rod stuck over each side of the boat; and he is
rowed about, to and fro, backwards and forwards, untU a
fish takes it into bis head to seize one of the flies, when a

SALMON FISHING. 201
temporary excitement takes place, to be duly succeeded by
temporary calm.
" Norwegian salmon -fishings are getting dearer, and the
obtainable ones, as a matter of course, scarcer every year, as
the tide of English fishermen swells higher and higher.
The great point in favour of the Norway fishing, is the chance
of catching a big one, a forty-pounder, which -wUl serve to
talk about for life ; but I hope that the mitigation of bag
and stake nets, and the opening of weirs, and the enforce
ment of a weekly slop on our own rivers, will, in time, put
even this advantage at a discount. There is plenty of
salmon-fishing in our own favoured land — if it were only
managed with the least reason and judgment — to find ample
sport for every salmon-fisher in the kingdom, and at a rea
sonable price to the fisherraan, too — of that I am perfectly
certain. The present and late high prices must go down in
a few years. Scores and scores of Irish rivers, comprising
hundreds of mUes of fine fishing water, hitherto sealed up
tight, and not worth the wagging of a rod over, wUl come
into the market and compete with Norwegian and Scotch.
I would only instance one or two as examples, which have
often been quoted in " The Field."
" Look at the Shannon, the Moy, and the Blackwater ;
these are splendid rivers. Shannon salmon-fishing has been
a mere myth. The Moy has been, by close fishing, reduced
to a trumpery grilse stream, where the fish average some
three or four pound apiece, and, save under accidental cir
cumstances, it is not worth throwing a Une above the weirs
at the mouth; yet there is an imraense extent of splendid
river above this, -with huge lakes as refuges for the fish to
back it, and which formerly, before the weir was built up,
produced very large fish, and was capable of finding sport
for innumerable anglers, all of which has hitherto been shut
up and is unproductive of any sport. The same may be said
of the Blackwater, which I see is now being attended to by
the commissioners — good luck to them ! And this is being
done all over Ireland, and the consequence will be that in a
very few years, vast tracts of fishing ground which have

202 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
never yet been available will become so. Something Uke
this, in a smaUer way, wiU also take place in Scotland, while
the EngUsh and Welsh rivers are slowly but surely looking
up, and wiU in time contribute their quota to the sport of the
country. " I am greatly in hopes that in time, much of the gold
that now fertiUzes the hungry and greedy Norse peasant,
may be diverted into more legitimate channels. As regards
salmon-fishing in Norway, I would not advise any one to go
there upon spec, or he may be pretty sure to reap disappoint-,
ment. It requires almost as much preliminary care alid
caution, as does the taking of a grouse -shooting, to ensure a
good chance of sport. But if the tourist can be satisfied
with trout-fishing, that, he can have in wonderful perfection
and profusion. Towards the Swedish frontier it is abundant
and extraordinarily fine — ^in fact, it is of itself worth coming
for, for many of the lakes and streams in the interior hardly
ever see a rod. The mosquitoes, etc., are, to be sure,rathei?
a drawback ; but ' what can't be cured must be endured,' as
the old proverb has it. Shooting is very good, if you know
where to go for it. K. recommends some of the islands as
far north as Tromso. At Carlso he once kiUed forty brace
of ryper in the day to his own gun.
" All sporting requisites the angler would do well to take
with him, but he need not trouble himself with comestible
stores. These he can get at Trondhjem, Bergen, or Chris
tiania, quite as good as in England, and very nearly as
cheap — indeed, carriage and all considered, they come quite
as cheap in the end. An interpreter is indispensable, but
I would advise all tourists to get together a few ordinary
phrases — of course, the more the better. Trusting that iny
brother anglers may be able to derive some small profit from
my experience, I, in conclusion, wish them better sport
than I had."

CHAPTER V.
' On the ScandinaTian Fauna, -with a complete List of every Quadruped, Bird,
Eeptile, and Fish, met -with in Sweden, Norway, Denmaxk, and Fin
land at the present day.
I HAD some difficulty in deciding how I should set about this
part of my task ; for to -write anything Uke a detaUed account
of the Scandinavian fauna would have far exceeded my pre
sent limits. I could, it is true, in a very short space, have
given a mere Ust of all the animals met -with in this wide-
stretched continent, but I deemed the subject of too much
importance for so short a notice, more especiaUy as I had
some few remarks to make on many of the different species,
especiaUy the birds and fishes, from my own personal obser
vation. Upwards of ten years coUecting in the North has
rendered me pretty conversant with the northem fauna ; and
although I have always been weU suppUed with the best
works on the subject, there was one other of which I have
often felt the want, and that was a clear and concise descrip
tion of every animal in the country, which would enable a
field naturahst Uke myself, possessing a sUght knowledge of
classification, to decide at once to what species any specimen
belonged, which he might obtain in his rambles. I have no
doubt other coUectors as weU as myself have also felt the
want of such a book, which would give them in a few lines
such a short description of the leading characteristics of a
species, (which could be better reUed upon than the colour
alone) without the trouble of referring to more elaborate
works, and wading through a page of description, to find out
what a few words would teU them at once. And when I was en
gaged in compiUng a Ust of the animals of the North, I deemed

204 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN
that it would not be a waste of time if I added a short
description of each species. I beUeve this chapter will
be found of use to the British, as weU as the Scandinarian
naturalist, as many of the Scandinavian species- belong to
the British fauna.
Whether or not this list will prove as useful to the field
naturalist, as I confidently anticipate that it will, I can
answer for one thing, which is, that it -wiU be found to
contain the best, if not the only complete account of the
fauna of the north of Europe, which has ever been laid before
the British naturalist ; and I trust that as a work of reference
in establishing the geographical limits of different species,
it will be valuable to zoologists of aU classes.
Of course I cannot lay claim to much originaUty in this
part of the work. It is, in fact, a compilation from beginning
to end ; but nevertheless, a compUation prepared with an
immense deal of trouble, labour, and close attention. To
take Nilsson's "Fauna" in hand, and merely give a Ust of such
animals as are met with in Scandinavia, would have been a
very simple affair, but to refer to the best authorities on the
fauna of four large northem countries, as well as of Great
Britain, to corapare thera with each other, to see how far
their observations taUied -with my o-wn experience, and then
to pick out from all, the best and shortest account of the
different species, -with its easiest and most reUable specific
distinctions, was a work of no little labour. It is, however,
now done, and if any triffing mistakes have crept in, which
is probably the case, I trust they wUl be kindly overlooked
by the reader. They are not many, I am certain, for I have
taken every possible pains with my task. However, as Dr.
Johnson wisely observes, " He that has much to do wiU do
something wrong, and of that wrong must take the con
sequence." I am therefore induced thus early in the day
to throw myself upon ,the kind consideration of the reader,
and beg him to overlook any Uttle inaccuracies which he
may detect, not only ip. this, but in the foregoing chapters,
for my task throughout has been one of no ordinary labour.
Before commencing this Ust, I beg to make my acknow-

. ! SCANDINAVIAN FAUNA. 205
lodgments to the authors of those works which have alone
enabled me to complete it; and fitcst I must mention
Professor Nilsson — a name well known to every British
naturahst — to whose pains-taking and exceUent treatises on
every branch of the vertebrated zoology of Scandinavia, I am
principally indebted for the information contained in the fol
lowing pages. It -wiU be gratifying to all true naturaUsts
to learn that this good old man and devoted naturalist, is still
alive and hearty, after more than half a century spent in the
good cause, that of imparting knowledge to others in one of
the noblest sciences to which man can turn his attention ;
and aU I trust is, that he may yet live some years to enjoy
the hard-earned reputation to which a laborious and usefully
spent life have so weU entitled him. Kjarbolhng's "Danish
Birds " and Kroyer's " Danish Fishes," both excellent works,
have been ray principal guides to the study of the Danish
fauna, whUe Wright's "Birds" and Malragr en's "Fishes," of
Finland, both lately pubUshed, have enabled rae to lay before
the British naturahst an account of the bird, and fish fauna, of
a land but little known. To many private friends I am also
indebted for assistance, and a ten years' close study of the
northern fauna, has enabled me to perform my task without
entirely relying upon others for assistance. I have also
given a list of the birds of Greenland and Spitzbergen, from
the latest and best authorities.
I may add, that throughout this whole Ust I have strictly
followed Nilsson's arrangeraent, not because I consider it
altogether the best, but because I fancied it would be the most
interesting to the British naturalist. The measurement in
every case is Swedish, but there is only this difference be
tween the Swedish and English foot, that the latter is longer
by five-sixteenths of an inch. The reader will, however,
see that my measurement of Swedish specimens, often differs
from that given by British authorities.
Scandinavia, throughout the whole work, means Sweden
and Norway.
The letter D. denotes that the species is also raet with in
Denmark, as the letter F. denotes that it is met with in Fin-

206 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
land. The most common Swedish names and Latin syno-
nymes have been used, and when the EngUsh name is
given, it shows that the British and Scandinavian species
is identical, except it stands in parenthesis, when it denotes
that the species is not met with in Britain, although well
kno-wn by an EngUsh name.

CLASS I.— MAMMALIA.

The Scandinavian mammaUa may be divided into the foUow
ing orders : —
I. Extremities armed -with claws.
a. With three kinds of teeth — incisors, molars, and
canines.
1. With extremities formed for flying. — Cheiroptera.
2, With extremities formed for walking — nose elongated
to a pointed snout ; molars aU aUke, with several
points. — Fossores.
3. With extremities formed for walking — molars of three
kinds. — Force.
4. With extremities formed for s-wimming— molars of
one kind. — PhocacecB.
b. With only two kinds of teeth, canines wanting.
5. Incisors f, long, curved, and sharp-edged— molars aU
aUke. — Rodentia,
II. Extremities furnished -with hoofs.
6. Non-ruminants. — Pachydermata.
7. Ruminants. — Rwrrvina/ntia.
IIL Extremities furnished -with fins.
8. Body naked, foimed with horizontal tail-fin.—Getecea.

208 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

I. — Quad/ni{peds ivhose extremities are furnished with cla-ws.

OEDEE I.-CHEIEOPTEEA. BATS.
Pro-vided with membranous wings. Genus VespertiUo, L.
Iv ii 0., -H; P., varying; M., always If.
A. — With divided ears.
1. Ear thick, opaque, much shorter than head; tragus
shorter than half the ear; praemolars above 0 or 1;
below 1. Vesperugo, Keys, and Bias.
a. Preemolars above 0, below 1.
b. Prsemolars, above 1, below 1.
{a) . The upper praemolar is not apparant outwardly
for the hinder edge of the canine tooth joios on to
the furthest jaw tooth.
{b) . Upper praemolar outwardly apparent.
2. Bars thin, transparent, a very Uttle shorter or some
times a little longer than the head. Tragus longer than
half the ear. Pointed prsemolars, f. — Vespertilio, Keys.
and Bias.
a. Ears shorter than the head.
b. Bars longer than the head.
B. — Ears grown up together on the forehead.
1. Bars much longer than the head, thin and transparent.
Premolars, i. Plecotus, Geoff.
2. Ears shorter than the head, thick, and opaque.
Preemolars, -f-.

Geoup 1. — With Di-vided Ears.
Gen. Vesperugo, Keys, and Bias.
Thick-eared bats. Fladermus, Swedish. Ears much
shorter than the head, broad and thick. Tragus shorter.

BATS. 209
1. Vesperugo Mueinus, L. Gra skymUg Fladermus. The
Parti-coloured Bat. D. F.
Length, 2 in. 4 1. ; fore-arm, 1 in. 61. Colour, above
shiny grey ; grey-black beneath ; white on the under
sides; cheeks and forehead black. Tragus broadest
above, and obliquely rounded. Commonest of all the
bats in the middle and south of Sweden, and found
as far north as Upland at least.
Professor BeU gives the synonyme of V. Murinus, L.
to the British mouse-coloured bat, which is not kno-wn
in Scandinavia. There is stUl some confusion in the identification of our
European bats, and much of this would be obviated if aU
our principal naturalists would agree to adopt and use one
or at the most two synonyraes for each species. We have a
case in point in the bat now before us. Two great authori
ties, BeU and Nilsson, dispute to which species Linneus'
synonyme of V. Mumnus strictly belongs. I think NUsson
is decidedly right in claiming it for this species, because
Linne would hardly have described a species in his " Fauna
Suecica" under that name, unless it had been known in
Scandinavia, and the British mouse-coloured bat is not.
In describing this V. Murinus, L., Nilsson uses aU the
following synonyraes : — V. noctula, Retz. (now here is
confusion again, for the great bat, quite another species,
is the V. noctula of some authors), V. pipistrellus, Retz.
and V. discolor, Natt.
2. Vesp. Boeealis, Nilss. Nordisk Fladermus. P.
Length, 2 in. 2 1. ; tail, 1 in. 5 1., protrudes further
than in the last; -wing, ll|in. broad. On the back, a
large yeUow-brown or grey spot, encircled with
black; under parts grey-black. Tragus, smaUest at
the tip.
Reserables the last very much, but differs in being
smaller, the nose longer and sharper, and the ears being
higher and more transparent. Tragus is smaller, and the
hair is longer. ® 14

210 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN,
Is sparingly distributed over the whole coimtry, and
seems to be the only species which is met with in Lapland.
I have frequently kiUed it in South Wermland.
3. Vesp. NocTTJiA, Daub. Stor Brun Fladermus. The Great
Bat. D.
Length 3 in. ; fore-arm 2 in. 1 1. Colour, yeUow-
brown, above a Uttle duUer, underneath rather paler ;
nose, ears, and wings, blackish ; hair paler at the roots.
The under side of the wing, along the arm, thickly
covered with hair. Tragus broad and rounded.
Is sparingly distributed over the south and middle of
Sweden, as far up at least as Smaland, but no further.
4. Vbsp. Nathttsii, Keys, and Bias. Nathusius' Flader
mus. D.
Length about 2 in.; forearm 1 in, 2 1. Rusty brown,
head above, rather duUer, under parts dull yeUow-brown ;
hair from the root to three-quarters of its length
blackish ; ears of the same height, and breadth 2^- 1,
Is probably often confounded with the V. pipistrellus,hut
is nowhere so common. As yet it has only been met -with
in Scania, and that rarely.
5. Vesp. pipisteellus. Daub. Liten Brun Fladermus. The
Common Bat. D. F.
Length 1 in. 6 1.; taU 1 in. 2 1.; breadth of -wing 8 in,
6 1. Body above of a uniform yeUow-brown or soot-
brown colour, under parts a Uttle paler ; hair blackish
from the root to the middle ; nose blackish ; ears and
interfemoral membrane black ; ears oval 2 1, high ;
tragus small, of an even breadth, and rounded off.
Is the commonest of all the Scandina-vian bats, at least
as far up as Stockholm and Bergen in Norway.
NUsson observes that he has seen the specimen of V.
pygmwus in the British Museum, which is described by Bell
as the pigmy bat, and he is satisfied that it is nothing
more than the young of the common bat.

BATS. 211
Gen. Vespertilio, L.
Thin-eared Bats. Nattblacka, Sw. Ears never shorter
than the head, thin and transparent, and pointed.
6, Vesp. mtstacinus, Leisl. Mustascherad Nattblacka. The
Whiskered Bat. D.
Length 1 in. 7 1.; tail 1 in. 4-|- 1.; forearm 1 in. 3 1.
Interfemoral membrane with ten to twelve distinct trans
verse lines, but with no fringes ; ears as long as the
head, black, nearly transparent; tragus longer than
half the ear, pointed, colour above blackish or chestnut
brown, under whitish; upper lip furnished with a
moustache of long fine hair, whence its name.
Is rare in Scandina-via, and confined to the south and
south-east pro-vinces.
7. Vesp. Dad-bentonii, Leisl. Daubenton's Nattblacka.
Daubenton's Bat. D.
Length about 2 in.; taU 1 in. 4 1. Colour above
reddish grey, below whitish. Interfemoral membrane
without streaks or fringes ; ears shorter than the head,
indented on the outer edge, transparent, as well as the
tragus, which is lancet-shaped, and half as long as the
ear ; lower canines not higher than the molars.
Vesp. emarginatus, Jenn., the notch-eared bat, ac
cording to NUsson, is this species.
Has hitherto been met with only in the south and south
east pro-vinces of Scandinavia. I have, however, this year
obtained specimens from Wermland.
8. Vesp. dastcnemus, Boie.
Colour, size, and form much resembling the last,
but the edge of the ear is plain in the middle ; tragus
not so long as half of the ear, and very sUghtly taper
ing; interfemoral membrane partly clothed -with hair
underneath; third joint of the third finger shorter
than the second joint; lower canines higher than the
molars.

212 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Has only lately been added to the Scandinavian fauna.
Common in Denmark.
9. Vesp, Natteeeei, Kuhl, Natterer's Nattblacka, The
Reddish Grey Bat. D.
Length 2 in.; tail 1 in. 4 1. Interfemoral membrane
with five or six transverse lines, on the edges fringed
and hairy ; ears the length of the head, sUghtly notched
as well as the tragus, transparent; tragus narrow,
lanceolate, longer than half the ear ; colour above dark
greyish black, below whitish.
Not rare in the south and south-eastern provinces.

Geoup 2. — Ears grown together on the Forehead.
Gen, Plecotus, Geoff. Laderlapp, Sw.
Bars much longer than the head.
10. Vesp, A-ueitus, L, Lang Orad Laderlapp, The Long-
eared Bat. D. F.
Colour above dark greyish black or rusty grey;
below paler grey or whitish rusty grey. Length 2 in.;
tail 1 in, 6 1.; -wing breadth 10 in. Ears twice as long
as the head; tragus lanceolate, a Uttle shorter than
half the ear; forearm much shorter than the fifth
finger.
NUsson remarks that the Plecotus brevimanus, Jenn., the
type specimen of which he has seen -with Professor BeU, is
nothing more than the young of this species.
Is met -with over aU Scandina-via, from the very south to
ar into Norrland.
Gen. Synotus, Keys, and Bias. Barbastell, Sw.
Ears shorter than the head, thick and opaque ; a hol-
ow naked place on the upper surface of the muzzle, in which
the nostrils are placed ; these latter open on the top of ihe
nose.

MOLES. 213
11. Vesp. BAEBASTELLrs, Daub. Svart BarbasteU. The
BarbasteUe. D.
Length 2 in.; forearm 1 in. 4 1. Colour black above,
under blackish brown ; ears broad, a little shorter than
the head, notched on the outer margin ; tragus small,
longer than half the ear; nose above hollowed and
naked. The pecuUar face of this bat distinguishes it
from any other.
Is rare in Sweden, and not met -with further north than
Scania and Blekinge.
Not a single species of Rhinolophus, or horse-shoe bat
is met -vrith in Scandinavia. OEDEE 2.— INSECTIVOEA.
Snout much prolonged ; incisors varying in number ; the
summits of all the molars -with conical points ; feet armed
with strong claws ; eyes smaU. Fam. 1.
Canine teeth above much higher than the incisors. Fore
feet shovel formed, naked, directed outwards ; aU the upper
incisors of the same length. Gen. Talpa, Moles.
I. %, P. f , M. A. Snout conical ; eyes smaU ; legs and
taU short ; fur very thick, fine, and sUky.
12. Taipa Eoeopea, L. MuUvad. The Mole. D. F.
Length 6 in.; tail 1 in. Colour black-grey, glossy ;
eyes very smaU; no outward ears.
Common in the very south, and although it is met vrith
as far up as the Do-vre fell in Norway, I can't say I ever
saw it in the midland districts, where they confound the
water-shrew vrith the mole, as they have both the same
Swedish name. Fam. 2.
Canine teeth much lower than the two middle incisors.

214 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Sorex, L. Shrew Mice.
(a). Prtemolars above, 5.
Snout pointed. Body clothed with soft silky hair; tail
thin, long ; feet slender.
13. SoEEX VuLGAEis, L. AUman Nabbmus. The Common
Shrew. D. F.
Length 2 in. 6 1. to 3 in. ; tail 1 in. 3 1. to 1 in. 5 1.
Ears short, totally hidden in the fur. Colour, above
dark grey brown ; below pale grey ; sides rusty grey ;
tail brown above ; paler under ; head as long as half
the rest of the body. "But they vary much in colour as
well as size.
Is common all over Scandinavia.
14. S. Ptgimus, PaU. Tjock svansad Nabbmus. F.
Length 1 in. 7 1. ; tail 1 in. 3-^- 1., without the hair
pencU at the end, which is 2^ 1. Tail thick ; reaches
to the ears when it is laid back, with open hair, through
which the rings are seen ; obtuse at the end. Colour,
dark brown above ; under white-grey.
Has lately been added to the Swedish fauna from
specimens taken in Scania. I have met -with it in South
Wermland. It is, however, rare everywhere. Native home,
Siberia. The greater proportionate length of the thick blunt tail
¦will always serve to distinguish this species from the young
of the last.
15. S. PuMiLus, NUss. (N. Sp.) Dverg Nabbmus.
Length 1 in. 4^ 1. ; tail; vrithout the hair tip, 1 in.
2i 1. ; thin ; when laid back reaches to the eyes ;
covered with long hair, through which the rings do not
appear; ends with a pointed hair pencU ; head as long
as the rest of the body. Colour, above rusty grey-bro-wn,
below white.
Added to the Swedish fauna from a single specimen
taken in Scania.

SHEEW— HEDGEHOa. 215
NUsson remarks that this Uttle mouse may be taken for
the young of the last, but the feet are too slender, and the
taU appears too long.
Clermont does not mention it in his European mammaUa.
(6). Praemolars above, 4.
Gen. Grossopus, Wagl.
Teeth coloured at the tips ; the two middle incisors below
-with a plain edge. Fourth molar very smaU.
16. S. PoDiENS, PaU. Vatten Nabbmus. The Water Shrew.
D. F.
Length 3 in. 4 1. to 6 1. ; taU 2 in. 2 1. to 4 1. Black
above ; below white or grey ; taU longer than half the
body ; wrists and toes covered -with bristly hairs ; hind
feet broad.
Common over all Scandinavia, from Scania to far up
info Lapland, where, however, it is rare, for I only obtained
one specimen, and this at lockmock.
Fam. 3.
Front feet smaU, body covered with bristles, under
them fine wool ; snout obtuse.
Gen. Erinaceus, L.
17. Eeinaoeus Eueopj:us, L. Igelkott. The Hedgehog.
D. F.
Ears shorter than half the head, hidden ; upper parts
dark grey; below grey-brown. Length 10 in.; head
2 m. 2 1. ; taU 1 in.
Said to be common in the South, and to go up as far as
Westmanland. I, however, never met with a specimen in
any part of Scandinavia, or a mole either. Clermont
says: "Met with in all Europe save Norway and Lap
land." NUsson says : " In the South of Norway it is not

216 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
OEDEE 3.— FEEiE. (Beasts of Prey.)
With three kinds of teeth; six incisors in each jaw,
except in some of the seals. Feet armed with claws.
A. — Tuberculated teeth, -i- or -L. 1. Tuberculated teeth, -J-.
Gen. FeUs. Cats.
Head rounded ; eyes large ; pupil of the eye vertical ;
five toes on the fore feet, four on the hind feet, aU armed
vrith sharp, crooked, retractile claws ; tongue rough.
18. Felis domestica, Briss. Tam Katt. The Domestic
Cat. D. F.
Is common in aU parts of Scandina-via wherever man
Uves in houses, but it does not thrive in the Laplanders'
tents. Body 22 in. ; tail 10 in., tapering.
Singular that the wild cat, which may always be distin
guished from the last by the thick blunt tail, is not known
in Scandinavia, nor are fossil remains ever dug up in any of
the turf mosses. Nilsson is of opinion that all the tame cats
in the north of Europe have sprung from the European wUd
cat, yet he cannot help acknowledging that the " foramina
incisiva " in the comraon Swedish cat are always oval, never
round, as in the South European wild cats.
19. F. Lynx, L. Lo. (The Lynx.) F.
Colour grey or brown, covered with more or less dis
tinct black spots ; tail on the outer half black ; length
3 to 4 ft. ; height over the withers, 2 ft. ; tail, 9 in. ;
ears, 3^ in., with a pointed tip of hair. If in.
Va'rieties.
(1). F. Cervaria, Tem. Kattlo. — Body covered with
black spots all over on a grey ground, forming on the
back three longitudinal rows.
{2).F. Virgata, 'Nilss. VargLo. — Body covered with
smaller and much less distinct spots on a red ground,
forming two longitudinal rows along the back. This
is, in fact, nothing more than the summer dress of the
last.

GLUTTON. 217
(3). F. Lynx. Raf Lo. — ^Body -without spots or
streaks, except a few small spots on the thighs ; colour
reddish even in the -vrinter.
It was formerly considered that these three varieties were
distinct species, but it is now pretty clearly proved that they
are nothing more than varieties in colour of the common
felis lynx, or "raf lo." Is nowhere common, and, unUke
the wolf, is not gregarious ; a pair or a family wiU take pos
session of a certain forest district, and keep it. Is rarely, if
ever, met -with vrithin the polar circle, and never in the very
south of Sweden. The principal strongholds of the lynx are
the large rocky forests in Helsingland, Dalarna, and Jemt
land; never seen on the feUs. Pair in February or March,
and bring forth young early in June ; two but sometimes
three, which very soon learn to foUow the mother. The
lynx can cUmb like a cat, and is one of the most destructive
beasts of prey in these forests.
2. Tuberculated teeth, -f.
M^lstelina.
(a) . Upper tuberculated teeth of an equal breadth.
Gen. Gulo, Storr.
Head oval ; body long ; legs short ; taU longer than the
head ; foot soles hairy.
20. Gulo Boeealis, NUss. Jerf. Faid fras. F. (The
Glutton.) F.
Along the back a black patch encircled on the sides
with yellow brown ; general colour black, with a rusty
tinge on the sides of the body and head ; legs and feet
black ; length 3 ft. ; height 1 ft. 4 in. ; taU about 1 ft.
The stronghold of the glutton is the great dividing
fell range between Sweden and Norway, and principally
in the very north. They do, however, occasionally wander
down intothe midland forests, far away from the fells, but
the glutton is properly a true fell animal, and much dreaded
by the Laps for the sake of the reindeer. The glutton pairs
in January or February, and brings forth two to three young
in April or May.

218 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
(6). Tuberculated teeth as in the last. Prsemolars,'.
Gen. Fortorius.
Large ; more than one foot in length ; taU nearly as
long as half the body, with no bushy tuft on the end;
principally found in the neighbourhood of water.
21. F. puTOEitTS, L. VanUg Hier. The Polecat. D. P.
Black-brown, with pale yellow bottom wool, under
part black ; lips, sides of nose, chin, and ears white ;
length 1ft. 4 1., taU 7 in.
Is confined to the south and the middle of the country.
Pair here in February or March, and bring forth in May four
to six young.
22, F, LUTEEOLA, L. Flod lUer. F.
Brown, -vrith dark bottom wool; ears, nose, and tail
blackish; lips and chin white; toes webbed; length
1 ft. ; tail 5 in.
Appears to take the place of the last in the very north,
for it is never seen south of Finland. Habits more aquatic
than the last ; are said to pair in May, and bring forth in the
middle of June. It is doubtful whether this species can be
properly called Scandinarian, although very common in Fia-
land. Gen. Mustela.
Small, always under a foot in length; taU scarcely
more than half the length of the head ; becomes white in
¦vrinter. 23. Mustela eeminea, L. Hermelin. The Stoat.
Tail at all seasons vrith a long black tip, ending in
a bushy tuft ; colour in suraraer red, brown above, below
white, in winter pure white ; length 9 in. ; taU 5 in. ;
but they vary considerably in size, for I have seen them'
12 in., ¦with a tail measuring 7 in.
Is met with throughout aU Scandinavia, and except in
the extreme south is, I think, commoner than the last. It
was very common on the feUs, around Quickiock, in Laplemd,
but I never saw the weasel there.

WEASEL-MAETEN. 219
24. Mus. VULGAEIS, Erxl. Sma Vesla. The Weasel. D. F.
Tail -with no black tip, always the sarae colour as the
body; colour in suraraer red, brown in vrinter, pure
white in the middle of the country, but in the south
brown, at aU times with a white belly; length 6 in. 41.;
tail 1 in. 4 1., but I have seen this animal nearly 2 in.
longer. ,
It has been doubted whether the weasel, like the stoat,
becomes white in the winter. I can prove that this is
the case from pure white specimens killed in Wermland
in the winter. I can also prove by specimens kept in con
finement that the change of colour from the red summer
dress to the white of winter takes place by an actual change
or shedding of the old coat, and not by the old hair changing
colour. Not so common in Scandina-ria as the last, but is
said to go quite as far north.
(c). Upper tuberculated teeth, broader inwardly ; pras-
molars, f . Gen. Martes, Gesn.
Ears larger than in the last; taU bushy, longer than
half the body ; tongue rough ; do not change colour in
¦winter. 25. Maetes eoina, Briss. Sten Mard. The Stone, or Com
mon Marten. D. F.
Body greyish bro-wn, -with black-brown bushy taU,
and black legs ; white throat and breast ; soles of feet
naked ; throat spot at the bottom di-rided into two by a
streak of the dark body colour, so that it appears doubly
pointed; usual length 17 in. ; taU to the point of the hair
12 in.
Is certainly not so common in Scandinavia as the next.
We seldom kiU one in the middle of Sweden, and it
is said to go far up, but I beUeve the northern limits of
neither, are as yet properly defined. I have never seen more
than two specimens of this skin ia the Carlstad market,
although dozens of the other. Both species (for I cannot
myself consider these two as identical) pair with us in

220 - TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
February, and bring forth two to three young in the end
of April.
26. Maetes sylvesteis, Gesn. Skogs Mard. The Pine
Marten. D. F.
Body chestnut brown, with black-brown legs and
bushy tail; the soles of the feet covered with hair;
the throat and breast are yellow, and the breast spot
terminates below in a single point.
I can prove by a young specimen killed in August,
probably four months old, that the breast of the pine marten
is yellow in the young as well as the old. Much commoner
than the last, and is found in most of the old forests from
Scania into Lapland.
{d) . Upper tuberculated tooth broad ; prsemolars, f .
Gen. Lutra.
Head broad and flattened, vrith short blunt nose, small
eyes and ears; legs short; toes webbed; taU long; hori
zontaUy flattened.
27. Lutea vulgaeis, Erxl. Utter. The Otter. D. F.
Colour dark brown ; sides of the head, throat, and
chest, pale grey ; taU longer than half the body ; soles
of feet naked. Length 2 ft. 8 in. ; taU 1 ft. 4 in.
Common throughout all Scandinavia, for I have shot
them in Scania as weU as in Lulea Lapland. The breeding
season here certainly takes place in February or early in
March, and the female brings forth in May, from three to four
bUnd young ones. As I have been told from very reUable
authority, that the otter in England breeds in the winter, I have
made very particular inquiries here of men who well know the
habits of the otter, and all corroborate the above statement,
(e). Upper tuberculated tooth, three times as large as the
canine teeth ; prsemolars, f.
Gen. Meles, Gesn.
Head long ; nose pointed ; small eyes and short lega ;
body flattened on the top ; two anal openings.

BADGEE— BEAE. 221
28. Meles Taxus, Bodd. Graflmg. The Badger. D. F.
Body colour white-grey, mixed vrith black ; under
part and legs black ; head white, with a broad black
band through the eyes and ears on each side. Length
2 ft. 6 in., with a tail scarcely so long as the head.
Is common in the south and middle of the country,
wherever there is a fitting locality ; but does not go further
north than Upland.
Like the bear, the dormouse, and the hedgehog, the
badger Ues up in its -winter quarters tUl the spring.
B. — Tuberculated teeth, f.
1. Each tuberculated tooth above larger than the canine ;
premolars -widely divided. Gen. Ursus, L.
Head broad ; nose thick and blunt ; forehead flat ; eyes
small ; short pricky ears ; body clumsy ; tail short.
29. Uesus Aectos, L. Bjorn. The Bear. F.
Length about 6 ft. ; height over the withers 3 ft. ;
ears longer than the tail ; outer and inner toes of the
same length ; colour brown -black or grey.
The principal districts in which the bear is now found in
Scandinaria are the thick forests from' the north of Wermland
to about 69° of north lat., or about the Umit of the northern fir
forests. They pair in August, and the female brings forth in
her winter ide, or nest, from two to three young ones in
February. Should the old female prove vrith young again the
same year, she does not take her young ones into the ide
¦with her that autumn, but finds them another somewhere
close to her own ide. A good bear will weigh about
500 lb".
Remains of a fossU bear {Ursus spelceus), which are now
dug up in the turf mosses of Scania, prove that in former
ages a bear considerably larger than any land bear now
extant inhabited the forests of South Scandinavia.

222 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
2. Each tuberculated tooth above less than the canine;
prsemolars in an unbroken row.
Gen. Canis, L.
Nose elongated, generally half the length of the head,
with a deep depression on the forehead; ears in all the wild
races stand erect ; four toes on the hind and five on the fore
feet, all armed with blunt claws not retractile.
Subgenus Canis.
Nose generaUy thicker and less pointed ; pupU of the eye
round ; taU shorter than half the body.
30, Canis Lupus, L. Varg. (The Wolf.) F.
Body colour grey ; nose, legs, ears, and sides of the
body, yellovrish; back black; tip of the tail black;
ears pointed, yellow-brown outside ; tail with long hair
reaching down to the hocks. Length to the tip of the
tail 4 ft. ; height over the withers a little under 3 ft.
The black variety of the common wolf appears to have
been rarely met with in Sweden. Considering the wUd
nature of the country, I think the wolf is very rare in
Sweden, and especially in our midland districts. It appears
to have a higher northern range than the bear. They prin
cipally spend the summer on the northern feUs, but in winter
come further south, and are then sometimes even seen in
South Scania. Pair in February, and bring forth from
five to six young in May.
31. C. PAMILLA.EIS, L. Hund. The Dog. D. F.
Tail always more or less tumed upwards.
Is met -vrith generally throughout Scandinaria of every
orm and breed. The only forms of hound pecuhar to the
land which I know of, are the Dahlbo hound (now nearly
extinct), a magnificent dog, rather like an English mastiff,
of the size and colour of a wolf, which was formerly much
used in these forests to watch the cattle when pasturing in
the forests; the little bear hounds, not unUke the Esqui
maux hounds, are pecuUar to the north; and the Lap

EOXES. 223 .
hounds, used for tending the reindeer on the fells, are
mangy, ugly Uttle curs, unlike any breed I have ever seen
before. Subgenus Vulpes.
Nose pointed ; pupil of the eye vertically oblong ; tail
longer than half the body.
32. C. Vulpes, L. Skogs Raf. The Common Fox. D. F.
Ears pointed; on the outside, as well as the legs,
black ; the soles of the feet bare ; colour red ; in the
winter much darker and handsomer than in summer.
Length 2 ft. 6 in. ; taU nearly 2 ft.
I believe there is not the least difference between the
Swedish and the British fox, except that I always thought
the former was a Uttle the largest. Is met with in aU parts
of Scandinaria, but not so comraon in Lapland as the next.
We have two or three varieties in colour, of which the black
fox is by far the rarest.
33. C. Lagopus, L. FjiiU Raf. (The Arctic Fox.) F.
Ears round, same colour as the body ; soles of feet
thickly covered -with hair. Length 2 ft. ; tail about a
foot ; vrinter dress pure white, and very bushy ; in the
beginning of July most of this long winter coat is shed,
and tiU about October the colour is black-grey.
Is identical with the Arctic fox of other northern lands ;
met with on aU the Scandinarian snow fells. Pair in April
early, and the female brings forth from four to six young in
June. The fur is worth very little, as the hair is said to
come off. OEDEE 4.— PHOCACEA.
Fam. 1. — Seals.
Not one of the Scandinarian seals has outward ears.
The female only brings forth one young in the year, which
is at fitrst covered -with wool, and as long as it is thus
covered, it never goes into the water.

224 TEN YEAES IN S"WEDEN.
Geoup 1. — Incisors, |-.
A. — ^Molars vrith three or four points sitting in a row.
Gen. Phoca, L.
84. Phoca Vitulina, Desm. Spracklig Skal. The Common
Seal • D. F.
Molars obUque, so that the hinder margin of one
is in contact with the front outer margin of the next
behind it.
Body round, covered with small spots of black, white,
or yeUow grey, darker along the back; a pale ring
round the eye. Length 5 to 6 ft.
Is the commonest of aU the seals in the Sound, Cattegat,
the west coast of Norway, and far up into Finland ; rare
in the Baltic.
85. P. ANNBLLATA, NUss. Ringlad Skal. D. F.
Grinders arranged in the direction of the jaw, not
obliquely as in the last.
Body elliptical, black above ; back or sides covered
with large oval rings ; no ring round the eye ; whiskers
thin and brown. Length 3 to 4 ft.
Is the smaUest of aU the Scandinarian seals. Not at all
uncommon off these coasts, but appears in different places
according to season. Thus they are never seen off the Bohus
coast, except in the winter, whereas they remain off the
coast of Scania throughout the year. It is, however, most
common in the Bothnia and North Baltic. This species
may always be distinguished from the common seal (and I
have seen both in the same pack off the southem coasts) by
its much darker colour and the large oval white spots on
the back and sides, about 2 in. long. It is singular that
this species should be unknown in the British seas, since it
has been taken in the Channel off the French coast.
36. P. Geoenlandica, MiiU. Gronlands Skal. The Green
land Seal. F.
The grinders arranged in a straight series, vrith a
small interval between them.

SEALS. 225
Whitish grey, covered vrith small and large black
spots; whiskers wavy; the colour varies, becoming
darker with age. Length 4 to 5 ft.
May certainly be said to belong to the Scandinarian
fauna, as it has been taken off the north coast of Finland,
but it has never been kUled on any more southern coast.
37. P. Baebata, MiiU. Haf-ert Skal. The Great Seal. F.
Teeth as in vitulina, but not placed obliquely. Whis
kers large and numerous ; front feet rounded, the side
toes being the shortest ; colour grey, unspotted. Length
8 to 10 ft.
The largest of aU the northern true seals, and its pecuUar
home is the Polar Seas. It never by any chance appears to
stray further south. B. — Molars, simple, conical.
Gen. Halichoerus, NUss.
38. Halichoeeus Geyphus, Fab. Gra Skal. The Grey
SeaL D. F.
Jaw-bone arched.
Irregular black or blackish spots on a white grey,
ash grey, steel grey, or black grey ground. Length
4 to 6 ft.
This species, when young, may easily be confounded -with
the young of the last, but among other distinguishing marks
Nilsson mentions that the ear opening is placed at a distance
from the eye equalling two-thirds of that frora the eye to the
tip of the nose. In barbata it is equal to not quite half that
distance ; and the whiskers are much thicker and the tail
longer. This is the comraon species in the Baltic and the
Bothnia, from which latter gulf (where they winter and
bring forth their young) they wander down into the Baltic
about March. It is now that seal hunting is pursued on
a larger scale than in perhaps any other of the European
seas. NUsson gives a good description of this seal-
hunting : — 15

226 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
" In many places off these coasts the inhabitants in Feb
ruary and March fit out a small fleet of boats, -vrith iron-shod
keels, each provisioned for two or three months for eight
men. These boats sail out to sea among the ice islands in
search of the grey seal. Three or four boats generally
follow each other in case of need in this adventurous
chase. When they come to an iceberg, they fasten the
boat on its lower side, and then try if they can find any
seals on it.
" Such an island of drift ice is often three EngUsh mUes
long, and stands up 20 to 26 feet above the water's edge,
and consists of larger and smaUer raasses of ice drifted
together, forming a surface full of holes and cracks. On
such an island the grey seal often assemble in large flocks.
As soon as the hunters perceive them, they rush up, and
vrith their clubs stun as many as they can before they can
creep down into the sea through the holes in the ice. They
let the young ones, which are now small, lie, as they wiH
not take to the water by themselves. But if there are many
holes in the ice the shooter must creep on his belly within
shot and kill the seal vrith his gun. If it happens that a
great many are assembled, and are fighting for places, which
is usually the case, there is such a riot and confusion that
they take Uttle heed of the shot; and the shooter, who
is dressed in seal skin, and moreover imitates beauti
fully the wriggling motions of the seal and their roar-,
ing cry, can often fire shot after shot, and secure a rich
booty." This must be a wUd exciting chase, and one which I
would give much to join in.
In the Greenland seas they appear to have a far less
exciting but no less sure method of killing the seals, for the
seal-hunter lies watching by the side of one of these breeding
holes in the ice, vrith a harpoon on a line fastened to a
stake stuck into the ice ; and as soon as the seal sticks up
his nose through the hole to breathe, the hunter pins him
with the harpoon, and after playing him, like an enormous
pike, tiU he is exhausted, draws him up on to the ice.

SEALS— WALEUS. 227
The seal harvest is often a rich one to the poor fishermen
in the north of the Baltic, where many thousands are killed
every year ; for a grey seal of 400 lb. weight has generaUy
240 lb. of blubber, which, after the rate of 3 rqr. bco. per
20 lb., gives a return of 36 rqr. bco., and the skin, which
is worth 3 to 6 rqr. more, is so that a good seal -wUl probably
be worth 40 rqr.
In the summer they have in many places in the Baltic a
method of taking the seals in very strong coarse nets.
I have had a Uttle seal shooting rayself in the Bohus
Land coast. I recollect that if ever a seal floated after it
was shot it was always very fat, and generally a female.
The males were always thinnest, and sank when shot.
Geoup 2. — Incisors, -I.
Molars small, divided, edged at the points.
Gen. Oystophora, NUss.
Head large, forehead broad and covered in the adult
male, vrith a tuberculated skin, like an inflated bladder.
39. Cystophoea Ceistata, Erxl. Bias Skal. (The Cowl
Seal). F.
Length, 6 to 12 ft.
The pecuUar home of this curious-looking seal is the
Polar ocean, from which occasionally a young specimen
¦wanders down to the north coast of Norway and Finland.
Tip of the nose covered -vrith hair, blackish ; body
steel grey; in the young unspotted, in the older spotted
black ; in the adult variegated vrith white, grey, and black.
Fam. 2. — Waleus.
Two long projecting tusks from the upper jaw, in which
are 2 to 4 incisors, but none in the under jaw.
Gen. Trichechus.
Body covered with coarse bro-wn-yellow, brown, or grey
hair; tusks 2 feet long.
40. Teichbchus Rosmaeus,, L. Hvalross. The Walrus, F.
Length, 12 to 14 ft.

228 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
As it is very rarely that this animal leaves the fields of
drift ice, which form its pecuUar home, it is only accident
ally that a specimen, generally a young one, is seen on any
Scandinavian coast. OEDEE 5.— EODENTIA.
The distinguishing marks of this order are the two large
chisel-shaped incisors in the front of each jaw, distinct from
the molars. Geoup 1. — CoUar Bone Perfect.
Fam. 1. — Mueina.
Molars '-f^, tuberculated with di-rided roots, or com
posite -without tubercles, and with open undirided roots.
TaU round, naked, always as long as the body, often much
longer. Hind toes 5 ; front toes 4, with a knob instead of
thumb. Gen. Sminthus, Keys, and Bias.
Upper lip not cloven, covered with hair ; ears stand well
out of the fur, and are covered with hair.
41. Sminthus Betulinus, Pall. Lang Svansad Buskmus. P,
Colour, yeUow or rusty grey, with a small black
streak along the back ; below, white-grey. Tail much
longer than the whole body. Ears one-third the length
of the head. Length of head and body, 2-^ in,; tail 3|in,
TaU so thickly covered with hair, that the rings could
not be reckoned.
Such is a description of this species, the only one of the
genus yet known, whose proper horae is Siberia, and which
has, strange to say, been added to the Scandinarian fauna
from one single specimen kUled in Scania in 1835.
Gen. Mus, L.
Tail long, rings always apparent. Upper lip cloven up
to the nose. Ears long, standing weU out of the fur, and
nearly bare.

EATS. 229
Bats.
Body and tail together a foot long. Rings in the tail
210 to 260.
42. Mus Rattus, L. Svart Ratta. The Black Rat. D. F.
Blackish above, ash grey beneath. Tail longer than
body. Ears large, half the length of the head. Length
6i in. ; taU 8 in.
Becomes every year more scarce in Scandinaria wherever
the large brown rat gains a footing. Was once common
throughout the whole country.
43. Mus DECUMANUS, PaU. Brun Ratta. The Brown
Rat. D. F.
TeUow-bro-wn, vrith a few stiff black hairs sprinkled
among the others. Grey-white beneath, the colours
sharply dirided. Tail shorter than body. Ears one-
third of the head length. Length, 9 in. ; tail, 7 in.
In the days of Linne, the brown rat was unknown
in Sweden ; about ninety years since the first was seen in
Scania. It has now, however, become gradually spread
over the land, and is met with in every part to the North
Cape. Although at deadly enmity vrith its smaller brother,
it does not interfere with the little mouse. Strange to say,
much as this country is overrun vrith rats, I never saw either
a ferret or a rat-trap tUl I got sorae over from England. I
know no country where a good rat-catcher could make
a better li-ving than in this. I once saw the rats drummed out
of a house here which was full of them. It was a large wooden
building. Two regimental drummers were sent for, who
began at the very top of the house, and drummed in every
room. The rats bolted very fast, and I had some capital
shooting outside. It was long before any carae back.
Mice.
Tail and body together not longer than 9 in. ; rings in
the tail, 120 to 1^0.

230 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
44. Mcrg Sylvaticus, L. Skogs Mus. The Long-taUed
Field Mouse. D. F.
A sharp dirision between the yellow-grey or rusty
brown upper, and white under part; ears the length
of half the head ; taU a little shorter than the body.
Length 4 in, ; tail 3-i- in. ; colour duller in -winter.
Is spread over the whole country, except Lapland.
45, Mus MuscuLus, L. Hus Mus. The Common Mouse.
D. F.
Colour above dull grey, by degrees joining the pale
grey or dirty white under parts of the body ; ears half as
long as head. Length 3 in. ; tail 3 in.
Is spread alraost all over Scandinaria, where the dweU
ings of man are found, although I never could hear of it in
Lapland. It is, however, found both in Iceland and Siberia,
although not in Kamtschatka. I have a doubt, however,
whether the Iceland mouse is identical with our common
mus musculus.
The vius agrarius, PaU., which much resembles mus syl
vaticus, has been observed in Denmark, never in Scandi
naria ; and the little harvest mouse, mus minutus, Pali., which
has been taken both in Denmark and Finland, has been
probably overlooked in Sweden and Norway.
Gen. Lemmus, Geoff.
Tail covered vrith short hair, never so long as half the
body; ears hidden; molars composite, without tubercles
even on the top ; all the streaks on the molars zig-zag.
46. Lemmus Amphibius, L. Storre Jord Ratta, The Water
Vole. D. F.
TaU about half the length of thebody and unicolorous ;
ears hidden; colour black cr brown above, under brown
grey ; lips white. Length 6 in. 4 1. ; taU 4 in. 2 1.
Varies very much in colour.
Is met with in raany parts of this continent, from the
very south up to within the polar circle. I obtained a very

MICE. 231
large specimen at lockmock, in Lulea Lapland, where no
one had ever seen it before.
47. L. Medius, NUss. Mindre Jord Ratta. F.
Tail, which is longer than one-third of the body, is
dark brown above, whitish below ; ears hidden in the
fur ; colour above, dark brown, below pale grey ; Ups
white. Length 5 in. ; tail 2 in. ; but I have found them
vary very much in colour as weU as in size, but always
blue-grey underneath.
Is never met vrith- south of Gulbrandsdaten, Norway.
At Quickiock I found it the commonest field mouse in all
the fell meadows and valleys, never on the feUs themselves. In
shape it rather resembles the last, but is much more slender.
I cannot see this species mentioned by Clermont, and suppose
it has been confounded vrith the arvicola terrestris, De Selys,
which it appears much to-resemble.
48. L. Glaeeolus, Schreb. Langsvansad mark Mus. The
Bank Vole. D. F.
The taU (half as long again as the head, thin, of an
equal thickness throughout) is brown above, white
beneath ; ears broad, standing out of the fur, which is
red-brown above, white below, with a sharp division of
colour ; feet white. Length 3 in. 6 1. ; taU 1 in. 6 1.
Common throughout aU Scandinavia to far within the
polar circle. We met with it commonly at Quickiock.
49. L. RuEOCANUS, Sund. Gra sidig mark Mus. .F.
TaU scarcely longer than the head, tapering, ending
in a hare tip; ears very Uttle apparent; back and
crown of the head red-brown; on the sides ash
grey; the division of colours very distinct; beUy light
grey ; the hinder molar above has three lateral edges
on the inner margin. Length 3 ft. 5 in. ; taU
1 m. 1 1.
I found this little mouse at Quickiock, but it was rare.
It may easily be confounded with the last, and even with the
short-taUed field mouse, by a casual observer, for the shape

232 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
and size is much the same, although this is the smallest, and
the colour is different. But really, when studying these
little field mice, a man gets so confused by the different
shades of colour and size even in indiriduals of the same
genus that he is very likely to confound one vrith another.
Is confined to Lapland,
50, L, RuTiLus, PaU, Rodbrun Mark Mus, F,
Tail rather longer than the head, of an even thickness
throughout, covered with long hair. Ears very apparent.
Colour, red-brown above; on the sides blending iuto
yellow-grey; under parts dirty white; feet grey. Length
3i in. ; tail 1-i- in. The innermost molar has four
lateral ridges inside.
Is very Uke the last, but the ears are about 3-J Unes
higher, and standing nearly half out of the fur. Confined to
Lapland and Finland; appears to be rarer than the last, and I
never met with it at Quickiock, Gen, Arvicola.
The middle molars have three lateral edges on the outer
margin above, and three on the inner, of which two are like
those on the outer, the third smaUer,
51, Aevicola Ageestis, Sund. Gra brun mark Mus. The
Short-tailed Field Mouse. D. F.
TaU about the length of the head, smaU, and taper
ing ; ears scarcely appearing above the bushy fur, which
is dark grey-brown above ; belly, as well as the feet,
pale ash grey. Length 4 in. ; tail li in.
Is subject to much variation in colour and size. The female
always largest, and with a longer tail. Is met vrith aU over
Scandinaria, at least as far up as Quickiock, Lapland,
Gen, Lemmus.
The streaks of the back molars run nearly parallel, in the
others zig-zag ; molars behind as broad as in front; tail very
short, about equal to the length of half the head ; ears small,
entirely hidden in the fur.

THE LEMMINa— DOEMOUSE. 233
52. Lemmus Noevegicus, Worm. FjaU Lemmel. (The Lem
ming.) F.
Colour rusty yeUow and black ; variegated head ;
neck, and front of the back, black, with a small rusty
yellow long streak before each ear ; the under parts of
the body pale yellow. TaU shorter than the hind foot
¦without the claw ; the claws of the fore foot larger than
those of the hind feet. Length 6 in.; taU, with the
hair, 6 1.
Confined to the great northern fell ridge, from which
they make extraordinary migrations at irregular periods.
Have been known to come as far south as Carlstad, in Werm
land. 53. L. ScHiSTicoLOE, Lillj. Skogs Lemmel.
Body colour, above dark grey, with a rusty patch on
the loins ; below paler grey. Tail equal in length to the
hind foot without the claw : above dark brown, beneath
whitish. The claws of the hinder feet larger than those
of the front feet. Length about 3 to 4 in. ; tail 4-|- 1.
Discovered by LUljeborg in 1843, in LUle Hammar,
Gulbrandsdaten, Norway, where they were common, and
known by the name of Svart gra Mus. They were found in
a fir forest. Fam. 2. — Sciueina.
Molars ^, all vrith dirided roots. Tail covered with
long hair, directed towards each side. Feet as in the last.
Gen. Myoxus, Schreb.
Tail as long as the body, vrith long hair directed
laterally; ears apparent; eyes large; body thick and
plump. 54. Myoxus Glis, Desm. Hassel Mus. The Dormouse. D.
Colour, brown -red or brown-yeUow above ; under pale
red-yellow; throat and breast white. Length 3 in.;
tail the same.
Is confined to the south of Sweden, and is rare even
there.

234 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Pteromys, Geoff.
Form like the squirrel, but the tail is shorter ; the ears
scarcely apparent ; and the skin between the front and hind
legs forms a kind of web, which the animal can expand as it .
floats through the air. Must not, however, be confounded
with the flying squirrels of Australia, which belong to the
genus petaurus, and have a totaUy different form of den
tition.55. Pteeomys Volans, Desm. Flygande Ekorre. The
Flying Squirrel. F.
Length 6 in. 6 1. ; tail, vrithout the hair, 4 in. 2 I.
Colour, above pale shining grey ; under white.
Can hardly be included in the Scandinarian fauna,
although, according to Linne, it was in his time met with in
Swedish and Norwegian Lapland. Not a specimen, how
ever, appears to have been kUled in either country since
then. Sciurus.
Tail longer than the body ; ears standing far out of the
fur ; skin on the sides sits closely to the body.
56. SoiUEUS VULGAEIS, L. AUman Ekorre. The Squirrel.
D, F.
Ears with a long-pointed hair tip. Body above and
tail of the same colour in summer ; red-brown in vrinter ;
raore or less grey according to the latitude in which
they are met with. Length about 8 in. ; tail 9 in.
Common in aU the Scandinarian forests, from the extreme
south to far within the polar circle.
Fam. 3. — Palmipedia.
Molars 4-, compound -with flat summits. The three middle
toes on the hind foot joined by a web. TaU , horizontally
flattened, bare. Gen. Castor, L.
Tail flat, broad, scaly ; ears very short ; five toes on

THE BEAVEE— HAEE. 235
each foot, all the hinder ones united by a web ; the
second toe on the hind foot furnished with a double
claw. 57. Castoe Fiber, L. Bafver. The Beaver. F.
Colour brown, vrith grey bottora wool ; body behind
by degrees merging into the tail, which at the root is
thick and covered -with hair, outwardly oval; feet
oblong and naked both above and below, scaly, about as
long as half the body. Length 2 ft. 6 in.; taU 14 in.
Is quite exterminated now from all the Scandinarian
forests, except in the extreme north of Lapland and Finland.
Formerly they were to be met vrith in many parts of Scan
dinaria, and it is said even in the extreme south.
Geoup 2. — CoUar Bone Absent.
Fam. 4. — Lepoeina.
Molars f, with flat summits, the plates of enamel trans
verse. Incisors white, grooved. Ears very long. Tail
short, turned up. Gen. Lepus, L.
Ears as long as the head ; taU short, turned up ; feet
underneath thickly covered with hair; head round; upper
lip dirided. The European hare {L. Timidus), which is met with both
in Denmark and East Finland, is not found in Scandi
naria.58. Lepus canescens, Nilss. Mo hare, Syd hare. D.
Ears on the whole tip for about 6 lines broad, and along
a great portion of the hinder edge black ; wool at the
bottom ash blue ; colour in summer above and on the
sides yellowish grey-brown; in winter blue-grey; tail
very short, bushy, at aU seasons white ; ears when laid
back in general reach only to, or a very little beyond,
the tip of the nose. Length about 2 ft. to the root of
the tail ; taU vrithout the hair nearly 2 in.
This species or variety is most common in the South

236 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
(and is even found on the Isle of Huen, in the Sound). It
is hardly yet determined how far north it goes. I have
killed them in South Wermland, and they are said to be
sometimes kiUed near Stockholm, but certainly never so far
up as Norrland.
59. L. Boeealis, NUss. FjaU Hare, Nord Hare. The
Alpine Hare. P.
Ears only on the tips for about 3 Unes, broad black;
fur in the bottom white or whitish ; colour in summer
above and on the sides grey, in the winter pure white ;
ears when laid back reach nearly an inch in front of the
tip of the nose. Rather smaller than the last. Length
about 1 ft. 10 in ; tail without hair 2^- in.
Is very rarely met with further south than Wermland,
but is common from thence far up into Lapland, where it
frequents both the forests and the bare feUs.
That this is identical vrith the Alpine hare of the north
of Britain, and a distinct species from the comraon European
hare {L. Timidus) is I beUeve allowed by all ; and also that
the Irish hare {L. Hibemicus, Tarr.) is nothing raore than a
variety in colour of this, is also most probable. But I am
almost inclined to agree vrith Blasius, who says that both
the Swedish hares and the Irish hare are nothing more than
forms, or varieties in colom- of one species, L, variabilis,
PaU :—
(1), L. hibernicus,Yavv.; L.canescens, l^ilss. A form met
vrith in the warmer climes — in Ireland and the south
of Sweden ; colour both in summer and vrinter grey-
brown,
(2). L. variabilis. Pall.; L. Alpinus, Penn.; L. borealis,
Nilss. Summer grey-brown, in winter white with
black ear tips. Found on the Pyrenees, the Alps, in
Scotland, Scandinavia, Finland, North Russia, and
Siberia.
(3). L. glacialis. Leach. In both summer and vrinter
white with black ear tips. Found in the high north
of Europe, Asia, and Greenland.

EABBIT— WILD BOAE. 237
60. L. CuNicuLUS, L. Kanin. The Rabbit. D. F.
Ears shorter than the head, of one colour without
the black tip ; colour grey, mixed vrith yellow-brown ;
neck red-brown; tail shorter than the thigh-bone;
brown above. Length 1 ft. 6 in.; tail 3 in.
Is not met with in a wild state either in Scandinaria, Den
mark, or Finland, although tame rabbits are kept in many
parts, at least as far up as Stockholm.

n. — Quadrupeds furnished with hoofs,
OEDEE 6.— PACHYDBEMATA.
Hoofed animals which do not ruminate. Incisors in both

¦) -w

Gen. Sus, L.

Molars tuberculated ; 4 toes on each foot ; nose ends in
a snout ; body covered vrith bristles.
61. Sas ScEOEA domesticus, Erxl. Tamt Svin. The Do
mestic Pig. D. F.
Body and tusks more slender than in the wild pig ;
ears longer and often hanging down; colour white,
black, red, or spotted.
Is met with thronghout aU Scandinaria, except in the
far north, where the price of com is so dear that " pigs
won't pay for feeding."
Sus Scrqfa-ferus. Vild Srin. (The Wild Boar).
Ears shorter, rounded, standing erect; tusks larger;
nose and snout thicker and more lengthened ; colour black
or dull blackish grey ; legs and ears black.
Although now extinct in Scandinaria, fossU remains
which are occasionally dug up in the turf mosses of the
south, prove that in by-gone ages wild pigs of a very large
size inhabited this continent.

238 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Equus, L.
Head oblong ; nose covered with hair ; ears moderate ;
body covered vrith fine hair : tail and neck vrith longer,
thicker hair ; teats two ; toes encircled with a single hoof.
62. Equus caballus, L. Hast. The Horse. D. F.
Is met with throughout all Scandinaria, and far up into
Lapland. Horse flesh is often eaten here salted, but I never could
hear of anyone who much reUshed it. There is something
unnatural to my taste in using this food.
63. Equus Asmus, L. Asna. The Ass. D.
Ears long; taU only on the tip covered with long
hair ; colour grey-black, vrith a black streak along the
back, and a cross streak over the loins.
Is very rare in Sweden, and I don't think that I ever
saw one, although they would doubtless thrive in the middle
and south of the country. OEDEE 7.— EUMINANTIA.
Quadrupeds that ruminate or chew the cud. No incisors
in the upper jaw, 8 broad incisors in the under. Two
front toes on each foot ; encircled vrith hoofs.
Fam. 1. — Ceevina.
Horns soUd, branchy. Shed annually.
Cervus, L.
Horns peculiar to the males, except in the reindeer;
lachrymal sinus under each eye; body rounded; legs high
and slender; taU short; teats 4. In some. species canine
teeth are -present, but only in the upper jaw.
With smooth more or less palmated horns.
64. Obevus Alces, L. Big. The Elk. F.
Nose broad, covered with hair, except just a little
bare spot between the nostrils ; under the throat a

EEINDEEE. 239
tuft of long hair Uke a beard, and in the male a pro
tuberance on the throat ; a tuft of stiff hair inside the
hock ; ears much longer than the taU. Length 7 to
8 ft. ; height 6 ft.; colour in winter, grey-brown, in
summer brown. Young, pale brown. Female much
smaller than the male, -vrithout horns.
The horns are shed in the end of January, and in August
they are full-grown again. They are at first single and
cylindrical ; in the second year they are about 1 ft. long, but
undirided ; in the third year they have 2 points ; in the
fourth 3, when they begin to flatten out; in the fifth they
are fuU-gro-wn as to breadth, but after that they yearly
become broader, and have more points, even up to 18 or 20.
About a century ago the elk was shot in Blekinge, and
even HaUand, in the very south. Now, however, the limit
of this animal in Scandinaria may be reckoned from 58°
north lat. to 64°.
The rutting season is in the end of September, and the
calf (or two calves) is bom about the raiddle of June.
Live principally on branches of the wiUow, aspen, birch,
mountain ash, and bleaberry fibres.
65. C. Taeandus, L. Ren. (The Reindeer). F.
Tip of the nose altogether covered vrith hair ; hoofs
broad and blunt, a sraall tuft of hair on the inside of
the hock, and a smaUer one outside; horns smooth,
round, long, branchy, directed backwards and then
curved forwards, very much developed. Both the
males and females have horns. A male of the wUd
reindeer will raeasure about as follows — Length 6 ft.
4 in., of which the head is 1 ft. 8 in.; neck 1 ft. 1 in.
height over the withers 3 ft. 9 in.; over the loins
3 ft. 10 m.
The wild reindeer are always larger than the tarae, and
of the tame deer they have two sizes, the Skags Rename
(or forest reindeer) and the FjaU Rename (or fell rein).
Of these the forest reindeer are always largest, A tame
reindeer -wiU never weigh above 200 lb, and wUd reindeer
often 360 lb, when fuU grown.

240 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The southern limit of the wild reindeer in Sweden is
62° north. The tame reindeer is common aU over the flat feUs
and forests (the latter during the winter) up to the North
Cape. The rutting season is about the beginning of October, and
the pairing takes place when they assemble in large flocks
on the snow fells. It lasts some time, and eight days after
it is over, in the end of October or November, the old male
reindeer shed their horns. The rein cow brings forth one
calf in May, or the beginning of June, on the bare ground
on the snow fells. When this is about eight or ten days old,
and does not require the care of the mother to defend it
against the rein oxen, the old mother sheds her horns ; and
at about the same time the young rein bulls shed theirs.
The young male can pair during the first autumn, or
about five months after its birth,
66, C, Dama, L, Dof hjort. The Fallow Deer. D,
Nose and upper Up naked, ; taU half as long as the
thigh; horns of the male palmate; the beam round,
with two antlers standing forward. Length about 4
feet ; height about 3 feet. Colour in summer, red-
brown, vrith sraall white spots on the back, shoulders,
and loins. In winter, grey vrithout spots.
Has never been vrild in Scandinavia, and it is only in
very few parks that we see them tame at the present day.
Horns round from the end to the tip, with numerous
antlers.
67, C. Elaphus, L. Hjort, The Red Deer,
Tip of the nose bare ; tail short. Colour in smnmer,
red -brown ; in winter, reddish grey. Length 6 to 7 ft. ;
height 4 ft., or a little over ; tail, 6 in.
The horns are full at the eighth year, up to which time
every antler vriU mark a year in the growth.
Is never met with wild in any part of Sweden, but is, I
believe, still to be found sparingly on some of the islands of
the Norwegian coast.

SHEEP AND OXEN. 241
68. 0. Capebola, L. Radjur. The Roe Deer. D.
Nose bare; tail almost obsolete. The horns rise
perpendicularly from the head, very rough and furrowed,
vrith two antlers. Colour in summer, yellow-brown;
in vrinter, grey-brown, vrith white round the taU.
Length about 4 ft. ; height 2-i- ft.
Is still to be met vrith in Scania, HaUand, and Blekinge,
but in no other Swedish prorince.
Fam. 2. — Horns permanent for Life.
1. — Catrina. Horns angular, hoUow, and rough.
Gen. Capra, L.
No lachrymal sinus. A beard on the chin.
69. Capea Hiecus, L. Get. The Goat. D. F.
Beard long; body covered vrith long coarse hair.
Colour, white, black, brown, grey, or spotted.
Is to be met vrith tame in many parts, but no where
vrild. Gen. Ovis, L.
No beard. Body covered with fine wool.
70. Ovis Aeies, L. Far. The Sheep. D. F.
Is met vrith tame as far up at least as Quickiock, Lap
land. 2. — Bovina. Horns round, smooth.
Gen. Bos, L.
Head oblong, with broad bare nose; horns round, pointed;
the bottora furnished with rings, each one of which determines
a year in the animal's growth. Tail long.
71. Bos Taueus, L. Tama Ox. The Ox. D. F.
Colour, size, length of horns, etc., much alike in
different races.
The breeds indigenous to Sweden are small.
Met -with throughout all Scandinaria, far up into Lap
land. Of the wild oxen which inhabited Scandinaria in the
16

242 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
olden time, and skuUs and bones of which are at the pre
sent day met with in the turf mosses of the South, we may
notice the — ^
Bos Urus, Antiq. Ur Oxen. The WUd Ox.
Bos Frontosus, N. Sp. Hog Nackad Oxe.
Bos Longifrons, Owen. Dverg Oxe. - '
Bos Bison, L. Bison Oxe. (Aurochs.)

III. — Body furnished with Fins.
OEDEE 8.— CETACEA. WHALES.
Body, fish formed; skin smooth, naked; tail fin hori
zontal, deeply cloven ; hinder extremities altogether want-
ing ; the front extremities consist of fins.
1. Whales vrith teeth. — Spout hole, single, crescent.
shaped, placed on the top of the head ; both jaws furnished
with numerous simple teeth. Forra of the body smaUer
than in the foUo-wing.
2. With Whale Bone. — Spout holes in the form of two
longitudinal furrows, Ue nearer the point of the nose than
in the last ; no teeth ; but in their place the palate is fur-
nished -vrith transverse plates of baleen, or whalebone ; no
dorsal fin.
Note. — It is probable that some of the species mentioned
below raay occasionally appear in the White Sea, off the
north coast of Finland, but none are seen on the Finnish
coasts of the Bothnia, except those that are marked P.
Fam. 1. — ^Whales with teeth.
Gen. Delphinus, L.
Body tolerably large ; 6 to 8 feet long, and weU propor
tioned ; head conically pointed, with a depression over the
nose ; teeth numerous, pointed ; the rovy of teeth in the
under jaw longer than half the jaw.

DOLPHINS. 243
72. Delphinus Delphis, L. Gomfarad Delfin. The Com
mon Dolphin.
Nose smaU and long ; longer than any other dolphin ;
teeth 43 to 50 on each side of the upper and lower
jaws ; skin smooth, glossy. Colour, above grey-black ;
below white. Length 6 to 8 ft. ; dorsal fin, 9 to 10 in.
high ; pectorals rather longer ; taU 12 in. broad.
Rare in these seas.
I may here remark that the fish to which saUors com
monly give the narae of the dolphin is not this, but a true
fish, the Ooryphcena Hippuris, L., celebrated for its swift
ness in s-wimraing, and its briUiant and beautiful colours.
73. D. EuPHEOSYNB, Gray, Pin Tandad Delfin.
Gums vrithout a furrow; teeth in a bent row, 42 to
46 in each jaw, very smaU, pointed, crooked; 6 to an
inch along the nose, the length of which is equal to
three times its breadth ; a half round rib, with vertical
sides. Length of the skuU 16 in. 4 1.; nose IQ in. 4 1.
Skulls of this and the next species are deposited in the
Lund Museum, supposed to have been taken in the Cattegat.
Rather a loose authority for giving either of these species
a place in the Scandinarian fauna.
74. D. Obscueus, Gray. Delfin med rS-ta Tandrader.
Teeth in a straight row ; 30 to 32 in each jaw ; 4^ to
an inch; length of the skull 15 in.; nose 8 in. 6 1.
75. D. Leucoplbueus, Rasch. Hritsidig Delfin. (The
White-sided Bottle-nosed Dolphin.)
Teeth thirty on each jaw, four to the inch; nose
double as long as it is broad ; length 6 ft. 1 in. ; nose
8 in. 6 1.; colour above blue-black; below white, -with a
large obUque grey longitudinal streak on the hinder
part of each side.
Is rarely met with in the Cattegat ; more frequently on
the Norwegian coast, in large flocks.
76. D, Ibsbnii, EschU. Grof Tandad Delfin. (The White-
beaked Bottle-nose.) D.
Teeth 26 to 27 in each jaw, large, conical, 3 to an inch •

244 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN,
length of the nose equal to 1^ of its breadth; whole
length about 9 Swedish feet, number of vertebrse 94
(the greatest number in any dolphin, and 12 more than
in the last) .
NUsson's description appears to be taken from a skeleton,
and he adds, " if this is the same_ species as Gray's B.
albirostus (which he fancies it is), the colour above is pure
black; below white, dorsal fin high. Has been taken in the
very south of the Sound, Gen. Tursio.
Subgenus Tu/rsio.
Body clumsy ; head blunt ; teeth few and conical ; from
7 to 24 in a jaw ; the tooth row in the under jaw shorter than
half the jaw.
77, Delphinus Tuesio, Fab, Ore srin. The Bottle-nosed
Dolphin, D,
Teeth 22 to 24 on each side of jaw, straight, conical,
the thickness of a swan's quiU, 2 to an inch ; length 10
to 12 ft. ; nose tolerably pointed, dorsal fin 10 in. high,
crescent-shaped behind ; colour above black, which by
degrees merges in the white underparts, sometimes
altogether black.
Is principally confined to the North Sea, where it goes up
as far as Greenland, and sometimes seeks the coasts of Nor
way, Sweden, and Denmark.
78, D, Oeca, Fab. Spack Huggare. The Grampus, D,
Snout very short and obtuse ; dorsal fin very high ;
nose much more sloping, and the whole animal much
larger than the porpoise; teeth 11 to 12 on each jaw,
thick, blunt, crooked ; colour glossy black above, below
pure white, a white spot above each eye.
The largest recorded on these coasts was a specimen
noticed by Gunnorus, which was taken off the coast of Nor-

POEPOISES. 245
way, near Heligoland, in 1762, which was 24 ft. long, 9 ft.
thick, and had a dorsal fin 6 ft. high. Is principally confined
to the North Sea, from whence specimens occasionaUy wander
down as far as the south of the Sound.
79. D. Globiceps, Ouv. {Melas, TraU.) Grmd Delfin. The
Round-headad Porpoise Caing Whale.
Head short and roUnd, with the forehead very convex
and prominent; teeth conical; usual length 20 ft.
pectorals very long and pointed ; colour black, under
the throat a white spot which stretches bactUke a small
streak on the under parts.
Has never been seen in the Cattegat or Baltic ; only met
with in the North Sea, off the coast of Norway.
80. D. Leucas, PaU. Hrit Delfin. The White Beluga.
No dorsal fin ; colour white, sometimes tinged with
rosy yellow; head blunt and broad; snout not produced;
teeth LO.. blunt; length 12 to 14 ft.
The Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Iceland seas are the
proper home of the beluga, which is rarely seen off any
Scandina-rian coast. Sub-genus. Phocaena.
Body smaU ; head blunt, pointed ; no depression in front
of nose ; teeth small, blunt, rounded, compressed.
81. D. Phoccbna, L. VanUg Tumlare. The Porpoise.
D. F.
A small dorsal fin ; head obtuse, not beaked ; teeth
30 to 24 on each]side, above and below, differing inform
from those of any other cetacean; instead of being conical
they are compressed and rounded at the apex; colour,
upper parts blackish, gradually becoming lighter on the
sides ; belly pure white ; pectorals brown ; usual length
4 to 8 ft.
The commonest of all the cetaceoe on these coasts, from
the Baltic right up into the Polar Sea.

246 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Monodon, L.
Teeth two, one generally remaining undeveloped in the
jaw, the other stretching forward in a Une with the body,
straight, long, and spirally tvristed ; no dorsal fin.
82. Monodon monoceeos, L. VanUg Norhval. The Nar
whal. Length 13 to 16 ft. ; tusk often 9 ft. ; colour yeUow-
ish white, covered aU over with round greyish spots.
Only met vrith off the northem coasts of Scan
dinavia. Two smaU pointed teeth in the very front of the under
jaw ; nose forms a pointed kind of beak.
Gen. Hyperoodon, L.
A dorsal fin, snout produced, forehead much elevated.
83. Hypeeoodon boeealis, NUss. Nabbhval. The Bottle
Head. D.
Head like that of a dolphin, but the snout is not so
long, and the jaws are without teeth ; length 20 to 25
ft. ; head black above, white underneath.
Is principally confined to the very northem seas, but
specimens have been taken in the Cattegat, Sound, and
even in the Little Belt.
- Fam. 2. — ^Whales with whalebone.
1 . With dorsal fin ; longitudinal folds on the throat and
belly ; plates of whalebone, short and thin.
{a). Pectorals short. Gen. Balaena.
Body large, fins as in the dolphin ; blow-holes fonned by
two longitudinal furrows.
84. Baljena eosteata. Fab. Vik-hvalen.
The smallest of aU the whales, and is oftener taken in

WHALES. 247
bays and shallow water than the others ; length never
over 32 ft.
Body smaU, pectorals short ; dorsal on the posterior third
of the back ; colour black above, white beneath, pectorals
white above. Is met vrith occasionaUy off the west coast of
Norway, principaUy in summer.
Dee'p Sea 'Whales.
85. B. Physalus, Fab. SUl-hvalen.
I cannot identify this whale or the last with any de
scribed by Clermont. Whalebone black; breast fins
blackish; dorsal fins inserted behind; nuraber of vertebrse
64 to 56; ribs 14 to 15 pair; body nearly round; pec
torals lanceolate, equal in length to one-seventh of the
body ; colour black above, white below ; length 65 to
70 feet.
Comes onto the west coast of Norway after the herrings.
{b). Pectorals long.
86. B. Boops, Fab. Ror-hvalen. The Northern Rorqual.
Pectorals oblong, tapering, equal to one-fourth of the
whole body length ; vvhalebone black ; dorsal very
small ; vertebrse 64 ; ribs 15 ; length 60 to 70 ft. ; colour
black above, under part white spotted or marbled with
black ; pectorals blood red.
The North Atlantic is the principal home of this whale.
2. No dorsal fin; body smooth underneath; whalebone
thick, long.
87. Bamena mysticbtus, L. Gronlands Hvalen. The
Common Whale.
Body more conical, head much broader and blunter
than the last ; whalebone black, and very long ; length
60 to 67 ft. ; diameter 1 3 ft. ; circumference 40 ft.
NUsson remarks that the weight of such an animal being
100 tons or 2200 ctnr., or 220,000 lb., is equal to 88
elephants, or 440 bears. The whalebone in such a whale
may be taken at 3360 lb., and the blubber at 140 to 170

248 . TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
tuns. Was formerly seen off the Scandinarian coast, but
never now, so that it can scarcely any longer be said to be
long to its fauna. B.prisca. Fossil Fen hvalen.
The fossU remains of this whale which have been found
on the coast off Tstad, in the Baltic, and even far inland in
Wangapanse, Westergothland, betoken a whale which,
although not more than between 60 and 60 ft. long, must at
least have had a body 27 times larger and hearier than the
common whale.

CLASS II.— AVES.

List of all the bieds met with at the present day
IN Scandinavia, Dbnmaek, Finland, Geeenland, and
Spitzbeegbn.
Note. — The Umit for the Finland fauna is this : from
the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, through Ladoga, Omega,
and the White Sea, to Waranger Fjord, near the North
Cape, from thence following the Tana River (which is the
political division between Sweden and Norway) south,
down the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland to the starting
point. DIVISION 1.— HETEROPHAGA.
The young of which cannot feed themselves.
OEDEE 1.— EAPTOEES.
Birds of prey may be always distinguished by the sharp
hooked beak, and the sharp, long, pointed, crooked claws.
DIUENAL BIEDS OE PEBY.
Eyes placed on the sides of the head, small.
None of the -vultures have as yet been observed in Scan
dinavia; but two species, the Vultur Fulvus, L., and
Vultur Cinereus, L., have been added to the Danish fauna.
Fam. 1. — FALCONiD.a;.
Head feathered, nostrils lateral, placed in a naked cell
at the root of the beak ; outer and middle toes joined at
the root. Gen. Falco, L. Falcons.
Beak short and thick, furnished with a pointed tooth

250 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
on the edge of the upper mandibles, just behind the tip.
Wings long and pointed, second feather longest. TaU
scarcely longer than the closed wings.
1. Falco Gyebalco, L. F. Gyrfalco Norvegicus, WoUey.
Bla Falk, Norv, Jagt FaUs, Sw, Rip, Spen-
ning, Lap. Jahti Havkka, Fin. The Norwegian
Jer Falcon.
By the Swedish naturaUsts, F. Gyrfalco, L,, F. Islandi-
cus, and F. Greenlandicus, Hamck, are considered one
and the same species, in different states of plumage,
I must confess, however, that I agree with Mr. WoUey,
and consider this Norwegian Jer falcon, a distinct and
good species, whose peculiar breeding home, is on the
great Scandinarian fell range.
I have not space here to enter into detaUs to prove on
what grounds my opinion is formed, further than briefly to
observe that although, in all the specimens which I have
seen of this Norwegian Jer falcon, there certainly was a
great resemblance between the two birds, the plumage has
quite a different character to that of the Iceland or
Greenland falcon at any age. The back is of a deeper,
more uniform, and uninterrupted blue colour, and you see
little or no difference in the shadings of the different speci
mens, as you do when looking over a series of the Iceland
falcon skins. They may probably become Ughter by
age, but that is only on account of the blue colour fading^
they never become white like the Iceland or Greenland
birds, and the greatest resemblance between the two species
is in the middle-aged birds. Wright observes that this
middle-aged dress of the Norwegian bird, as described by
Naumann, agrees -with the figure in the " Swedish Sporting
Magazine" of a Norwegian Jer falcon shot at Karuscando
(Lapland), 1833; and the coloured figure, which is said
in the description to represent the bird in its usual dress,
is as dark and very simUar to Dr. Bree's coloured engraving
of the Norwegian falcon in his "Birds of Europe not
Observed in the British Isles." This is much darker than

JEE FALCONS, 251
the usual colour of even the young Iceland falcon; moreover
I always fancy that there is a considerable difference in the
size of the birds.
In the winter they occasionaUy wander do-wn from the feUs,
for I have seen a specimen which was shot in Werraland,
apparently in its second year, and there was a marked
difference between this and a young Iceland falcon with
which I compared it. This falcon, in fact, more resembles
the peregrine, although I certainly never saw the plumage
so dark as in this latter bird. It has moreover, no white
on the nape of the neck, and the moustache is not nearly
so perceptible. The egg resembles that of the Iceland falcon precisely,
perhaps a trifle smaller. I have seen them quite brick-dust
red, and again much more highly coloured. They breed
in the feUs, generally on the ledge of a rock, and the fuU
number of eggs is three.
Note, — As this list is intended principaUy for a guide to
the coUector and field naturaUst, I shaU endeavour, as far as I
am able, to describe correctly the breeding habits of many
species of birds, as weU as the nest, number, size, and colour
of the eggs, from my own observation. This latter, how
ever, is no easy task, for although a man may be able to give
a good general description of an egg, yet aU coloured eggs
are Uable to so much variation, that, vrith but few excep
tions, I wUl defy a man, in one description, or even in one
coloured engra-ving, to give such a representation of an egg
as can be safely reUed on. I have now coUected in the
North for upwards of ten years. Ornithology and oology
have been my principal studies, and although during that
time thousands of eggs have passed through my hands, in
cluding (with perhaps the exception of a dozen or so of the
very rarest species) aU the birds that breed in Scandinaria,
I have never yet been able to form a good type coUection.
AU that I can do, therefore, is to describe the egg as it
most usually appears when fresh. It is nearly impossible
to give an accurate measurement of the egg of any bird.
The number stated is always, as far as I know, the general

252 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
full number; but except in the sandpipers and plovers,
many birds often sit upon less than the full number.
2. Falco Gyefalco, Nilss. {Candicans, Islandicus, Greenlandi
cus, Busticolus) . Jagtfalk, Sw. The Iceland Fal
con. D. F.
Nilsson, who considers this and the last as nothing more
than varieties of the same bird, gives us measurements and
descriptions of fourteen specimens (some of which doubtless
came from Lapland) . They appear to comprise aU the shades
of colour to which this bird is subject, and to vary in size
from 20 in. to 27 in. He does not, however, state that a
single one was kUled on the Scandinarian fells. Some are
from Greenland, some from Iceland, and many (young birds)
were shot in Scania. Now, this does not help to clear up
the point one bit, for no one denies that the Iceland and
Greenland birds are subject to great variation in colour, or
that this new Norwegian Jer falcon does not resemble the
Greenland and Iceland birds in a certain state of plumage.
What we want to prove is that this dark-coloured falcon
which breeds on the Scandinavian feUs, when mature, is
never so white as either the old Greenland or Iceland falcon,
that it is never so large, and that, in fact, at all ages, it more
reserables the peregrine than either of the other two named
falcons. This can only be done by a careful study of the
bird in its native home, and the examination of undoubted
specimens killed on the Scandinarian fells, at aU ages and
in all stages of plumage ; and this wiU be a work of time
and trouble.
KjarbolUng's description of the three forms is as fol
lows ; and I insert his description in preference to NUsson's,
because he clearly identifies the bird he is describing, which
NUsson does not : —
" Jagtfalk. — Falco Gyrfalco, L. Fal. Islandicus, Lath,
Falco Candicans, Gmel, (Old Male) , — Cere, eye-lids and the
large feet, blue'; after that greenish ; in old age pale yellow.
Tail longer than the vrings, marked with from twelve to
fourteen brown or white transverse bands. Old bird, white
above, brown spotted ; middle-aged bird brown-grey above

JEE FALCONS. 253
spotted white; underneath 'yellovrish white, with brown
heart or lancet-shaped spots. Young bird brown above ;
below yeUovrish-white, with brown longitudinal streaks.
The old female has white ground colour, but the transverse
dark bro-wn bands on the upper part of the body, as well as
the longitudinal spots on the lower parts, are more nuraerous
and larger. It is often from three to four inches longer than
the male,"
" It belongs," he says, " to the northern part of the world,
and in summer frequents rocky and wild lands, such as Ice
land, Norway, Lapland, the north of Sweden, the north of
America, and Greenland, The old birds are stationary; on
the contrary, the young birds in the winter often migrate to
more southern lands ; and, as far as I know, those that are
shot in Denmark are only young individuals."
In his appendix he notices the Greenland falcon and the
Fal. Gyrfalco (Schleg.) thus : —
"Jagtfalk. — F. Candicans, Gmel. — This white falcon
belongs to Greenland and North America. It is doubtful
whether that which breeds in Iceland, and is in general
larger, and seldom becomes so white, belongs to this.
Brehm, Hancock, and KeyserUng and Blasius, have considered
them as distinct species. Schlegel, who above all has
studied the falcons, finds all the specific distinctions between
the two as valueless, and applicable at tiraes to both.
According to his opinion, the only difference is in the colour.
In the mature Greenland falcon the head, neck, and under
parts, as well as the tail (sometimes), are pure #vhite. On
the upper parts of the body the ground colour is also white,
and the dark colour appears on the back and vrings in the
shape of heart-formed drops or imperfect transverse bands.
The beak is often very yellow ; the feet are sometimes pale
yellow, or even retain their blueish colour after the bird has
assumed its white dress. In the iraraature Iceland falcon
the taU has dark and white transverse bands. The breast
and the under tail coverts have smaU dark streaks. The
drop, and heart-formed spots form on the belly and sides
small transverse bands. The pale spots on the upper parts

254 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
of the body have always the form of more or less developed
transverse bands. The pale cross bands on the upper taU
feathers are blueish white, and those on the sides of the
rump ash grey. The head, neck, and back of the throat
have also small transverse bands or streaks. The beak
at the root, and the feet are yellow, at least in dry
examples. The figure in the atlas represents the island
falcon, F. Candicans Island, Schl."
Falco Gyrfalco, Schl. Den Norske Jagt falk. F.
Lanarius, L. This never becomes white, but the old bird
has, on the contrary, a considerable resemblance to the
young Iceland falcon, -riz., the female of the first and the
raale of the last, which resemble each other most in size.
This is met vrith in summer, and breeds, as far as we know,
only in the north of Scandinaria. The examination of
specimens sent from thence, and information received from
residents and hunters Uring there have fully convinced me
that it is a distinct s'pecies. From the young Iceland and
Greenland falcon, it differs in its smaller size (in the
same sex), in the dark check spot (as in the pere
grine), in its yellow-green legs, and by the spots on the
under part of the body, as well as on the sides, baring the
form of transverse bands. It is very probable that even
this falcon risits us (in Denmark) more frequently than the
foregoing, with which in the immature dress (and only such
visits us) it is easUy confounded.
I have given above the best and most concise description
whichi have ever seen of these three falcons, and as to whether
they are only varieties of colour of one bird, or distinct
species, I can offer no further evidence. I must say,
however, that I place as much faith in KjarbolUng on this
subject as in any man living, and frora what Uttle opportu
nity I have had of comparing specimens, I am decidedly
of opinion that it vrill turn out at some future day, when
the different stages of plumage become better known and
authenticated, that this Norwegian Jer falcon is as good
and distinct a species as the peregrine.
I do not believe the true Iceland falcon has ever been
kno-wn to breed in Scandinaria.

FALCONS. 255
3. F. Pekegeinus, L. Pelegrims Falk. The Peregrine
Falcon. D. P.
Length, about 16 in. ; taU level vrith the tips of the
closed vrings, which wUl always distinguish it at a
glance from either of the last, in which the tail is
always nearly 2 in. longer than the closed vrings. The
old bird, dark ash grey above, -with black transverse
bars; under parts, reddish white, -vrith dark wavy
Unes. Tail with nine to twelve transverse bars, abroad
black streak under the eyes, and behind that a white
one. Head dull blue. Eyes brown. Cere and legs
yeUow. The young bird is dark brown above, under
parts yeUovrish or brownish white, with bro-wn longi
tudinal spots. TaU with fewer transverse bars.
In the mature plumage the sexes are much alike.
Is not rare, but certainly very sparingly distributed over
OUT midland forests. It is much raore comraon on the
Lap fells, right up to the North Cape. Nest placed
either on the ledge of a rock or a high tree. Eggs three,
blotched red, rauch reserabling those of the Iceland falcon,
but smaUer. I always find this a most difficult egg to
obtain. Leaves Scandinavia in the vrinter, and does not, I believe,
breed in Denmark.
F. Lanarius, L. A young specimen, which is said to
have been killed in this country, is preserved in the Stock
holm museum, but Nilsson does not include it in the Scan
dinavian fauna, where, in my opinion, it has certainly no
right to a place. There is no doubt, however, that at
least one young example has been killed in Denmark. Is
included in Wright's " Birds of Finland," but he gives
no particulars as to locaUty, date of capture, etc.
4. F. Subbuteo, L. Lark Falk. The Hobby. D. F.
TaU shorter than the wings ; first wing feather longer
than the fourth. Length of old male about 1 foot. Wing
breadth, 31 in. ; feraale a little larger. Cere, legs, and
feet, yeUow ; taU with 10 to 12 bands on the under side ; a

256 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
small moustache as in the peregrine, which bird it
much resembles in miniature. A white spot on the
back of the neck. Upper parts all dark black-blue.
Throat white. Breast and belly vrith long black spots.
Legs, feathers, and under tail coverts, pale rusty red.
The female much resembles the male, but the spots
on the breast are thicker and larger. Back darker and
duller. In the young birds the red thighs are paler,
with dark brown oblong spots. A rusty tinge on the
cross bands under the tail,
A summer migrant to the north. Breeds in the south
and middle of Scandinaria, but does not go so far up as
Lapland, Eggs — generally in an old crow's nest — ^red, Thereis
so little difference between the general character of the eggs
of the hobby, merlin, and the kestrel, that if a lot were
mixed, it would be impossible to know one from the other.
Those of the merUn are, however, generally the smaUest,
and when fresh, have a pinkish tint.
5. F. LiTHOPALCO, Gmel. Dverg Falk. The MerUn. D, F,
The smaUest of the northern falcons, generally 2 in.
shorter than the hobby. Tail longer than the wings.
First vring feather shorter than the fourth. Male, Ught
blue-grey above, as also the tail, which has a broad
black band, and narrow white tip, but no other cross
bands. The female and young are grey-brown above,
with the edges of the feathers paler. Below yeUowish
white, with brown long spots. TaU grey-brown, with
five to six pale bands across its upper surface.
Is a summer migrant to Scandinavia, but passes over
the south and middle of the country to breed on the Lap
fells, where it is very common in the season, as far
up at least as Tornea Lapland. Eggs, six, — red. Nearly
always laid on the ground among heather.
6. F. RuEiPBS Bechst. Rod bent Falk. The Red Legged
Hobby. D, F,

HAWKS. 257
TaU exactly of the same length as the closed wings.
First -wing feather like the third.
Very much resembles the hobby, but the body colour
is much darker, and the thighs, feet, and legs, as well as
the under taU coverts, are deep red. In the young, rusty
yellow, but the young male, in the first year, so much
resembles that of both the merlin, and hobby, that it
can hardly be distinguished, except by the difference in the
length of tail, and the white claw. Although included by
Nilsson in the Scandinarian fauna, I do not believe it has
ever been properly authenticated in Sweden or Norway.
SoUtary examples have been shot both in Denmark and
Finland. The egg resembles those of the last, but is rounder
and smaller.
, 7. F. TiNNUNCULUS, L. Torn Falk. The Kestrel.
TaU longer than the vrings by one-fourth ; in the male
blue-grey, vrith a black band in front of the pale ash blue
tip ; in the female, red-brown, with about ten blackish
transverse bands. Body colour in the male brick-red,
vrith small black heart-formed drops over the whole
upper surface ; pinions dark. In the young female the
body colour is paler, vrith dark transverse bands ; length
about 14 in.
Is by far the commonest of aU the falcons in Scandinaria,
and builds very frequently in church towers, whence its
Swedish name ; goes far up into Lapland, but not so far as
the merlin. A summer migrant.
Subgen. Astur, Bechst. Hawk.
Beak as in the falcon's, but vrithout the pointed tooth ;
distinguished by the long thin legs, and tail, the latter
extending always two-thirds of its length beyond the closed
vrings ; fourth wing feather longest.
8. AsTUE palumbaeius. Keys. Duf Hok. The Goshawk.
D. F.
Tarsi stout, of a moderate length, feathered half way
do-wn; length 2 ft. ; taU nearly 6 in. beyond the wings ;
iris, gape, and eyelids yellow.

258 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
It is always said that the old males and females are of
the same colour, ash-grey, vrith dark transverse spots on
the breast. That this is more or less the plumage of very
old males I do not deny, but they are extremely rare with us.
In all the females, however, which I have shot from the nest,
and some have been very old (at least very large), the body
plumage has been the same, and I take this description,
from a very large female shot from the nest, vrith three re
markably fine eggs, on the 2nd May, 1864, The whole
upper part dark shiny brown, rather rusty on the head;
secondaries edged with white ; tail more grey, with about
four dark transverse bands across the upper side ; under part
yellovrish white, with large longitudinal spots on the breast
which are much smaller and fewer, though longer, on the
belly; thigh- feathers vrith a pale rusty yellow tinge, and very
thin longitudinal dark streaks. This I take to be the general
plumage of most of the goshawks, both male and female,
that we kUl, In both old and young the legs and cere are
yellow. I never had the luck to kill a male in the breeding
season, when alone we are able to determine by dissection
¦with certainty the male from the female ; but that this grey
plumage is not the common plumage of the male, but only
assumed at a very late period of life, I argue from the fact
of their being so very scarce. That the brown plumage be
comes greyer from age, even in the females, I know from
examination, but probably it is never so ash-blue as in the
old male.
Wright observes : — " In stuffed specimens, especiaUy
among such as have for a long time stood in a museum, the
colour becomes by degrees altogether grey-brown. Even
other birds, whose colour when Uring is grey-blue, undergo
a similar transformation when stuffed ; on which account it
is always safer to study the colours in Uring, or fresh kiUed
examples." The goshawk is one of the few of the family that remain
in Scandinavia throughout the vrinter; and Nilsson says,
which is probably the case, that it is the young birds which
leave the breeding place, and wander away ; the old ones re-

GOSHAWKS. 259
main near the nest. The nest is, as far as my experience goes,
always in a fir, often on the edge of the forest, or at least
pretty open. The eggs, three, usually white-blue, but in
the eggs I have just mentioned, one was clear white, the
other two dashed faintly with red at the larger end; a
very Uttle larger, and more pointed at the ends, than those
of the common buzzard. I have taken the eggs in South
Werraland, and also in Quickiock, Lapland.
NUsson remarks that, " in AprU the change of plumage
takes place, when araong the feathers on the lower parts of
the body which characterize the younger bird {viz., ochre
yellow, with dark brown longitudinal streaks), white feathers
vrith dark brown transverse streaks, begin to show them
selves." Now by this he clearly means the AprU of the year
after the bird was born, and as he includes both sexes of the
old birds in one description — " under white, with transverse
wavy streaks," and the young bird " whitish, tinged with
rusty yeUow, with dark bro-wn longitudinal spots," he surely
means that both sexes when adults are characterized by
these wa-vy transverse (not longitudinal) Unes on the breast,
which appear in the spring ensuing their birth. Now here
he is clearly wrong, for the old female which I mention, I am
certain from her size, is more than two years old, and there
is not the sUghtest indication of a transverse dark wa-vy Une
on the breast ; all are longitudinal, and in every specimen
I have obtained (except one), this has been invariably the
case. The goshawk is by far the most destructive bird of prey
to the Scandinarian game. I have known them strike
down a capercaiUie, and the hazel grouse appears to be their
favourite food. Subgen. Accipiter, Briss.
Tarsi long and slender ; feathered only on the upper fourth
part. 9. AcciPiTEE Nisus, Briss. Sparf Hok. The Sparrow
Hawk. D. F.

260 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Tail reaches nearly 3 in. beyond the closed wmgs ;
length about 1 ft.
The old female resembles the male in plumage, except
that the back and shoulders are less ash-grey and more
grey-brown, but the wings and tail are the same.
Adult. Upper parts greyish blue, under whitish, with
small long black streaks, and reddish wavy Unes on the
breast and belly; vrings greyish brown, with dark brown
bands on the under side ; taU blueish grey, vrith five blackish
cross bands, and a white tip.
The young male resembles the old female, but the young
female is much browner. Very common from the south of
Sweden up to Lapland, but I do not believe it is met vrithin
that country. A few remain even in the raiddle of Sweden
during the winter. Builds in a tree, and the eggs, generally
four, are, I think, the handsoraest.of any bird of prey ; white
ground very apparent, dashed all over vrith large deep red
brown ; blotches often crowded at the large end, and occa
sionally forming a Une round the middle.
Gen. Aquila, Briss.
Head with flat crown, as well as the neck, clothed vrith
long pointed feathers ; beak long and strong, vrith a sharp
hooked point ; wings long and broad, reaching nearly to the
end of the rounded tail ; third and fourth feathers longest..
Land Eagles.
Tarsi feathered right down to the toes, the middle, toe
joined to the outer one by a web as far as the first joint.
10, Aquila cheysabtos, Cuv, Kungs Orn, The Golden
Eagle, D, F,
Length near 3 ft. ; wing breadth 6 ft. ; tail in the male
12 in. ; does not reach beyond the closed wings ; in the
female 15 in., extending beyond the closed wings; head
and neck above brownish yellow ; chin and throat black ;
body above dark brown, more or less tinged with grey,
under blackish, with or without a rusty tinge ; in the

EAGLES. 261
young bird, taU rounded, longer than the closed wings,
and from the root white, two -thirds of its length ; orin
the old bird, scarcely longer than the wings, and grey
marbled from the root two-thirds of its length, and after
that blackish brown.
Is certainly rare in Scandinavia, although it remains
here the whole year, for I have known them caught in the
winter in wolf-traps, in Wermland. I never took the nest
myself, but the eggs are in general two, hardly so large as
those of the white-taUed eagle, but always more richly
blotched with red-brown. They are very difficult to
procure. 11. A. Njivia, Briss. Sma Orn. The Spotted Eagle. D.
SmaUer than the last, tarsus longer and thinner.
Length rarely exceeding 2 ft. Head greyish brown ;
body colour brown above, with or vrithout white spots ;
below rusty grey, vrith or vrithout longitudinal streaks.
Tail never longer than the closed vringSj altogether
brown (neither white or grey at the root), but the top
side is marked vrith about six, more or less distinct
transverse bars;
Is only an accidental risitant to the North, but specimens
have been kiUed both in Sweden and Denmark, although
never in Finland < Subgen. Haliaetos, Sav.
Tarsi only feathered down half their length. The web
between the toes scarcely perceptible.
Sea Eagles.
12. Hallabtos Albicilla, Sav. Hafs 6m. The White-
taUed Eagle. D. F.
About the same size as the golden eagle ; colour
dark brown or brown-grey ; tail in the old bird white
throughout its whole length, and not longer than the
wings. In the young bird speckled with grey, and
longer than the wings.
The older the bird becomes, the paler is the brown-grey
body-colour, and the lighter the head and neck.

262 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
It seems that in Scandinavia there are two forms of this
eagle which some have fancied distinct species. The one,
the F. ossifraga, said to be pecuUar to the far north, is
larger than the southerly form {F. albioilla), measuring
sometimes 8 ft. between the vrings. It is, however, most
probable that the ossifraga is nothing more than the young
of the albicilla, for in the eagles, the young in general are
larger than the old ones of the same sex. The reason of
this is, that the bones in the older birds are thinner and
more drawn up than in the young, and it is a common
rule that the tail is shorter in the older birds. This eagle is,
I fancy, far more common in Scandinaria than the golden
eagle; it is dispersed pretty generally but sparingly over the
whole country, and in the winter congregates much on the
southern coasts, so that in a small island off Engelholm I
have counted seventeen together. The nest is generally in
the neighbourhood of water ; eggs two (very rarely three)
laid in April, dirty white. About 3 in, long by 2 in. thick.
Subgen. Pandion, Sav. Osprey.
Beak much smaller than in the true eagles; tajl round
and compressed, shorter than the closed -wings ; nostrils out
wardly covered with a web ; toes underneath rough, for the
purpose of grasping ; the outer toe free, moveable ; tarsus
strong and short; second and third wing feathers
longest. 13, Pandion Haluetos, Sav, Fisk Ljuse, The Osprey,
D, F.
Legs and cere always pale blue, never yeUow, as in
the eagles ; all the upper parts of the body dark brown,
underneath white. Length about 2 ft.; taU shorter
than the wings, with dark bands across the outer
feathers ; iris yellow.
Is tolerably common and pretty generally dispersed
throughout all Scandinaria, to far up within the polar
circle. Nest generally on an old pine^ somewhere in the
neighbourhood of water. Eggs smaUer and more oblong

KITE— BUZZAED. 263
than those of the eagles, but far handsomer ; ground colour
clear white, which is often very apparent. Blotched all
over with deep red-brown. Full number three.
The Falco brachydactylus, Tem., the short-toed eagle.
(Bree), is included in the Danish fauna, and is said to have
once bred in Schleswig. Milvus, Sav. Elite.
Tail long and deeply cloven ; third and fourth feathers
of the wing longest.
14. MiLVUS Regalis, Briss. Glada. The Kite. D.
Length a little over 2 ft.; head and neck whitish, with
bro-wn streaks ; body colour above, Ught reddish brown
vrith paler feather edges, under parts rusty grey, with
dark longitudinal streaks ; tail, which is 13 in. long
(reaching at least 3 in. beyond the long pointed wings
when closed) red-brown, indistinctly raarked with
smaU dark bands on the under side. Iris in the old
bird pale yellow, in the young bird pale grey.
Is a summer migrant, and tolerably coramon in the
south and middle of Scandinaria, but does not go very
far north. Next to the lark, is about the earliest migrant
that arrives. I saw a kite in Wermland on March 23rd,
1864, but it was no herald of spring, for after that we
had a very heavy snow storm, and night frosts for six
weeks. The egg oi the kite is most difficult to obtain, properly
authenticated; and I have no doubt that of the common
buzzard, which is far more easily obtained, is often
substituted for it. They both breed with us in trees.
The full number of eggs in both ne?ts three, and the eggs are
much alike, ground colour whitish, blotched more or less
with red-brown. Is not known in Finland.
The black kite is included in the Danish fauna, but only
in the very southem prorinces.
Buteo, Cuv. Buzzard.
Beak rounder and smaller than in the kite ; head thick ;

264 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
body plump and round; wings round; fourth feather
longest : taU rounded, scarcely longer than the closed
wings. 15. Buteo vulgaeis, Bechst. Orm Vrak. The Common
Buzzard. D. F.
Wings equal to the tail in length, the latter haring
about twelve grey transverse bands on a dark brown bot
tom ; shafts of the wing, and taU feathers white. Little
difference in the celour of the male and feraale (but the
latter is largest), and just as little difference in plumage
between the old and young birds. They vary very
much in colouring ; body colour usuaUy dark brown ;
breast and belly often transversely marked with white.
Length about 20 in.
Is a spring migrant to the north, and certainly one of
the commonest of the birds of prey, especially in the middle
of Scandinavia. I never met with it in Lapland, nor do I
believe that it goes so far north.
16 Buteo lagopus, Briin. Fjosbent Vrak. The Rough-
legged Buzzard. D. F.
May at once be distinguished from the common
buzzard, by the tarsus being feathered nearly to the
toes, and by the root of the tail being white, two-thirds
of its length. A little larger than the last, and the
colour lighter; but they vary much. Tail scarcely
longer than wings.
A suramer migrant, and only seen in the south and
middle of the country during the periods of migration. Its
principal breeding haunts are the Lapland fells ; and to
prove how common they are in sorae places, I may mention
that in one season, 1862, just round Quickiock, I am certain
more than thirty nests were destroyed. I generaUy found
the nest placed on the ground, on the ledge of a rock, but
occasionally in a stunted tree. I may notice that, although
you never meet with this bird breeding in the forests at the
bottom of the fells, it does not seem to go far above the
limits of the forests, never into the snow region. Goes up

HONEY BDZZAED. 265
to the far north of Lapland; common over aU Finland.
I take three to be the general number of eggs, although I
have found more in a nest. The egg very much resembles
that of the last, but is generaUy deeper coloured, with, if I
may use the term, a bolder character. I have, however, seen
specimens of both quite white.
Subgen. Pemis, Cuv.
Tarsi half feathered. The nose .between the eye and the
base of the beak, covered with a Httle close plume of feathers,
instead of bristles, as in every other bird of prey.
The above characters will always distinguish this buzzard
from any other.
17. Peenis APivOEUS, Cuv. Bi-Vrak. The Honey Buzzard.
D. F.
About the size of the last ; tail two inches beyond
the closed wings, greyish-brown, with three or four
large broad dark bands, and several smaUer. The body
colour varies so much, that it is difficult to give even a
good general description ; usually grey-brown, Ughtest
on the head ; breast white, barred with brown. When
flying, it may be distinguished by the wings appearing
white underneath, the feathers tipped with black, and
haring dark transverse bands. The male may always be
known by the smaUer size and the Ught ash-blue head.
Is sparingly dispersed during the summer over the
middle of Scandinaria; is said to breed also in Lap
land, but , I could never either see or hear of it there.
With us in the middle of Sweden, they go to nest
latest of any of the genus, and we rarely flnd eggs tUl
June. I often take the nest of the comraon buzzard
early, or in the middle of April. Nest of the honey buz
zard usuaUy placed in a fir, invariably, as far as I can see,
in a small forest raixed with much birch ; and in every nest
which I have seen I have observed some green birch boughs
interwoven vrith the dry fir sticks, of which the nest is
chiefly composed. Eggs, two. I never saw more ; very like

266 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
those cf the peregrine, but perhaps rounder. I have seen
them of a uniform red colour, and again with a white ground
with large red blotches, sometimes forming a crest, some
times a zone, around the^middle. This latter form of egg is
remarkably handsome. Subgen. Circus, Sav. Harriers.
Distinguished by the disk of feathers round the face;
something like the owls, the long thin legs, and long pointed
wings, shorter than tail ; third and fourth feathers longest.
Frequent low, marshy, fenny tracts.
18. CiEOUS OEEUGINOSUS, Lath. Rostbrun Karr hok. The
Marsh Harrier. D.
Head whitish or rusty yellow; upper parts of the
body brown ; thigh feathers rusty yeUow ; under parts
soot brown, with a broad rusty band over the breast ;
the under side of the wings grey-brown, vrithout trans
verse bands ; taU and secondaries ash grey in the male,
brown in the female. Length 22 in.
AU the harriers are summer visitants to the North, and
none of them so common as might be expected from the
nature of the country. All build their nests on the ground
in marshy situations, and lay from three to four blueish-
white eggs, more elongated than any other of the
hawks. The marsh harrier is more common in the south of
Sweden and Norway than any of the others, but does not
appear to have a very vride northerly range. Is not known
in Finland.
19. C. Cyanbus, Cuv. Bla Karr hok. The Hen Harrier ^.
TheRmgTaU$. D. F.
Upper plumage in the male blue-grey ; under white,
unspotted ; wings underneath, from the root to the
middle, white, then black. Length 18 in. Female
brown above ; below rusty yellow, streaked longitudi
nally with brown ; wings underneath transversely barred
vrith black and white. Length 20 in. Feather disk

HAEEIEES. 267
large and apparent; third and fourth wing feathers
the longest ; the tip of the second comes much nearer to
that of the fifth than of the third ; first and seventh
aUke; taU longer than the vrings; upper taU coverts
pure white.
Is certainly commoner than the last, in the midland dis
tricts, and appears to go much further north, for specimens
have been shot up at Munioniska, in Tornea Lapland. Is
spread over the whole of Finland.
20. 0. CiNEEACEUS, Mont. Mindre Karr hok. Montague's
Harrier. D. P.
Very much resembles the last, but is smaller. Male
and female, subject to the same variation in plumage,
but in the male, the white under-plumage is spotted and
barred vrith rusty brown. Length from 15 to 17 inches.
To distinguish this species frora the last, observe that
the tail is even vrith the closed vrings ; the feather disk
is not nearly so plain ; the third vring feather is the
longest, and the tip of the second comes much nearer
that of the fourth, than of the fifth ; first Uke the sixth ;
upper taU coverts vrith grey transverse bands.
Is accidental in Scandinaria and Finland, but more com
mon in Denmark, where it breeds. Has probably been
hitherto confounded with the last.
21. C. Pallidus, Sykes. Blek Karr hok. F.
Resembles the last in size and appearance. Subject
to the same variation in plumage, but the male may
always be known by its pure white throat and chest
(whence its English name), which in both the two last
species are blue ash. The feather disk is indistinct,
unspotted. The tail is considerably longer than the
closed wings; the third vring feather longest; the
tip of the second comes nearer that of the fourth, than
of the fifth.
Accidental specimens have been shot both in Gothland
(where they are said to breed), and also near Gothenburg,
but aU have been females. Two examples have been shot in

268 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN
Finland, both males. Not known in Denmark. Figured by
Dr. Bree as the pale-chested harrier.
NOCTUENAL BIEDS OE PEEY.
Fam. 2. — Steigidj;. Owls.
Eyes large, in front of the round head, surrounded with a
disk more or less perfect, of stiff hairy feathers ; beak smaU;
plumage soft and downy ; legs always thickly clothed with
soft feathers.
By some naturaUsts this family is subdirided into no
less than four, and nine genera. I think it far better and
simpler to follow NUsson, and separate it into two diri-
sions — the diurnal and nocturnal owls. All lay white round
eggs, either in holes of trees or in clefts of rocks, very few
troubUng themselves to make a nest.
1. — Diurnal Owls.
Bar openings oval, of a moderate size, and vrith no flap
or covering. Feather disk small, and dirided at the top.
The form of the body appears smaller, because the feathers
are not so downy as in the nocturnal owl, and the head is
smaller in proportion. Noctua, Sav.
A. — ^With no perceptible ears or horns on the forehead.
22. Steix Nyctea, L. FjaU Uggla. The Snowy Owl,
D. F.
Length about 2 feet ; taU 2 inches longer than the
wings. All the body plumage white, more or less
spotted with blackish grey ; head small ; beak and
claws black; eye orange-yellow. The old birds are
nearly pure white ; the younger more or less spotted.
Unlike any other owl, the young of which obtain their
full mature plumage at the first autumnal month, the
snowy owl does not arrive at its mature white dress
until after several moults.
The pecuUar home of the snowy owl is on the snow-
clad summits of the Scandinavian feUs, although in th6

OWLS. 269
vrinter indiriduals, principally younger birds, wander to a
distance, and soUtary examples are then shot in many parts
of the country. It is a fine bold bird, and its solitary habits
and loud shriek, " kra-u, kra-u," are in perfect keeping vrith
the vrild regions which it frequents. It is a very erratic bird,
and its wanderings are much dependent on the migrations
of the lemming.
The nest, placed on the ground, often on a projecting
rock, is a large ball of reindeer moss, and a few sticks. Eggs
six or seven ; rather elongated, perfectly white. The nest I
took in Lapland, on June 2, contained six eggs. The old
female we shot was nearly pure white.
23. Steix FuHEEBA, Lath. Hok Uggla. The Hawk Owl. D.F.
Length about 15 in. ; the pointed tail reaches 3 in.
beyond the closed wings. Whole body colour, brown ;
darker or lighter dependent upon age and season ;
covered aU over with white spots, especially on the
shoulders and head.
Is certainly in Lapland the commonest of all the owls.
But although never a winter passes vrithout our obtaining
two or three specimens in the middle of the country, the
northem forests, at the foot of the fells, are its proper
home, and I never could hear of its breeding any where
else. In habits and flight this bird much more resembles
the falcons than the owls.
The fuU number of eggs, according to my experience,
is six, although I have taken more out of a nest; and
in size and appearance they often much resemble those
of the short-eared owl. Usual size 1-^ by l-g-. I never took
them from any other place than out of a hole in a dead
fir or pine, and this is quite contrary to the information
which other naturaUsts give us of the breeding habits of this
bird. No signs of a nest ; eggs always laid on the rotten
wood, like the Woodpecker's. Go to nest in the end of
April. 24. S. Passeeina, L. Sparf Uggla. F. D.
This is the smallest of all European owls ; scarcely 7 in.

270 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
long; and 11 in. across the wings. May at once be dis
tinguished from the British Uttle owl by its toes being
covered -with thin bristles instead of feathers, by the length
of the tail, which extends nearly 1-^- in. beyond the closed
vrings, by a difference in the coraparative length of the
wing primaries, and by its toes being thickly covered -vrith
small feathers. Upper plumage grey-brown, strewed all
over with whitish spots ; underneath lighter, with longi-
tudinal streaks ; tail with four white bars, and white tip ;
colour of the sexes alike ; iris bright yellow.
I fancy this little owl is much more common in Scan^
dinavia than the Swedish naturaUsts suppose ; and although
I never obtained the nest, I know they breed both in South
Wermland, and also at Quickiock, Lapland. What the
egg is like, I cannot say, but as I obtained four young
ones which could scarcely fly, out of the same famUy, at
Quickiock, we may take it for granted that Temminck is
quite wrong, when he says that the fuU number of eggs is two.
Is one of the earliest birds in our forests, and the note,
one shrill whistle, like blovring into a key, followed by a
nuraber of finer notes, " ti-weet, ti-weet, ti-weet," is heard
during the pairing season, in March and April, long before
daybreak. Figured by Dr. Bree as the " Least European sparrow-
owl." Only accidental in Denmark. Common in the south
and middle of Finland.
25. S. NuDiPES, NUss. Minervas Uggla. The Little Night
Owl. D.
- Has no more right to a place in the Scandinavian fauna
than the common bam owl. But one specimen of each ia
recorded to have been taken in South Sweden. Pretty com
mon in some parts of South Denmark.
Bubo, Cuv.
B. — ^With feather tufts, or horns, on the forehead.
26. S. Bubo, L. Berg Uf. The Eagle Owl.
Length about 2 to 4 in.; tail rounded, 2 in. longer than

OWLS. 271
the closed vrings ; horns 2 in. high. Colour, above
black, speckled vrith rusty yeUow and grey ; below rusty
yellow, -with black streaks and small wavy lines on the
belly and sides. Little difference in the plumage of the
sexes, save that the white spot on the chin is much
purer and larger in the male.
The eagle owl is sparingly distributed throughout all
Scandinaria, to far up vrithin the Polar circle. I have
found the nest on a rock, and also in a smaU tree. Eggs
three ; the largest of all the Northern owls' eggs.
Like all the owls they go to nest early.
I am very fond of having this bird in confinement, and
am rarely vrithout one or a pair. Of all pets they are the
least trouble. I never knew them want any water, and they
are satisfied if they get a good raeal once a week. Although
diurnal, like the Uttle owl, it is only at night when they
wake up, and the raeasured " boo, boo," of the eagle owl,
like the distant bark of a gruff old watch dog, is heard
throughout the whole summer night by any one who chances
to intrude on the ricinity of their eyrie. Next to the gos
hawk, I think the eagle owl is the raost destructive of all the
birds of prey in these forests. Blackcock, hares, capercailUe,
and even the cunning fox, fall a prey to them ; and as the
young lie long in the nest, they require a deal of food. Is
said to breed in Denmark, but I fancy very rarely.
2. — Nocturnal Owls.
Note. — ^Although Nilsson, perhaps properly, includes the
short-eared owl, and the lap owl, in this dirision, I may
remark that both these species can hunt by daylight as well
as by night. In fact, in the high Polar regions which both
frequent, for three months in the year, the nights are as light
as day ; and I believe the glare of dayUght quite as Uttle
affects their eyes as it does those of the eagle owl.
Gen. Ulula, Bon.
Ear openings large, half-moon shaped, furnished with a
cover or flap ; feather disk large, perfect ; size of the head
very large ; feathers sUky.

272 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
(1.) With horns on the forehead.
27. Steix Otus, L. Skogs Uf. The Long-Eared Owl. D. P.
Length about 14 in. ; tail 1 inch shorter than the
vrings ; with six to eight transverse bands. No differ
ence in the plumage of the sexes, save that the female is
much lighter coloured. Horns projecting about l-i- in.
beyond the head feathers. Body colour, above speckled
brown, rusty yellow, and grey; below rusty yeUow,
with long brown streaks.
Is common throughout the south and middle of Sweden,
but does not go up into Lapland, Rare in Finland, and
only met -vrith in the south.
28. S. Beachyotus, Lath. Kort Orad Uf. The Short-
eared Owl. D. F.
This is the only one of the true Swedish owls which
leaves the country in the vrinter, and returns in spring to
breed on the Lapland fells, strange to say, passing over
the south and middle of the country, where thousands of
acres of heather are to be found, apparently quite aswell suited
to the breeding habits of this bird as the northern British
moors, where they are not uncommon in the suramer.
The ear-feathers hardly perceptible till they are raised
with the finger. Length about 13 in. Colour much like
the last, but lighter and handsomer. The tail, however, is
scarcely half an inch shorter than the closed wings, and has
but three or four brown cross bands. The eye is moreover
entirely encircled in black ; in the last there is only a black
patch in the front of the eye. The iris in both is yellow.
I never found the nest any where but on the Lap feUs,
where these birds are tolerably common in the summer ; and
I have often been amused, as I lay by my camp fire, in
watching their airy gyrations, much resembling the fiight of
the peewit over their breeding grounds, during the whole
of the light summer's night. The eggs, six, always placed on
the ground ; nest a few bits of dry grass scratched together.
(2.) Without Ears.
29. S. Lapponica, Sparrm, Lap. Uggla. F.
Length a little over 2 ft. ; tail rounded, the sida

OWLS. 273
feathers iJ- in. shorter than the rest, and 3 in. longer
than the closed -wings ; the body, however, is small, the
weight of the whole bird not exceeding 4 lb. ; the circle
round the eye ash grey, with dark cross bands ; whole
upper plumage speckled with dark and yello-wish brown,
under whitish, vrith brown longitudinal streaks ; tail
long, pointed, grey-brown, vrith grey cross bands and
dark tip ; iris briUiant yeUow.
The home of this rare and most beautiful of all the
northem owls is the very north of Scandinaria, from whence
it rarely wanders, although I once obtained a very fine spe
cimen kUled in the winter in South Wermland.
The Lap owl is a true forest owl, and is never seen higher
up on the feUs than the limits of the forests ; nest generally
in a high fir or pine. I do not know whether it is buUt by
the bird itself, raost probably not. I never saw the egg,
save one which Mr. A. Newton kindly gave me. This egg
was rounder and more elongated than that of the eagle owl.
It was taken at Muncovara, and the nest contained seven eggs.
30. S. Litueata, Gra. Slag Uggla. D. F.
Length 1 ft. 11 in. EngUsh ; breadth of wings 3 ft.
9 in. ; length of taU 12 in., extending beyond the closed
vrings 6 in. First wing feather a little shorter than
tenth ; second like seventh ; third rather shorter than
sixth ; fifth longest ; colour rather resembling that of
the brown owl, but much more uniformly grey without
any tawny tinge. The long pointed taU vriU always
distinguish this owl frora any other.
Is certainly the rarest of aU the Scandinarian owls, and
never appears to go so far north as the last. It is never,
however, met vrith in the south of the country. In AprU,
1864,1 shot a remarkably fine female in South Wermland, and
I do not think one was ever shot so far south before. I do not
believe it is met vrith in Lapland. Is included in the Danish
fauna, but I think on very doubtful authority. My descrip
tion is from a fresh kiUed specimen, a thing which very few
naturalists have had the opportunity of obserring. Eye
18

274 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
dark (appeared blueish black), not as I have seen it depicted
in every coloured figure except KjarbolUng's, bright yeUow.
Of its breeding habits (at least in Scandinaria), nothing is
known, and I do not beUeve any collection contains a weU
authenticated egg of this bird. Figured by Dr. Bree as the
"ural owl."
31. S. Aluco, Gm. Katt Uggla. The Brown Owl. D.
Length 14 in. ; breadth of wings 2 ft. 10 in. ; tail
6 in., extending about 2 in. beyond the closed vrings ; iris
black ; colour above speckled vrith bro-wn-grey, rusty
yellow, and white, with long brown spots ; below whitish,
vrith long blackish brown streaks, and a rusty white spot
on the shoulder. The female is always more red-brown
than the male, especially on the back, where the male is
grey and white. I fancy that this owl never attains so
red a tint in Sweden as in more southem cUmes. First
vring feather like the tenth, much shorter than second ;
second shorter than sixth ; third shorter than fourth,
which is equal to fifth, and longest.
Is the commonest of aU the Scandinarian owls, but con
fined, I think, to the middle and south of the country. Is
not included by Wright in his " Birds of Finland," and does
not appear to be known in Lapland.
32. S. Tbngmalmi, Gm. Perl Uggla. Tengmahn's Owl.
D. F.
Length 10 in. ; breadth of vrings 22 in. ; taU 4 in.,
reaches scarcely 1 in. beyond the closed wings; iris
clear yeUow ; colour brown above, with white spots ;
below white, vrith brown transverse bands ; a ruddy
tinge over the breast, which, as in the female hawk owl,
is most conspicuous in the breeding season.
Independently of its much greater sizie (for the head and
body appear double as large), this owl may always be dis
tinguished from the Strix passerina by the eyes being en
circled vrith a pale white colour, and in the 8. passerina by a
dark circle.
The young which I have shot just after learing the nest

OWLS-WOODPECKEES. 275
¦are very unlike the old birds. The whole colour dark sooty
brown, the white spots very faint and indistinct.
This Uttle owl has a vride breeding range in Scandinaria,
at least from South Wermland to far up -vrithin the Polar
circle, and has even been met vrith in winter in the extreme
south. Only accidental in Denmark, but in Finland, next to
the hawk owl, is the comraonest of all the owls. The eggs
sis, coarse textured, rather elongated ; are always laid in a
hoUow tree, about April ; usual size 1^ by 1 in.
33. S. Flammea, Gm. Torn Uggla. The White Owl. D.
Wings longer than the taU ; iris dark brown ; length
14 in. ; colour, upper parts ash grey, finely watered
and marked, -vrith very smaU black and white spots ;
under parts rusty yellow, vrith very small black spots.
An accidental specimen was shot from the mast of a ship
in Tstad harbour. South Sweden, in 1834, and on this
account the bird has been added to the Scandinarian fauna.
Not known in Finland, and rare in Denmark.
OEDEE 2.— SYLVICOL^, VeU.
This is by far the most comprehensive order in the whole
class of birds, and perhaps the hardest to diride. We can
not do more in this Umited space, than define the birds be
longing fo this order generally as ha-ving feet formed for
perching, vrith claws not adapted to tear asunder their
prey, and beaks vrithout a naked cere, as in the last. I do
not consider NUsson's arrangement of this order as by any
means the best, but as IfoUow his arrangement throughout,
I adopt it here.
1st Sub-Order, Zygodactyli. — Two toes in front, and
(except in very exceptional cases) two behind.
Scansores. Climbers.
Pam. 1.  P1CID.S!. WOODPECKEES,
Gen. Picus.
Beak long, wedge-shaped; taU (except in the wryneck)

276 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
stiff and pointed ; tongue very long, with a horny tip, capable
of being drawn out of the beak to a great length. All lay
their eggs, pure shiny white, in the hole of a tree. This
family is represented throughout the whole world, vrith the
exception of New Holland.
34. Picus maetius, L. SpUl Kraka. The Great Black
Woodpecker. D. F.
AU the woodpeckers remain in Scandinaria through
out the whole year. Length 18 in. ; vring breadth nearly
30 in. ; tail 8 in., extending beyond the vrings about
3 in. ; body colour deep black. In the male the whole
crown of the head, in the feraale only a patch on the back
of the neck, deep crimson ; eye in the younger birds
straw yeUow, in the older ones white.
Is common throughout the whole of Scandinaria, from
the extreme south to far up within the Polar circle. Goes to
nest the earliest of all our woodpeckers, in April. Eggs
five, generally a little larger than those of the green wood
pecker, but often so much resembling them as to be vrith
difficulty distinguished.
Like aU the other woodpeckers, the male sits on the eggs
as well as the female. I have taken three clutches of eggs
(in all fifteen) in one season from the same pair of birds.
The cry of the great black woodpecker is a loud wUd " pey-
oh !" and is generaUy heard before rainy weather.
36. P. ViEiDis, L. Gron Hack Spett. The Green Wood
pecker. D.
Length about 14 in. ; tail extending 2-^ in. beyond
the closed wings ; eye white ; legs lead coloured ; body
colour green above, -vrith a red head, and black tract
around the eye ; under parts greenish grey ; all the tail
feathers vrith pale transverse bands. In tha male a red
stripe frora the gape backwards, which is wanting in the
female, and the red on the head is not so rivid.
Is more common in the south of Scandinaria than the
last, but rarer in the midland forests ; is not known either

WOODPECKEES. 277
in Lapland or Finland. I fancy about five is its general
fuU number of eggs.
36. P. -Canus, Gm. Grahofdad Hack spett. F. D.
Body colour green ; whole top of the head grey, only
in the male the front of the crown is red. Length about
12 in.; iris red; legs greyish green.
Is nowhere so common as the last, and appears to be
confined to the middle of this country. Is not met with in
Lapland. Not rare in the middle and south of Finland, and
only accidental in Denmark. Appears to be common
throughout all Siberia. In winter comes much about houses,
and I often see them scrambUng about the gable ends of the
peasants' wooden cottages.
The egg much resembles that of the last, but not so
bulky. Figured by Dr. Bree as the grey-headed wood
pecker.
37. P. Leuconotus. Bechst. Hvitryggig Hack spett. F.
Length about 11 in. ; breadth of wings 17 in. ; tail
extends l-i in. beyond the closed wings. Iris nut-
brown; legs lead grey; colour black and white varie
gated, the hinder part of the back pure white ; breast
and sides of the belly with dark long streaks ; belly
and under tail coverts rose red ; crown of the head in
the male red, in the feraale black.
Is nowhere very comraon, and I fancy very local, prin
cipally confined to the raidland forests, and seeras more
partial to birch than to fir woods. Has been occasionally
shot in the south, but I never met with it further north
than near Umea. Strange to say that this woodpecker
should never have been identified in Denmark, where the
last is not unfrequently seen. Eggs 6, a very little larger
than those of the P. major. Figured by Dr. Bree as the
white-rumped woodpecker.
38. P. Majoe, L. Storre Hackspett. The Great Spotted
Woodpecker. D. F.
Length 10 in. ; black and white variegated ; the

278 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
back and rump black, a white spot on each shoulder;
head above black, a deep red patch on the back of the
neck^in the male, which is wanting in the female ; under
tail coverts carmine red ; sides dirty white, unspotted.
In the young the top of the head is red in both sexes,
until the first autumnal month, and at this age they may
easily be confounded vrith the P. Medims, but may be
distinguished by their larger size and much thicker beak.
That the P. medius, however, is not the young of the great
spotted woodpecker, as some have erroneously supposed, is
pretty clearly proved by the fact of this latter bird, always re
taining the crimson colour on the top of the head through life.
Is comraon in all the Scandinavian forests, from the ex
treme south to far np into Norway and Lapland. FuU
number of eggs six. Nests in Wermland in May.
39. P. MEDIUS, L. Mellan spett. D.
Length about 8-i in.; general colour very simUar to
the last. But the sides of the old birds are covered
vrith longitudinal dark Unes, and the upper part of the
head and neck is red at all ages in both birds (but not
so bright in the female). Iris brown, encircled vrith a
white ring.
Is confined to the extreme south of Sweden, and we never
meet with it in Wermland. Frequents principally planta
tions of oak and aspen.
Is much more likely to be confounded vrith P. Leu
conotus than with P. major, in my opinion. Eggs six, scarcely
smaller than those of the P. major. Figured by Dr. Bree
as the middle-spotted woodpecker.
40. P. MiNOE, L. LUla Hack spett. The Lesser spotted
Woodpecker. D. F.
Length 6 in.; black and white variegated; back
white, with black transverse bands ; crown of the head
in the male carmine red, in the female dirty white.
Is distributed over the whole of the middle and north of
Scandinaria to far up into Lapland, but does not appear
to be ever seen in the extreme south, except during the

WOODPECKEE— WEYNECK. 279
¦winter. Was as common in Quickiock as the black wood
pecker. The great pied woodpecker was rare there. I
never saw the white-rumped, the green, or the grey-headed
woodpeckers so far north as Lulea, but the commonest in all
the Lap forests is the three-toed woodpecker.
Goes to nest the latest of aU the woodpeckers. General
number of eggs five, which can scarcely be distinguished from
those of the wryneck ; but when authentic eggs of the two
are laid together, those of the wryneck are of a rauch more
chalky white, and altogether want that transparent gloss
which characterizes the eggs of aU the true woodpeckers.
But the oologist must be very careful how he admits the
egg of any of the woodpeckers into his cabinet vrithout a
proper identification.
41. P. Teidactylus, L. Tretaig Hack spett. The Three-
toed Woodpecker. D. F.
With three toes, two in front, onebehind. Lengthabout
9 in.; colour black and white, piebald; crown of the
head in the male golden yellow, in the feraale black and
white spotted ; iris brown ; legs lead coloured.
Is common during the breeding season from the north of
Wermland up to at least Tornea Lapland. In the winter
they wander further south. I have remarked that they are
most partial to such forests as have been destroyed by bush
fijes; very common in Finland. Appears only to have
been once observed in Denmark, and to have been ad
mitted into the British fauna on extremely doubtful
authority. I never found more than four eggs in the nest, but I do
not say that this is the fuU number. In Lapland they do
not go to nest untU June, the latest of aU the wood
peckers. Gen. Yunx, L.
Feet and tongue as in the last, but the taU is long, and
square at the end, with soft feathers.
42. Yunx Toequilla, L. Gok tyta. The Wryneck. D. F.

280 TEN JEAES IN SWEDEN.
Length 7 in.; colour above grey, beautifully varie
gated vrith black, white, and rusty streaks and spots ;
below rusty yellow, vrith dark transverse Unes. Iris
brown-yellow.
Is a summer migrant to Scandinaria, and met with in aU
the southern and midland districts, but does not go up into
Lapland or North Finland.
Eggs in general more in number than any of the wood
peckers. I never met vrith them breeding in deep forests,
generaUy in gardens or avenues near houses.
Fam. 2. — Cuoulid*, Bp. Cuckoos.
Beak sUghtly curved downwards ; tongue short, weak ;
legs short ; the outer front toe reversible.
Gen. Ouculus, L.
Beak shorter than the head; nostrUs lateral, round,
surrounded by an elevated skin. Tail long, rounded with
ten feathers.
43. CucuLUS CANOEUS, L. Gok. The Cuckoo. D. P.
Length about 14 in.; tail 7 in., extending 2 in.
beyond the closed wings; colour, above blue-grey;
breast and belly white, with blackish wavy lines ; tail
blackish, -vrith white spots and tip ; gape, eyelids, nis
and legs,- bright yeUow.
The old female is smaller than the male, and her colour
less grey-blue and raore grey -brown. The young of the first
year are reddish brown.
The breeding habits of the European cuckoo are weU
known to all. The nests usually selected in this country in
which the feraale deposits a single egg are the wagtails',
pipits', and some of the warblers. The egg of the cuckoo
is round and blunt, and though the usual colour may be
described as being dirty white, speckled all over vrith ash or
nutmeg brown, I have often observed a great simUarity in
the general colouring of the egg deposited by the female
cuckoo vrith those of the intended foster-mother.

KINGFI3HEES. 281
2nd Sub-Order, Anisodactyli. — With unequal toes.
Three toes in front, one behind, the outer toe generally
grown up vrith the middle toe.
Fam. 1 .-tAngulieostees, HI.
Legs very short, naked above knee ; aU front toes grown
together at the bottom ; beak below and above edged. AU
the birds belonging to this family frequent the neighbour
hood of streams. They lay their pure white, round, shiny
eggs, usuaUy six, in a hole in a bank.
Gen. Alcedo, L.
Beak straight, long, pointed; legs short; body small,
plump; wings and tail short; colouring always brUUant,
and no difference between the plumage of the sexes.
44. Alcedo Ispida, L. Bla ryggig Isfogel. The King
fisher. D.
Length 7 in.; colour on the back beautiful azure
blue ; head and wings strewed vrith azure blue spots ;
under parts, and a streak through the eyes, rusty
red.
Is exceedingly rare here ; and although occasionally seen
in the southern prorinces of Sweden, has never, I believe,
been detected breeding in Scandinaria. Is said to breed in
Denmark. Many years since I was standing below the faUs
of TroUiattan, and I saw a king-fisher dash down the stream.
I scarcely deemed the circumstance worth notice, for I did
not know then, how rare this bird was rin Sweden. Ihave
never seen one since. This was in the autumn.
Is generally but sparingly dispersed over the whole of
Denmark, and I could never account for its scarcity in
Sweden — a country apparently so weU suited to its habits.
Its place in the latter country appears to be taken by the
water-ousel, a bird which is very rare in Denmark during
the summer. Gen. Merops, L.
Beak long and crooked ; wings long and pointed ; tail

282 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
long, the two middle feathers considerably longer than the
others.
45. Mbeops apiastee, L. Bi atare. The Bee-Eater. D.
About the size of a common thrush. Back and vring
, coverts brown-red ; throat yeUow, encircled with black ;
body underneath sea-green. The two middle taU
feathers nearly one inch longer than the others.
Has only been killed accidentally in the south of Sweden,
and is very rare in Denmark, Does not breed in either
country. Fam. 2. — Tenuieostees.
Beak long and thin, either bent or straight; legs short;
toes dirided. Gen. Upupa, L.
May always be known by the long beak curved down
wards, and the high crest of feathers on the top of the head.
46. Upupa epops, L. H r fogel. The Hoopoe. D. F.
Length about 11 in. Back and wings black, vrith
yellow- white transverse bands ; tail black, vrith one
white transverse band ; breast, head, and front of the
back, reddish grey, vrith a rusty yeUow tinge; crest on
the head rusty yellow, with black tips.
Is a migrant to Scandinaria, and is distributed but par
tially and rarely over the south of botli Sweden and Norway,
where it breeds, according to Nilsson. I have never seen the
bird here, nor met with any one who has. Is very rare,
even if it has yet been properly identified, in Finland.
Breeds in South Denmark. Gen. Certhia, L.
Beak long, very thin and bent ; taU wedge-shaped, stiff,
like the woodpecker's; wings short and round; feathers
soft. 47. Ceethia eamillaeis, L. Tra Krypare. The Creeper.
D.F.
Length 5 inches. Above brown-grey, with oblong

NUTHATCH— CEOWS. 283
white spots ; under parts white ; a yellow- white band
over the wings.
Is met vrith both in the south and middle of Sweden,
and also in South Finland and Denmark, and remains in aU
these countries throughout the year ; but is everywhere spar
ingly distributed. Gen. Sitta, L.
Beak straight, conical; taU even, weak, consisting of
twelve feathers.
48, Sitta Eueopea, L. Not vacka. The Nuthatch. D. F.
Length about 6 in. Grey-blue above, with a black
streak through the eye ; below whitish ; the two middle
taU feathers blue-grey, the rest black.
Remains in Scandinaria throughout the year, but is no
where very common. It is not exactly known how far north
it goes, but certainly as far as Upsala. Has only tvrice been
seen in Finland. Common in Denmark. It is now, I
beUeve, aUowed that the S. Gcesia (Mey.) is nothing more
than a variety of the common nuthatch.
Fam. 3. — Geegaeii, IU.
All the members of this famUy are more or less grega
rious in their habits, and omnivorous.
Gen. Corvus, L. Crows.
BUl strong, thick ; upper mandible sUghtly bent at the
top ; nostrils basal oval, generally covered by bushy feathers;
vrings pointed, fourth feather longest ; feather covering hard
and fast. Mode of progression a stately walk.
1. Corvus. — Tail moderately rounded.
The vrild nature of this country is pecuUarly adapted to
the habits of this old-fashioned bush-ranging bird, which is
met with everywhere, from the very south of Scania to the
north of Lapland.
49. CoEVus coEAX, L. Korp. The Raven. D. F.
Length 2 ft. ; wing breadth more than 4 ft. ; tail

284 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN^
wedge-shaped; the closed wings 2 in. shorter than
the taU, and half an inch shorter than the side tail
feathers. Colour black, vrith purple gloss ; iris vrith
two circles, of which the inner is grey-brown, the outer
white.
The eggs of all this genus have the same character, blue
ish green, or pale greenish grey, with dashes, stains and
spots of a darker shade. BuUd either in trees or on rocks.
Number of eggs from five to six. The eggs of the raven
are, of course, rauch larger than those of any other species.
50. C. CoENix, L. Gra Kraka. The Hooded Crow. D. P.
Length 18 in. Body colour ash grey; vrings and
tail black. First vring feather shorter than ninth.
Is very common throughout the whole land during the
summer months, although I fancy many leave the country
altogether, and return vrith the starlings in March. A great
many remain in the south, and even in the middle of the
country, if the winter be open. Breed in woods solitarily,
far inland from the coast. Assemble on the raeadows in
large flocks, like the rooks, in the spring and autumn. Very
common in Finland, but I think do not breed in DeJn-
mark. The carrion crow has hardly been properly identified in
Scandinaria. Some naturalists (but I am not among the
number) doubt whether the carrion crow is anything more
than a local variety of the hooded crow.
KjarbolUng reraarks that, in the south of Denmark —
where the carrion crow is, I fancy, more common than the
hooded crow — they assemble in the auturan in large flocks,
as the hooded crows do in Sweden. This I never observed
in England.
51. C. Feugilegus, L. Raka. The Rook. D. F.
Length 1 ft. 6 in. Plumage black, glossed with blue ;
base of the biU in the old bird bare, covered with a
white scurf; body form much slenderer than in the
crow, beak thinner, and feathers on the head and
throat much more sUky. None of the shafts of the

JACKDAW-MAGPIE-JAY. 285
neck feathers are apparent. More gregarious in breed
ing and other habits than any other crow.
Is a summer migrant to this country, and rarely met
vrith except in the extreme south ; but I saw a pair (one of
which I obtained) at Quickiock, and M. v. Wright mentions
having received a speciraen frora KittUa, Lapmark.
52. C. MoNEDULA, L. Kaja. The Jackdaw. D. P.
Length 13 in. Crown of the head and upper parts
of the body blueish black ; occiput and nape, ash grey ;
iris white.
Is common in all the towns in the south and middle of
the country; and if a great part of them migrate in the
winter, a great many remain behind, especially in the south.
Gen. Pica, Cuv.
Tail very long and wedge-shaped. Other characters as
in the crows.
53. . Pica caudata, Ray. Skata. The Magpie. D. P.
Length 18 in. ; tail 9 in. Head, throat, back and
breast black, with a blue and green gloss ; shoulders,
breast, and belly white.
Is universally dispersed over all Scandinavia, from the
extreme south even up to Haramerfest, in West Finraark;
reraains throughout the year. I have repeatedly observed
in Sweden, that, about Christmas, the magpies assemble
around their old nests, as if to decide who was to take pos
session, and leave them tUl they begin building in March.
Gen. Garrulus, Briss.
Beak shorter than the head, which is covered with loilg
bushy feathers; the whole plumage soft and bushy; tail
rounded, longish.
54. Gaeeulus GLANDAEius, Briss. Not skrika. The Jay. D.F.
Length 14 in. Colour reddish brown-grey, with black
taU ; upper and under tail coverts white, and brU
liant blue wing coverts, with small black transverse
bands ; iris grey-white. No difference in plumage of
the sexes.

286 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN.
Is stationary in the country throughout the year.
Although met with pretty far north, and throughout the
whole of Finland, I never saw it myself in Lapland, but
from what I heard, I have every reason to beUeve that it is
occasionaUy met with there,
56, G. Ineaustus, L. Lafskrika. F.
Smaller and more slender than the last, which, how
ever, it much resembles in form. Body colour, reddish-
brown aind grey, vrith a black-brown head ; -wing
coverts, upper and under tail coverts, as weU as the taU
itself (with the exception of the two middle feathers,
which are ash grey), rusty red.
Is far commoner in the extreme north of the country than
the jay is in the south and midland districts. Its southern
Umit appears to be North Wermland, from whence it is met
vrith far within the polar circle. It is a very bold, fearless
bird. I never saw them higher on the feU sides than the
Umits of the pine forests.
The nest is built in April, whUe deep snow is on the
ground, generally in a smaU fir, and in a conspicuous situa
tion; large; formed outwardly of dead fir branches, and
thickly lined -vrith feathers. Egg a little smaller than that
of the jay ; ground colour pale blue-grey, mottled and dashed
aU over, especiaUy at the large end, -vrith darker grey and
Ught brown. I fancy three eggs is the usual fuU number,
like the crossbUls, and, Uke these latter birds, the Siberian
jay begins to sit as soon as one egg is laid. BxceUently
figured by Dr. Bree as the " Siberian jay."
Gen. Garyocatactes, Gesn.
Beak longer than the head; tail moderate; appear to
form a kind of Unk between the jays and the woodpeckers-
56. Caeyocatactbs guttatus, Nilss. Not kraka, Sw. ; Nod-
de kraake, Norv. ; Pah kina-hak kinen. Fin. The
Nutcracker, D. F.
Length, 1 ft. 2 in. Body, colour brown, covered
vrith white drop-formed spots. Wings and taU black.

NUTCEACKEE. 287
That the nutcracker is a regular summer migrant to
the middle and north of Scandinaria, I beUeve, although
it appears in much greater numbers in some years than
others. The bird is also well known in Lapland, and Finland,
and yet strange to say, we very rarely see them, and never,
I may say, except in the autumn, and the breeding habits
of the bird appear to be involved in an impenetrable mystery.
I believe no one yet has been able properly to authenticate
the egg (certainly not in the north), and although I have
had three fuU sets of eggs through my hands, which I have
every possible reason to beUeve were the genuine eggs of
this bird, yet as I did not take them myself, or see the
old bird or the nest in situ, I could not authenticate them.
In 1860, I procured two sets of eggs, aU of which, but one,
I sent to England, and one of these eggs was laid before
the Zoological Society by Mr. A. Newton, who reraarked
that of the examples then exhibited by him, my egg was
the one in which he was most incUned to beUeve. Both
sets were taken in South Wermland, a little south of where
I Uve. In both cases the nest was in a smaU fir, in one
instance on a large island ; the full number of eggs in each
was four. I procured one of the nests, which was not unlike
that of the common jay, but very different frora Mr.
Newton's description of the nest of the nutcracker, which
he received in 1861, from the island of Bornholm, in the
Baltic, -with young birds. This latter nest was taken on
the 30th May, and the young birds had left it perhaps eight
days. My eggs were taken fresh in May, and the boy who
took them, and in whom I can place confidence, described
the bird as the nutcracker. Moreover, Dr. Hamraagren
of Carlstad, who, for sorae time, resided in Dalsland, a
province south of this, and a very Uttle way from where I
received my eggs, says that in the north of that province,
in a tract caUed Hassel Skog (on account of the number of
nuts which grow there) the nutcracker is not uncommon
in the summer. The egg which I saved for my own
cabinet is scarcely so large as that of the jay, but thicker
and blunter. Very glossy. Ground colour green, strewed

288 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
aU over vrith dark ash brown irregular blotches of two
shades, crowded together at the larger end. In ohe of the
eggs I remember they formed a zone round the middle.
Morris's amended figure gives a good general idea of the
egg. It is, however, larger and much Ughter coloured
than my eggs. His figure is copied from Schinz. Bal-
daraus describes a nest -vrith five eggs, taken in Hungary,
April 16, 1846, in a fir about six feet from the ground.
He says the nest was like that of the grey crow, but
smaller, raade of fine dry fir twigs, and lined -vrith soft grass
and hair, a little larger and deeper than most nests of the jay.
My nest was principaUy buUt of dry birch twigs, and there
was no hair in the Uning. The description of his eggs
pretty well agrees vrith mine, and I have read two other
descriptions of the eggs in German books, which exactly
agree vrith my eggs. It is very probable that dwarf eggs
of the magpie, as well as of the Siberian jay, have been
represented as the eggs of the nutcracker, but my eggs
could not have been those of the latter, for it does not
breed here, and it is very unUkely that they could have
been the eggs of the magpie, for neither nests were domed,
and every egg in both nests has the same character pre
cisely. Till the egg is fairly authenticated, we must, I
fancy, be fain to consider my eggs as genuine as any that
have been hitherto produced. One thing, I think, we may
take for granted, which is, that the nutcracker does not
breed in the hole of a tree, as has been hitherto stated,
nor lay a cream-coloured egg, for both Mr. Newton's and
Professor Baldamus's evidence, as weU as my own {ii that
is worth anything), speaks quite to the contrary.
Is said by KjarbolUng only to be seen in Denmark
proper, during the period of migration from its more
northerly home. Has been seen in Finland during the
summer by M. v. Wright. I fancy KjarboUing must have
seen authentic nest and eggs.
Gen. Stumps, L.
Beak conical, straight, differing from all the others or

STAELING— EOSB PASTOE— GOLDEN OEIOLE. 289
the family in being depressed, not compressed, throughout.
Tarsus longer than the middle toe. Wings long. Second
feather longest. Tail short.
57. Stuenus VULGAEIS, L. Stare. The Common Starling.
D.F.
Length, about 8 in. Colour black, with purple, red,
green, and blue metallic gloss above, and sometimes
green below, bestrewed vrith small pale rusty yellow
spots. Both sexes alike. Young, grey-brown, un
spotted.
Is a summer migrant to this country, and is then met
vrith in aU parts up to vrithin the Polar circle. Nilsson says
it is not seen in Finraark. M. v. Wright, however, says
that it is met vrith in great nurabers in the south of that
coimtry, and even in smaller numbers near Uleaborg.
Gen. Gracula, Cuv.
Beak long, straight, conical ; head crested ; tail square.
58. Geacula eosea, Cuv. Rosenfargad Drossel. The Rose-
coloured Pastor. D. F.
Length about 8 in. ; body colour rose red ; head,
-wings, and tail black ; the crest on the head bent back
over the neck.
Has only been occasionally kUled in Scandinaria, and
the examples have always been soUtary. It has, however,
according to Nilsson, been once kUled in Lapland, and ac
cording to M. V. Wright, once near Abo, in Finland.
Gen. Oriolus, L.
Beak conical ; legs short ; vrings long ; third feather
longest; tail long, square at the end; tarsus not longer
than middle toe.
59. Oeiolus galbula, L. Soramar Gylling. The Golden
Oriole. D. P.
About the size of a blackbird ; the under vring coverts,
the point of the tail, and its under coverts, pale yellow.
Male bright yeUow, with a black band between the
19

290 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
beak and eye (which is red) ; vrings and tail black ;
female and young oUve green; below whitish, vrith
sraall dark longitudinal spots.
Appears to be very rare and only accidental in Scan
dinavia and Denmark, whereas it is very common, and breeds
in the eastern parts of raiddle and south Finland.
The nest and eggs of the golden oriole are, perhaps, the
chastest of any ; the latter about the size of those of the
thrush, pure white, vrith deep red-brown spots.
Gen. Ooracias, L.
Bill robust, straight, upper mandible bent at the tip;
nostrils basal ; gape edged with stiff hairs ; toes entirely
dirided ; vrings long pointed ; second feather longest ; tarsus
shorter than the middle toe.
60. CoEACiAS GAEEULA, L. Bla Kraka. The RoUer. D. F.
Length about 13 in. ; whole body colour blue-green,
vrith brown-red back, and black vrings; iris brovra-
grey.
Is a summer migrant, and, according to Nilsson, not
uncomraon in many of the leafy woods in the middle and
south of Sweden. I never, however, had the luck to meet
vrith it. Appears to be rare, but breeds in Finland, and
also in Denmark. Eggs round shiny white, laid in the hole
of a tree. Fam. 4. — Seeicati.
Gape wide ; beak short and straight ; plumage soft and silky.
Gen. Bomhycilla, Briss.
A crest of feathers over the neck from the back of the
head ; bright red tips on the ends of the secondaries ; beak
broad at the root ; gape wide ; third wing feather longest.
61. BoMBYCiLLA GAEEULA, Veil. Sidousvans, Sw. Jouhi
Lindu, Fin. Kukainen, Lap. The Bohemian Wax-
wing. D. F.
Length 8 in^ ; body colour ash grey, with a red-brown
tinge, a pointed crest on the back of the head; wings

THE WAXWING. 291
black, with white and yeUow spots ; tail with yellow tip,
and red-bro-wn under coverts ; part of the secondaries
vrith a red parchment-Uke tip on the end of the shaft ;
a band over the eye ; the throat, the primaries, and the
tail in front of the yellow tip, black ; primaries at the tip
on the outer side yellow, on the inner side white (in the
male) ; the colours become deeper by age, and the red
wing tips larger and raore numerous; I have never
seen raore than seven ; occasionally sorae sraall red
tips appear on the ends of the tail feathers, but only
in the very old males ; iris dark brown-red.
The old female differs but little from the old male, except
in the absence of the white edge tips on the inner fan of the
primaries. These are, however, occasionally seen in very old
females, but never so clear as in the old raales, in which
latter, the white spots on the secondaries are soraetiraes
tinged vrith yellow. The black patch, however, on the
chin in the feraale is never so large and deep, and in general
the yellow colour on the outer fan of the primaries, as weU
as on the tip of the tail, is paler and more tinged vrith yeUow
ochre, and the red tips are fewer and smaller.
The young raales (birds of the year) have only a smaUer
and Ughter yellow patch on the outer fan of the primaries,
no white on the inner fan, less yeUow on the tail, and a
shorter feather crest. In females of a like age there is sel
dom any yellow on the primaries, but the spots on the
outer fan are white. The red tips are either very small or
altogether wanting.
Description of a young bird of the year shot on Sep
tember 13th, 1850, by M. v. Wright :— Length 8 m. It
was very unUke the old bird. Head above the short crest,
back of the neck, ear tracts, hinder part of the back, and
upper tail coverts ash grey, with a yellow tinge ; between the
beak and the eye a black spot, as in the old bird ; eye tracts
pale grey ; forehead white ; a white band, with a faint yellow
tinge under the black at the back of the eye ; even under
the eye a small white band, as in the old bird ; throat whitish,
unspotted, after that the colour is more rusty brown ; sides

292 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
of the neck as weU as the body darker grey-brown, with
pale longitudinal streaks. The feathers here have pale grey
ochre-yellow edges ; middle of the breast and belly pale,
nearly white, and unspotted ; sides of the rump pale grey ;
taU beneath tinged vrith dull rusty brown; back and shoul
ders paler and more yellow-grey than in the adult bird.
Wings and tail exactly as I have described above in the
birds of the year; beak pale yellowish; head grey; legs
light lead coloured ; iris brown. The crop was fiUed with
blackberries and the reraains of insects.
The suramer home of the waxvring, as far as we at pre
sent seem to know, appears to be within the Polar circle. I
believe no nest has been as yet obtained farther south than
the one I procured at Quickiock, although I have every
reason to beUeve that they breed farther south, even as low
as Ostersund, in 63° north lat. About the end of autumn,
probably early in November — but this depends upon the sea
son, — large flocks travel down the country, clearing off aU the
mountain ash berries as they pass along, Uke a swarm of
locusts. These migrations do not appear altogether to be
regulated by the state of the weather, or the profusion of food.
I have, however, remarked that their first appearance in
Wermland preludes the first fall of snow. One thing, how
ever, is certain, that of late years we have never seen such
flocks of waxwings in the middle of Scandinaria as we used
to do sorae few years back. In default of mountain ash
berries they will eat the berries of the juniper, and on their
return in the spring, which is usually early in AprU, I have
observed them feeding on the young rye wherever it was
bare. I fancy in their summer home they are chiefly insec
tivorous ; in flight and habits they much resemble the star
ling. Their note, according to NUsson, in the winter is low
and melodious. I never (and I have had many in confine
ment) knew one utter any other sound than a kind of
hissing twitter, which is principally heard when a flock
sweeps down on to the top of a rowan tree.
The nest, which has now been obtained from many places
¦ in Lapland, is built apparently in the birch as well as in

THE WAXWING. 2E3
the pine forests, at different distances from the ground,
and the birds do not appear to breed in colonies. It
is thick and clumsy in appearance ; the waUs of fine fir
branches mixed vrith the moss Usnea barbata, leaves, and
inwardly lined with dry grass, and sometimes feathers. The
eggs, usually five, are thickly strewed vrith small black-
brown spots, and dots, on a pale greenish white bottom
colour. They are scarcely so long as those of the common
bunting, but nearly as thick, and blunter and rounder.
The birds breed in June, and are very quiet during the
breeding season, and the old feraale darts away from the
nest when disturbed, betraying little of that anxiety which
characterizes most other birds under the same circumstances ;
and as the Lapland forests have not till lately been much
explored by oologists, there is Uttle wonder that the breed
ing habits of this bird have so long reraained a mystery. Still
it does appear strange that out of all the Swedish naturalists
who have visited Lapland, no one should have been able to
give any good account of either nest or eggs, till Mr. WoUey
untied the Gordian knot in 1856.
I raay here add, that the CaroUna waxwing, or cedar
bird, which may be confounded vrith our European wax-
wing, has the belly of a pale yeUow colour. The wings of
both sexes are of a plain deep slate colour, without any white
or yellow markings, and the female has never any red appen
dages to the secondaries. Fam. 5. — Fissieostres.
Bill very short and broad ; gape wide, extending beneath
the eyes ; feet weak. NOCTUENAL.
Eyes very large ; plumage soft.
Gen. Caprimulgus, L.
BiU short, flat, and broad; tarsi short; toes long and power
ful ; hind toe joined to the inner at the base ; tail rounded
with ten feathers ; wings long ; second feather longest.

294 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
62. Capeimulgus Bueopjius, L. Natt Skarra. The Night
Jar. D. F.
Length about 10 in. ; taU 2 in. beyond the closed
wings. Colour, above grey, spotted with longitudinal
black spots and streaks ; marked underneath with rusty
yellow, and black-brown transverse bands. The female
is like the male in colour, but entirely wants the large
white spots on the inner fan of the wing feathers, and
the white tip on the outer tail feather.
Is a summer migrant to Sweden, and although it seems
to go pretty far up, is not met -vrith in Lapland. The eggs,
usually two, laid on the ground among heather, are oblong
shiny white, marbled vrith brown and grey spots and dashes.
Common in Finland as far up as Kupio.
DIUENAL.
Eyes moderate; plumage close.
Gen. Oypselus, IU.
Wings long and curved, like scymitars. Second feather
longest ; tail cloven, ten feathers ; tarsus very short ; plumed
to the toes, which are aU in front.
63. Cypsblus Apus, L. Tom Svala. The Swift. D. F.
Length 7 in.; wings 1-^ in. longer than the tail.
Colour altogether black, with a greenish tint; throat
white.
Met with everywhere, far up within the Polar circle. The
Alpine svrift has once been in the -winter found dead in Lod-
derup church, in Denmark. Gen. Hirundo, L.
TaU deeply cloven ; the two side feathers considerably
larger than the rest.
64. HiEUNDO Rustica, L. Ladu Svala. The SwaUow. D. F.
Length about 7 in. Colour, above all black, -with a
blue gloss; forehead and'throat red-brown; breast, beUy,
and under tail coverts whitish; taU feathers with a
white spot on the inner fan.
More common than the last, and goes quite as high up.

SWALLOWS— ELYCATCHEE. 295
Gen. Ohelidon, Boie.
TaU moderate, not deeply cloven.
65. H. Uebioa, L. Hus Svala. The Martin. D. F.
Length 5^ in. Colour, black above, vrith a blue
gloss ; upper taU coverts, breast, and beUy, white ; tail
very Uttle cloven; no spot on the feathers; legs
feathered to the claws.
EquaUy common both in the south of Sweden and Lap
land. 66. H. RiPAEU, L. Strand Svala. The Sand Martin. D. F.
All the upper parts, and a transverse band on the
breast, brown. Legs and toes bare, not feathered.
Very common in many parts, but local. I did not ob
serve them so common, however, in Lapland as the last.
Fam. 6. — Dbntieostees. Song Birds.
Tip of the upper mandible sUghtly toothed and hooked ;
outer toe united to the middle one at the base.
Gen. Muscicapa, L.
BiU short, broad at the base, which is furnished with
bristles ; wings long and pointed ; third and fourth feathers
longest ; hind toe long ; tail even at the end ; extends one
half beyond the closed wings.
67. MusciCAPA Geisola, L. Gra Flugsnappare. The
Spotted Flycatcher. D. F.
Length 6 in.; upper parts brown ash; under parts
white ; head and breast dusky spotted. Second vring
feather longer than fifth, first scarcely longer than
nearest covert.
Has a wide range over Scandinavia, to far up vrithin
the Polar circle. Eggs greyish white, red-brown, spotted
aU over. AU the flycatchers are summer migrants to Scandinaria.
68. M. Paeva, Bechst. Liten Flugsnappare. D.
Length 4^ in. Colour, above brown, unspotted;
below whitish vrithout spots; on the breast shaded

296 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
with rusty grey ; tail feathers blackish ; the four outer
ones on each side white over the middle. Second wing
feather shorter than fifth ; first much longer than the
nearest vring covert.
This is figured in Dr. Bree's " Birds of Europe" as the red-
breasted flycatcher, but his flgure represents the bird with a
far redder breast than I have ever seen. Is only accidental,
and very rare in the North. Met with in South Russia
although not in Finland. Egg resembles that of the last.
69. M. Ateicapilla, L. Svart och h-rit Flugsnappare. The
Pied Flycatcher. D. F.
Length 5-i in. Colour, male black above, white under
neath ; female brown above, white grey underneath. A
large white spot on the vring ; second primary shorter
than the fifth ; the first a Uttle longer than the nearest
vring covert ; first, fourth, and sixth of one colour ; the
second and third side feathers of the tail white towards
the tip of the outer fan. The male has a white forehead,
but no white collar.
Was formerly very rare in Scandinaria ; now, however,
it is raet with in raany places both in Sweden and Norway,
but is, I fancy, local. I saw raany up in Quickiock, Lapland,
where, rather contrary to their habits in other parts, they
nearly always frequented water, and bred in old willows.
Nest in a hollow tree or stone ; eggs five, pale blue.
70. M. Albicollis, Tera. Hvithalsad Flugsnappare. D.
Very sinUlar to the last in size and appearance. The
second wing feather is, however, longer than the fifth ;
the second and third side feathers of the taU, white on
the outer fan. The male has a plain white ring around
the neck, and a white forehead.
The male is easily distinguished in the breeding season,
but the males in vrinter plumage, the females, and young ,
birds of both species, may easily be mistaken for each other.
Is rare in Scandinaria, but breeds on the Isle of Gotland.
Accidental in Denmark. Nest in a hoUow tree ; five eggs,
resembUng the last.

SHEIKE3. 297
Excellently figured by Dr. Bree as the " white collared
flycatcher." Gen. Lanius, L.
BUl strong, straight, hooked at the point ; stiff bristles
on the gape ; nostrUs covered -with bristly feathers from the
forehead ; claws strong ; tail long, more or less graduated.
This genus forras a very good transition frora the falcons
to the warblers, and should properly stand next to the
Bapaces. 71. Lanius Excubitoe, L. Storre Tornskata. The Ash-
coloured Shrike. F. D.
Length 10 in.; tail 3-|- in. beyond the closed wings.
Colour pale ash blue above ; below white ; a black
band through the eye; vrings black, vrith two white
spots on each ; tail graduated, black : sides and tip
white. First wing feather broad, reaching beyond the
first -wing spot, second priraary rauch shorter than the
third, which is longest. The females and young have
the under parts finely watered with a darker colour.
Is local, and nowhere very common. I never met with
the nest except in Lapland. Reraains in the middle and
south of the country, throughout the winter, but I never saw
it in Wermland during the suramer.
The nest, usually placed in a smaU fir, is one of the
warmest and most corafortable I ever saw ; built outwardly
of dead fir branches, and hned with a very thick layer of
feathers. Eggs five ; considerably larger than those of the red-
backed shrike ; greenish white, marbled -with grey and brown.
They go to nest in Lapland early in May.
72. L. MiNOE, Gmel. Svartpannad Tornskata. D. P.
Length about 8 in.; colour above ash grey, under
neath white, with a rosy tint on the sides and breast ; a
deep black band over the forehead, and through tho
eyes ; wings black, with only one white spot ; tail
black, white on the sides ; first wing feather smaU,

298 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
pointed, only reaches to the white wing spot ; second
primary scarcely shorter than the third: taU not so
much graduated as in the last.
Is not nearly so destructive to small birds as the last,
its principal food being insects.
The nest and eggs rather resemble those of the last.
Both, however, are small, and the egg more bluish white,
vrith the brown dashes always much larger.
Is only accidental either in Scandinavia, Denmark, or
Finland, and never breeds here. Figured by Dr. Bree as the
" lesser grey shrike."
73. L. CoLLUEio, L. Branryggad Tornskata. The Red-
backed ShrUse. D. F.
Length about 7 in.; back, red-brown, no spot on the
vrings ; head, back of the neck, and rump in male ash blue,
in female red-brown ; under parts white in male, tinged
with rose red, in female vrith light brown wavy Unes.
Is a suramer migrant to Scandinavia, and does not go
up much above the middle of the country.
The woodchat is unknown in Scandinaria, but is met
with in parts of Denmark. Gen. Saxieola, Bechst.
Bill flat at the base ; nostrils round in a groove ; wings
long, third and fourth quills longest; tail even, reaching
about half of its length beyond the closed wings. Are all
spring migrants to Scandinaria; build on or near the
ground. Eggs six, of different shades of blue.
74. Saxicola Rubbtea, Bechst. Busk sqvatta. The Whm-
chat. D. F.
Length 5 in.; colour above black, with rusty grey
feather edges ; a white stripe above the eye; a white
spot on the wings ; chin and sides of the throat white ;
throat and breast rusty brown ; taU white at the root,
then black. Sexes differ but Uttle in plumage.
Is common everywhere in the summer from Scania to

STONECHAT— WHEATEAE. 299
within the Polar circle. I observed thera high up on the
Lapland fells, but not so high as the wheatear.
75. S. RuBicoLA, Bechst. Svart Lakad Busk sqvatta.
The Stonechat. D.
Much resembles the last in size and appearance, but
the throat is black ; no white band over the eyes ; tail
feathers totally black-brown without white, and the
first vring primary is much longer than the nearest
¦vring covert.
Is quite accidental in both Scandinaria and Denmark,
and not known in Finland.
76. S. .^NANTHB, Bechst. Sten sqvatta. The Wheatear.
D. F.
Length 6 in.; back grey ; rump, forehead, and a
streak over the eyes white ; a black band through the
eye ; tail square at the end, white with a black tip.
Female is more rusty grey, and in the autumn both the
young and old birds are much ahke.
Is one of the commonest birds throughout aU Scandi
naria in the summer, and goes far into Lapland and high
up on the fells to the very snow region.
Sylviidjb. Waeblbes.
BiU slender, vrith a few weak bristles at the base, com
pressed on the anterior half; nostrils basal, lateral, placed
in a broad groove, and half covered vrith a merabrane;
tarsus longer than the middle toe ; third and fourth
wing feathers longest; outer toe united at base to mid
dle; hind claw strong; tail in general long, rounded, or
square. The warblers form one of the largest dirisions of our
birds, and one which it is almost impossible to separate into
genera. I think the arrangement which I have adopted is
one of the siraplest, although the strictly scientific naturalist
may probably find fault with it. The warblers are all sura
mer migrants to Scandinaria, leaving in the autumn, although

300 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
I have seen an occasional robin in the Wermland forests
during the severest vrinter.
They are for the most part small, plain-coloured little
birds, frequenting bushes, groves, plantations, and reeds,
and all sing more or less well. In most species the female
differs very little in plumage from the male.
Section 1. — Sylvia, Keys, and Bias. Curruca, Bechst.
TEEE waeblbes.
Beak small, as high at the root as it is broad; legs
rather short, toes weak. Distinguished by their uniform
dull grey colour, are very lively and all good singers. They
buUd deep but thin nests, in bushes or small trees, and
the eggs of all may be at once known by their grey-brown,
shiny, mottled character, not spotted. Those of the black
cap, are much larger than any of the others. Those of the
garden warbler, and white throat, are often very rauch alike
in size and markings. Those of the lesser white throat, much
smaller than any. Number of eggs four to six. Frequent
gardens, woods, and plantations.
77. Sylvia Ateicapilla, Lath. Svarthufvad Sangare.
The Blackcap. D. P.
Length 6 in.; colour ash grey above, vrith an olive
green tinge ; throat, breast, and sides pale ash grey ;
head in male black, in feraale brown ; legs lead coloured.
The first -wing feather longer than the nearest covert,
second rauch shorter than fourth.
Is sparingly distributed over this whole continent, from
the extreme south at least, as far up as Tornea Lapland. I
think it is the finest songster of aU.
78. S. HoETENsis, Bechst. Tradgard SS.ngare. The
Garden Warbler. D. F.
Length 5^ in.; first wing feather much shorter than
the nearest covert ; second longer than the fourth ; third
longest ; colour above brown oUve grey ; breast and

TEEE WAEBLEES. 301
sides pale grey, with a yellowish tinge ; legs and beak
lead coloured; whitish feathers on the edges of the
eyelids ; iris red-brown.
Is met -with as far up at least as Quickiock, Lapland. Is
more common everywhere than the last.
79. S. CiNEEEA, Lath. Gra Sfcgare. The White Throat.
D. F.
About the size of the last ; top of the head cinereous;
back, and vring coverts, grey-bro-wn ; throat and belly
pure white ; breast pale rose red (which is wanting in
the feraale) ; legs brown-yeUow ; iris nut bro-wn ; all
the inner vring feathers, and the larger coverts are
broadly edged vrith rusty yellow, and this vrill distin
guish the bird at aU seasons. First wing feather
shorter than nearest covert, second Uke the fourth.
About as common as the last, but I do not think it goes
so far north.
80. S, CuEEUCA, Lath, Art Sangare. The Lesser White-
throat. D. F.
Scarcely so large as the last, which it rather resem
bles, but the wings want the rusty, and the breast
the rosy tinge ; head and rump ash grey, under parts
sUvery white ; shoulders ash grey ; legs dark lead
coloured. First wing feather longer than the nearest
covert, second like sixth, third longest.
About as common and widely spread as the last.
81. S. NisoEiA, Bechst. Brostvattrad Sangare. D. F.
The largest of all the northem warblers. About 7 in.
long ; body colour above dark ash grey, white below
-vrith bro-wn-grey wavy bars or streaks ; taU feathers
grey-brown, the two outer ones -with a white spot on
the point of the inner fan. The male becomes much
darker after the breeding season. Legs grey ; eye
bright yeUow. BxceUently figured by Dr. Bree as the
" barred warbler."

802 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Confined to the south-east of Sweden. Rare in Den
mark, where, however, it breeds. Has only once been
observed in Finland.
The nest is large, placed in a bush, and the eggs, gene
rally five (not larger than those of the black cap, although
the bird appears considerably larger), are more spotted than
blotched, with ash grey on a white ground. Dr. Bree's
coloured figure gives a very good representation of the egg,
but his spots are rather larger than I have generally seen
them. Section 2. — Ficedula, Bechst. Lusciola, Keys, and Bias.
BUSH WAEBLBES.
Beak slender, broader than high at the root; tarsus
longer than the middle toe, sraooth in front ; taU always
more or less red-brown ; eyes and feet large.
Frequent bushy tracts and thick-leaved plantations;
build in banks, holes in stubs, between tree roots, generaUy
or never, far from the ground. The nest is large, and the
eggs, although they vary, are of one single uniform colour,
except in the robin, which is white, often thickly spotted
vrith red, so that the ground colour appears reddish. In
this class the females differ in colour from the males, more
than in any other, and the young at first are always
spotted.82. LusoiOLA Philomela, Keys, and Bias. NordUg Nak-
tergal. D. F.
Is very similar to the coramon nightingale, but rather
larger, and the colours are duller. May, however, be
distinguished at once by the difference of the vring
feathers. The first is very small, pointed, and much
shorter than the nearest wing covert ; the second is
Uke the third, and longer than the fourth. In the
comraon nightingale, the first vring feather is equal
to the nearest covert, and the second is like the
fifth.
Is raet with only in the south-eastern provinces of

WAEBLBES. 803
Sweden, as far up as Gotland, but never on the eastern
coast further than Scania, and is never seen in Norway. Is
not rare in the south-east of Finland, where it goes up as
far as Lipparvirti, in Kuopio Land. Is common also in
Denraark. Its principal home appears to be the east of
Europe. Figured by Dr. Bree as the " thrush nightingale," but
Morris, in his "British Birds," figures the Sylvia turdoides,
Mey. (which belongs to the marsh warblers, and in Bree's
" List of European Birds " is called the thrush-Uke warbler)
as the " thrush warbler."
The lusciola philomela, Keys, and Bias, (thrush nightin
gale, Bree), is clearly a stranger to the British fauna.
Nest and eggs much reserable those of the common
nightingale. Can nowhere be considered common in Sweden.
Said to sing as finely as the common nightingale. I never
had the luck to hear it.
The common nightingale {L. Luscinia, Keys, and Bias.)
is not clearly identified in either Scandinaria or Finland,
but is known in Denmark, where it is, however, not
common.83. L. Suecica, Keys, and Bias.; S. C(eeulbcula, Pall.
Blahaken. The Blue-throated Warbler. D. F.
It is the opinion of Dr. Bree that the Swedish blue-
throated warbler, figured by him in his " Birds of Europe "
(and to which, by the way, he should have given the name
of the Scandinavian blue-throated warbler, for it is equally
common during the summer in Norway, Lapland, and Fin
land), and which is characterized by haring the spot on the
blue throat, yeUow-brown instead of white, is nothing more
than a local variety of the British blue-throated warbler,
whose native home appears to be the south of Europe. But
before exactly agreeing vrith this opinion, which is also
entertained by many other naturalists, I should certainly
recommend a careful examination and comparison of many
specimens, in both summer and winter plumage ; and this, I
fancy, has never yet been done. I do not know what is the

304 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
exact vrinter plumage of ou/r Scandinarian blue-throated
warbler, and this perhaps will be difficult to prove, because,
unless it retains the yellow patch through the winter, it
would be hard to distinguish it at that season from the
British bird ; but if it can be clearly proved that the northern
bird retains the yellow patch through the vrinter, and that
the southem form has a white throat patch at that season, I
think that they should then be considered as two species.
Moreover, I think that, upon a careful examination, some
differences in structure will be found. I know nothing of
the breeding habits of the white-throated bird, for it has
never in a single instance been noticed in Scandinaria, nor
does it appear that our Scandinarian form has ever been
seen in England.
Description of our Swedish blue-throated warbler, from
fresh-kUled specimens : — Length 5-|- in. to 5|- in ; frora carpus
to tip of wing 3 in.; tail 2 in. ; beak 4^ 1. ; from gape 6 1. ;
tarsus 1 in. 1 1. ; middle toe 7 1. ; hind toe 4-i- 1. (Sw. measure).
First wing feather much longer than the nearest wing covert ;
second a very little shorter, or equal to the sixth ; third
longest. Colour, above dark olive-grey ; brown throat ; in the
male bright blue, with a reddish yellow spot in the middle ;
in the female white, vrith a black border ; the inner half of
the tail red-brown, the outer half black, but the two middle
feathers are wholly brown ; iris brown ; legs dark yello-wish
grey. The young birds in the first dress, have the breast and
sides rusty grey, vrith confused spots. The old males in the
autumn have the throat whitish rusty yellow, edged -with
black ; sides of throat blue above, then a yellowish red spot;
below that a transverse blue streak, below which are some
black spots ; and the rest of the breast is rusty red. The
lower figure in Dr. Bree's plate is the female — the upper
one the male. They are in breeding plumage.
Is never seen in the middle or south of Scandinaria,
except just in the periods of migration, for they all appear to
go up to the northern feU tracts to breed, and their southern
most summer range appears to be between 62° and 63° north

WAEBLEES. 305
lat. I have twice kUled the bird in Wermland while
migrating, and both times in high grass by the river side ;
but the principal migration does not take place through
Sweden, for it is supposed that the Norwegian birds pass
over by the way of Jutland, and the Swedish birds through
Finland. The song of the blue-throated warbler is very clear,
high, and so varied, that among the Laps it goes by the
name of " Saddan Kiellinen," or hundred tongues. It is
clearly an aquatic warbler in its habits, for I never met
with it in Lapland in the breeding season except in the
fell raeadows, in bushes, by the side of sraall running streams,
although, after the young could fly, the old birds sometimes
would take them up, on to the higher fells, but never very
high. The nest always on, or in the ground, often quite bare,
formed altogether of dry grass ; cup-shaped. Eggs six ; pale
blueish green, minutely spotted with rusty red, giving the
eggs a rusty appearance.
84. L. RuBECULA, Keys, and Bias. Rodbrosta. The Red
breast. D. F.
Length 5^ in. Upper part dark olive green, or grey-
brown ; wings and tail dark brown, with rusty brown
edges ; throat and breast red.
Although a spring migrant to Scandinaria, some remain
here throughout the winter, and those which do migrate
leave the latest, and retum perhaps the earliest, of any other
migrant. During the summer they are met with generally
throughout the country, almost as far up as within the
polar circle. Unlike the British robin, they seldom approach
the dwelUngs of man here — at least in the raiddle of the
country — but are usuaUy seen in the deep forests. I never
met vrith the robin in Lapland.
86. L. Phcenicukus, Keys, and Bias. Rodstjert. The Red
start. D. F.
About the size of the redbreast, but raore slender. Tail
and rump rusty red ; the middle feathers brown ; the male,
20

306 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
throat black ; breast rusty red ; forehead white ; back.
ash grey ; the feraale above brown-grey ; throat whitish ;
breast reddish brown ; second wing feather like sixth ;
third a little shorter than fourth, which is longest.
Is raet with in the summer, dispersed over all Scandi
navia, from Scania up to Enare, Lapland, 70° north lat., and
next to the willow warbler, is the commonest of aU the
warblers, both in Scandinaria as well as Finland.
86. L.- TiTHYS, Keys, and Bias. Svart Rodstjert. Tithys'
Redstart. D.
About the size of the last, but may at once be dis
tinguished by the darker colour of the whole body, the
different proportionate length of the vring feathers, and
the total absence of all red on the body, except the tail.
Tail as in the last, but scarcely so bright ; in the male
throat and breast black ; head, neck and back ash blue ;
no white on the forehead as in the last ; in the female
body colour above dark ; below paler ash grey; second
wing feather like the seventh; third, fourth, and fifth
nearly equal, and longest.
Is only accidental in the North ; only three examples are
recorded as killed in Sweden, and none in Norway. The
first at Upsala many years since; the second, a female,
was shot by myself in the spring of 1851, near KuUen,
in Scania ; and the third, a young raale, was taken in
autumn at Stockholm by Conservator Memos. Accidental
in Denmark, and not known in Finland. Unlike the last,
the eggs of which are light blue, the eggs of this species are
pure white. Section 3. — Ficedula, Keys, and Bias.
PLANTATION WAEBLEES.
Beak thin and small, more broad than high at the root ;
legs thin and weak ; wings longer than in the tree warblers,
reaching beyond half the taU, which is indented; the outer
most or second feather longest. May be known by their

WAEBLEES. 307
oUve green or yellow colour. Are principally found in leafy-
plantations, and all, with the exception of the first, build a
thin cup-shaped nest on the ground, under a bush or tree
root. Eggs all distinctly and minutely spotted with red or
reddish brown, generaUy on a clear white ground.
A. — Hippolais, Bpr.
Beak very broad at the root, and depressed throughout
the whole length ; legs with from four to five notches.
87. Ficedula hippolais. Keys, and Bias. Bastard Nakter-
gal. The Melodious Willow Warbler. D. P.
Length about 5 in. Colour, greenish grey above;
all the under parts, from the chin to the tail, bright
yeUow; secondaries and side tail feathers -vrith white
grey edges ; legs lead grey. First wing feather
shorter than the coverts ; second shorter than fourth,
longer than fifth; third longest; tail square, brown.
The female scarcely differs in plumage frora the raale.
Certainly the finest warbler of this class in Scandinavia,
and is dispersed throughout the summer (but sparingly) over
the whole of the south and middle of the country, at least as
far up as Werraland ; in Norway, north of Trondtheim ; in
Finland, as far up as Kupio Land. Is seldora raet with in
fir woods, only in such plantations where birch and leafy
trees are raixed with bushes.
Of all the warblers, I think this builds the sweetest little
nest, and lays the handsoraest eggs. I have generally found
the nest in June, in a sraall tree, perhaps four feet frora the
ground, placed in a cleft between the branches ; formed of
dry grass and leaves, ornamented outwardly with the white
outer bark of the birch, and inwardly lined with borse hair.
Eggs generally five, larger than those of the wood warbler,
rose-red, thinly bestrewed, especially towards the larger end,
with round purple-black spots and streaks.
There is a great resemblance between this warbler and a
continental species, "Viellot's willow warbler," S. Hip
polais (Tem.), Ficedula icterina (Keys, and Bias.) ; and Dr.

308 ' TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Bree observes — "We have the two birds the same size,
colour, and form, but they raay be distinguished by the fol
lowing characters : — Tn Sylvia hippolais (the Scandinarian
bird) the wing in repose does not reach half way to the
tail, and the first primary is equal, or nearly equal, to the
fifth ; in 8. icterina the wing is always longer by two-fifths
of an inch or more, than that of *S'. hippolais, and it conse
quently reaches beyond the middle of the tail, and the first
primary is equal in length to the third ; and these distinc
tions are constant both in male and female."
Whatever confusion has existed in the synonyraes of
these two birds, " and this has not been slight," it seems
clear that the Swedish " Bastard Naktergal " is the true
Motacilla hippolais of Linnaeus.
B . — Phy llopneuste, Mey .
Beak outwardly compressed, thin. Legs slender, with
few notches.
88. F. SiBiLATEix, Keys, and Bias. Gron Sangare. The
Wood Warbler. D. P.
Length, 4i in. Upper parts, bright yellow-green,
Virith a yellow streak over, and a dark one through
the eye. Front of the neck and sides of the head
yeUow. Breast, belly, and under tail coverts, white;
rump, light green. First wing feather shorter than
the covert, second a little shorter than fourth, third
longest. Legs brown. The outer taU feathers rather
the longest.
Is tolerably common throughout the whole of the middle
and south of Scandinavia ; certainly as far up as Stockholm,
but does not appear to go nearly so far north as the next.
89. F, Teochilus, Keys, and Bias. Lof Sangare. The
WUlow Warbler, D. F.
About the size of the last, which it rather resembles.
Colour above, pale olive green, tinged with yellow ;
under tail coverts yellow. Legs yellow-brown. Front
of the neck and breast yellowish. The paler coloured

WAEBLEES. 309
legs, longer wings, and purer yellow colour, dis
tinguishes this from the last. The first vring feather
longer than the nearest covert ; second shorter than
fifth, longer than sixth.
Is much coraraoner in Scandinaria than the last, and is
met with throughout the country, from Scania up to the
North Cape.
90. F. ABiETiNA, NUss. Gran Sangare. The Chiff Chaff.
D.F.
Rather smaller than the last. Upper parts grey-
brown, tinged vrith elive green; under, yeUowish
white. First wing feather rauch longer than the
nearest covert ; second much shorter than fifth, shorter
than sixth, equal to the seventh. Legs dark brown.
Is met -with in many of the fir forests in the middle
of the country, but nowhere so coramon as the last ; nor
does it appear to go so far north, although I shot one
exaraple at Quickiock.
The Dartford warbler is unknown in the north.
Section 4. — Galamoherpe, Boie.
MAESH WAEBLBES.
Forehead flat, beak strong, broad at the root; a few
bristles at the gape. Wings short, rounded. Feet and
claws large. Tail long, rounded. Colour, generaUy brown-
grey ; in some tinged with olive green.
Are always met with among bushes, reeds, and grass,
in the neighbourhood of water. Some of them build a
hanging nest. The eggs are generally more mottled than
spotted.
91. Calamohbepb pheagmitis, Boie. Saf Sangare. The
Sedge Warbler. D. F.
Length, 54- in. Upper plumage olive brown. Spotted
on the back and shoulders with brown. Upper parts
rusty brown, unspotted; rump yellow. A broad,
streak over the eyes, and the under parts yeUowish

810 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
white. Secondaries with broad pale grey edges.
First vring feather shorter than the wing covert ; second
and third alike, and longest. Tail l^in. long, broad
and rounded. Iris red-brown. Legs flesh-coloured
grey.
Is partially distributed over the whole of the country,
as far at least as Stockholm. Supposed to be met vrith
in the north of Lapland, but this I beUeve, is by no
means well authenticated. Is the only one of the marsh
warblers met with in Finland.
92. C. Aeundinacea, Boie. Ror Sangare. The Reed
Warbler. D.
About the size of the last, but may always be dis
tinguished by the lighter coloured, unspotted body, and
longer tail, 2 ia. Second wing feather Uke the fourth ;
third a little longer, and longest.
Is rauch rarer than the last in Scandinavia, and I fancy
confined to the south of the country. I have shot it near
Gothenburg. The nests of the reed warblers which I have taken, have
invariably been cup-shaped, suspended a foot or so above
the water's edge, fastened between upright reeds gro-wing
in the water. Eggs whitish, mottled green. I never myself
took the nest of the sedge warbler in such a situation.
The latter nest is always buUt with much less care, placed
often on or close to the ground, by the side of the river,
among sedge and high grass, and the eggs have the ap
pearance of being marbled with pale brown, often rather
resembling those of the yellow wagtail, but darker. As
in England, I fancy this bird is local, but they both fre
quent the same tracts.
93. C. PALusTEis, Bechst. Karr Sangare. D.
In size, colour, and appearance, much resembles the
reed warbler, but the rusty yellow tinge on the sides
of the body, the light blue legs, and the orange-yeUow
(not orange-red) gape, are aU good marks of distinc-

WAEBLBES. 811
tion. Moreover the wing is proportionably longer,
and the second wing feather is considerably longer
than the fourth, nearly even vrith the third, which is
longest.
The breeding habits of this "marsh warbler" raore reserable
those of the sedge warbler, although the egg is more like
that of the reed warbler, but not so green.
Is said to be the finest songster of aU the water warblers.
It does not frequent the sarae localities as either of the two
last, but in Sweden is generally found in the ricinity of
water, among low bushes or nettles, corn, high grass, etc.,
and in the suramer raost araong green rye or peas. Is
seldora seen, but the song, which is so unUke that of either
of the last, cannot fail to strike the ear at once.
It is met -with in the south and south-west of Scania
and also in Denraark, but, as KjarbolUng observes, it has
so long been confounded vrith the last, that it is hard to
define its proper limits or localities.
The aquatic warbler {Sylvia aquatica, Tem.), the grass
hopper warbler {8. locustella, Boie), the great sedge warb
ler, or thrush warbler {8. turdoides, Mey), and the 8.
caricefi, Naum, or Striata, Brehra., are included in the Danish
fauna, but none of them have been identified either in
Sweden, Norway, or Finland.
I fancy this 8. Gariceti raust be either the Sylvia aqua
tica, or a variety of the 8. phragmitis (sedge warbler), both
of which it very rauch resembles. I do not find it figured
in Bree's ^' Birds of Europe," or mentioned in his list
as a species, but in his list of synonyraes to the aquatic
warbler he gives, Galamodyta Schaenobcenus et Gariceti, Bp.,
1838; Gerbe; Diet, 1348; so he probably considers it as
the same bird.
KjarbolUng gives it the Danish name of star sangare,
and describes it — Pale yeUow-grey, black spotted. Rump
rusty red. A yellow-white stripe over the eye. Forehead
black vrith a yeUow-grey stripe in the middle. Wing
feathers edged with pale grey. Under parts yellowish
white, vrith many fine blackish streaks on the front of the

312 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
breast and sides ; and he adds : " It differs from the S. Schce-
nobcenus in the smaller size of the five streaks on the head,
and from 8. aquatica by the longer beak, the shorter
tarsi, the shorter wings, the colour of the back, and the
sharper, dark streaks on the sides and breast."
Nilsson notices two other warblers, both new species.
The first is the Sylvia magnirostris (LUljeborg), which
seems to differ only from 0. palustris in the second wing
feather being a trifle shorter than the fourth, and the
wings being a little shorter. As to the size of the beak, from
whence it appears to derive its name, Nilsson remarks that in
size and form, the beak is precisely the same as in the Jutland
specimens oi palustris 'which he has received from KjarbolUng.
The second is the 8. calamoherpe media. Malm., which
seems to differ from 8. turdoides only in the size and
relative proportion of the wing feathers. The first of these
appears to have been discovered by LUljeborg, in Russia,
and the last was described by Malm from a specimen shot
near Gothenburg in 1849.
Nilsson does not appear to consider them good species,
and as neither of them are noticed by Dr. Bree in his
"List of European Warblers," I think we may fairly
conclude, that their claim to be regarded as such is at
present raore than doubtful. If such trifling differences as
these show, will form a species, there is hardly a collector
who vrill not be able to gain a handle to his name. Savi's
warbler is not known in the north.
Gen. Turdus, L.
On account of the shape of the bUl, approach near to the
crows. In all, during the breeding season, the ring round
the eye and the gape are yellow; biU strong, sides com
pressed, curved at the tip, which is bent over and toothed ;
wings long ; gape bristly ; tarsus longer than raiddle toe ;
legs and feet strong and large ; third or fourth wing feather
longest. All, with the exception of the dipper, are summer
raigrants to Scandinavia, although in a mild winter some
few remain in the south of the country.

THEUSHES. 313
94. TuEDUS VISCIVOEUS, L. Dubbel Trast. The Missel
Thrush. D. F.
The largest of the northern thrushes, about 1 ft. long ;
colour above, light oUve grey, below white, with black
pointed spots on the neck, oval on the breast ; under
wing coverts, and the inner tips of the three outer tail
feathers white ; taU grey -brown.
Is met vrith generally throughout the country, and I have
taken the nest in Quickiock, Lapland, but it does not go
much farther north, for there the nest was considered a
rarity, as well as that of the coraraon thrush. The boy
who brought them to me considered them worth as much as
that of the pine grosbeak.
95. T. Vaeius, PaU. Manflackig Trast. White's Thrush.
Nearly the size of the last ; yeUow brown-grey above,
below white; each feather on the upper and under parts
of the body edged broadly with black, in the forra of a
half moon ; tail consisting of fourteen feathers ; second
wing-feather like the fourth; third the longest.
The native home of this species, according to Pallas, is
the rocky mountains of South Siberia, and also Japan. It
has been killed tvrice in England, and once in Jemtland,
in Sweden. Another form, or it may be a closely allied species, the
Turdus lunulatus, L., which is also said to have been shot
in. England, is a native of Australia. I cannot for certain
say whether or not we had both forms in Australia, but a
specimen of our comraon raountain thrush of Australia, as
well as its. egg, taken by me in Victoria, in 1855, now lies
before me. My Australian bird exactly agrees with Nilsson's
description, as far as the size and relative length of the wing-
feathers. " Considerably smaller than the missel thrush, but
larger than the common thrush. Length 9 in. 5 1. ; tail con
sisting of twelve feathers ; second vring feather equal to the
sixth; third, fourth, and fifth nearly alike, but fourth a little the
longest (of course I conclude that he reckons the first very
small pointed wing feather as one), from carpal joint 6 in. 2 1.

314 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
(in the Japan bird he gives this as 6 in. 4 1.). I question
whether there can be such an extraordinary difference in the
length of the wings of two birds of very much the same size,
for in my AustraUan specimen this portion of the vring, and
I have very accurately measured it, scarcely exceeds 5 in.
English in length. His description of the colouring is as correct
as can be expected from a general description. I cannot help
fancying, however, that Nilsson's descriptions of the measure
ment of Turdus varius are correct, because they are taken,
doubtless, from the Jemtland speciraen shot in 1837.
Although we called our Australian bird the mountain
thrush, they always bred in our districts, far from the moun
tains in the tea-tree scrub, near water, and they seemed to
come down to breed. The nest, placed some length from
the ground, resembled that of the common blackbird; the
eggs, three, considerably larger than any of the missel
thrush, which I have seen, were fully as large and even
thicker than those of the jay ; light ground, covered all over
with such minute pale red speckles that the whole egg has a
rusty red appearance.
Morris's figure of the egg of White's thrush, pale Ught
blue, with a few black scrolls on the larger end, does not
certainly represent the Sgg of the Australian bird, and if it
is a correct figure of the egg of the Japan bird, there is httle
doubt that they are two distinct species.
The raountain thrush in AustraUa was very shy and soU
tary in its habits ; we never saw more than two together ;
they were generally on the ground, very hard to rise, and
I never heard one utter a single note. I generally took
the nest in August, which is very early in the AustraUan
spring.
96. T. Musicus, L. Sang Trast. The Song Thrush. D. F,
Length 9 in. ; olive bro-wn above ; the lower wing
coverts edged with red-yellow ; breast, sides, and belly
covered with oval blackish brown spots; throat un
spotted.
Common throughout the whole country during the sum-

EEDWINa— PIELDEAEE. 315
mer, and I took the nest up at Quickiock. It certainly,
however, is nowhere so common in the north as the field
fare or redwing, nor does it go so far up. Like all the
rest, occasional specimens may reraain in the middle and
south of this country, throughout the winter.
97. T. iLLicus, L. Rodringe Trast. The Redwing. D. P.
Length about 8 in. 2 1.; colour above olive-brown;
the under wing coverts, and flanks deep orange red ; a
broad white streak over the eyes ; front of the neck
covered with blackish, breast and sides with grey-
brown, long spots.
Is universally dispersed throughout the breeding season
from the south of Wermland, where I have taken the nest,
up to the North Cape. Nest smaller and more neatly
built than that of the fleldfare, and the eggs, five or six, are
always smaUer, neater, and purer in colour than those of
that bird. It has, when fresh, a peculiar green tinge,
which, however, fades soon after the egg is blown. You
rarely see an egg spotted like that of the fieldfare ; they
are usually of a uniform green colour, which soon fades to
green-brown. 98. T. PiLAEis, L. Bjork Trast. The Fieldfare. D.F.
Length nearly 10 in. ; lore black ; head and rump, ash
grey ; back, dark chestnut brown ; under vring coverts
white ; tail black ; abdomen unspotted.
Is as coraraon, and in raany places much commoner, than
the last, in the north of Scandinavia, during the nesting
season ; and although on one occasion I met with them breed
ing in Wester Gotland, and even, according to NUsson, they
breed on Gotland, it is certain that their true sumraer home
is in the pine forests of the far north. But they certainly
nest in North Wermland and Dalecarlia. They are raore
gregarious in their breeding habits than the redwing, but I
never saw them like rooks at home in a clump of trees,
with many nests on one tree. Wherever you find one
nest, you are, however, sure that more are in the neighbour
hood ; and in the Quickiock forests the redwing breeds in the

316 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
same manner, and, in fact, in company with the fieldfares.
In Wermland, however, where they breed very sparingly,
I have always met with this redwing, breeding solitary in a
low bushy fir.
I think no thrush's egg is subject to so rauch variation
as that of the fieldfare, and it would be alraost impossible
to describe it better, than that it much resembles the egg of
the blackbird, but is usually a very Uttle larger and deeper
coloured.
99. T. TOEQUATUS. Ring Trast. The Ring Ouzel. D. F.
Length 11 in.; plumage black, edged with grey;
a large half-moon formed spot on the breast, white in
the male, rusty-grey in the feraale.
Although very sparingly dispersed everywhere, the ring
ouzel has the widest range of any Scandinarian thrush, for
it is raet with breeding in Bohus Land, and also right
up near Waranger Fjord, close to the North Cape. Nest some
times on the ground or else on a sraall tree, always near
mountains or rocks. The egg resembles that of the fieldfare,
but is larger, vrith a bolder character, and I always fancied it a
little longer.
100. T. Meeula, L. Kol Trast. The BlackbUd. D. F.
A little smaller than the last. The male glossy black,
with yellow beak, and edges to the eyes ; iris and legs
brown ; the female and young, black-brown, with white-
grey throat, and indistinct dark spots in front of the
breast.
Is not very common, but breeds everywhere as far up
as LykseU, Lapland. I have seen occasional specimens in
South Wermland during the winter.
Gen. Cinclus, Bechst.
Beak thin and straight ; head small ; tail short ; vrings
short; body short and plump; frequents running
streanls ; can s-wim and dive, and also sings.
101. Cinclus AQUATious, Bechst. Strom Stare. The Water
Ouzel. D. F.

WAGTAILS. 317
Length 7i in. ; taU only 2 in. ; general colour black
ish, with a -^hite throat and breast. Female differs little
from the male in colour, but is sraaUer.
Remains in Scandinaria throughout the year ; does not
appear to breed in the south, but bred near us in South
Wermland, and I found the nest up at Quickiock ; eggs six,
white ; nest sometimes covered.
Gen. Motacilla, L.
Tail very long and square; beak straight and thin; second,
third, and fourth vring-feathers alike and longest ; one of the
secondaries (the seventeenth vring feather) as long or longer
than the rest of the vring. Colour always variegated — yellow,
white, black, green, blue, etc., never lark grey. Are all
summer raigrants to Scandinavia ; all build on the ground ;
nest of grass and horse-hair ; eggs six.
A.
Hind claw not longer than the toe, much bent; tail as
long as the rest of the body.
102. Motacilla alba, L. Ring Aria. The Continental
White WagtaU. D. F.
Length 7^ in. ; tail 2 in. beyond the closed wings ;
back ash grey ; rump black-grey ; forehead white ; crown
of the head, neck, and upper part of the breast black,
under parts white. The external web of the two outer tail
feathers white; wing coverts with broad white edges.
The feraales are always lighter in colour, and sometimes
the black on the head is altogether wanting, and aU the
upper parts are ash grey.
This is the breeding plumage in which alone the wag
tails are met vrith in Scandinaria. In the winter the black is
aU changed to grey, except a shield over the breast.
Is very common throughout the country, up to the
North Cape.
NUsson considers the pied wagtail {M. yarelli, Gould.),
which is the common wagtail in Britain, and is distinguished
from the M. alba, L, (which is the common wagtail on the

318 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
continent), by its black being pure like that of the head,
as nothing more than a local race of the M. alba, L. This
has, I believe, been occasionally killed in Sweden and in
Denmark; described by KjarbolUng, and one of the sy
nonyraes he uses is M. lugubris, Tem., which, however, is
described by Dr. Bree as quit^ a different species, "the
sombre wagtail." This latter may, however, at once be
distinguished from any variety of M. alba by the wing pri
maries, more than half of the upper portion of which are
pure white, while a white fringe, broader in summer than in
winter, runs along the outer edge of the secondaries. The
middle vring coverts are also pure white.
103. M. BoAEULA, Lath. Gra Aria. The Grey WagtaU. D.
Length 8 in.; rump yeUow, tail longer than in any
other wagtail ; the outer feather white, the two foUovring
white, with black on the outer fans ; head greenish ;
back ash grey ; under parts yellow, throat in the male
black. In the female rarely pure black.
This is the breeding plumage, and in the winter the male
assumes much the summer plumage of the feraale.
Has been shot only once in the south of Sweden, and is
very rare in Denraark. B. — {Budytes, of Authors.)
Second hind claw longer than the toe, and but little
bent ; tail shorter than the rest of the body.
104. M. Flava, L. Gul Aria. The Grey-headed WagtaU.
D. F.
This is the coramon Scandinarian yellow wagtail.
Rather sraaUer than M. alba ; back olive green ; head
ash grey, black, or green; tail black, the two outer
feathers white on the outer edges ; under parts yellow.
The colours in the female are not so pure.
Common everywhere up to the North Cape ; but I never
saw any other than the black-headed form, M. flava melano-
cephala, Bp., in Lapland.
I do not think our British yellow wagtail, M. Bayii, Bp.,

WAGTAILS. 319
in which the head and neck are yellow-green like the back,
has yet been observed in Scandinaria.
In describing this M. melanocephala, Bp., in his "Birds
of Europe," under the narae of " the black-headed yeUow
wagtaU," Dr. Bree observes : " Mr. Tristram has informed
me that he has seen every gradation of colour frora
M. flaveola (the British yellow wagtaU), up to the M. melano
cephala, and has sent me specimens which bear out the
opinion of Temminck, that its claims to be considered a good
species are doubtful." In fact, he observes, it is very
probable that aU the European yellow wagtails are perma
nent varieties or races of the same type.
So Nilsson appears to think, for in describing this M.
flava, L. — which, of course, as being the comraon Scandina
rian form he considers the type — ^he mentions M. melano
cephala as a northerly, and if. Rayii as a westerly, form of
that species.
I can only say that in Scandinaria I could never see any
transitions in colour from our if. flava, to that of if. melano
cephala. The difference in colour of the head is apparent at
a glance, and I have examined scores of specimens. I have
occasionally seen if. melanocephala with a white streak
over the eye, but the head is always deep black. It is the
only yellow wagtail I ever raet vrith in Lapland. I never
saw the grey-headed yellow wagtail there, nor have I
clearly identified the black-headed bird breeding with us in
Werraland, although we see lots in the spring. Strange
that Wright does not raention this black-headed form in
his Finland fauna, but he says that the grey-headed yellow
wagtail is comraon in suraraer throughout the whole country.
I always fancied that the call-note of the black-headed
bird was much sharper than that of the grey-headed. The
breeding localities, nest, and eggs of both are aUke.
This form is not mentioned by KjarbolUng in his "Birds
of Denraark," but he describes a third forra unknovsm in
Scandinaria, which appears to be not so very uncommon in
parts of Denraark, and this is the M. flava cinereocapilla.
Sari, which Dr. Bree figures as the " grey-headed yellow

320 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
wagtail," and in this the head is dark lead grey, vrith no
stripe over the eye.
It is extreraely difficult to decide whether these birds
should be all taken as separate species, or only varieties in
colour of one forra ; and I shall close my account of the
wagtails with the following very sensible quotation from Dr.
Bree's work, which I strongly recommend to the perusal of
the modern school of species-mongers. He says : " As Dr.
Zander has well remarked, we fitnd the two ends of the
series of varieties, and constitute thera species. The inter
mediate forms do not corae under our observation so fre
quently, and we therefore lose the significance of the serial
affinities. Believing as I do, that rauch of the system of
determining species in natural history in modern days is
deficient in sound scientific principle, I have no occasion to
seek for a solution of the difficulty in the theory of trans
mutation. I think that differences of climate and food are
aU sufficient to produce a great raajority of the variations
we raeet with, and as it is more than probable that the
world contains a vast number of special causes wherein
these influences of food and climate operate distinctly, I
have no difficulty in accounting for the variation of species,
or of satisfying myself that the difference of a feather here
or there, is not sufficient to justify the splitting up of our
naturally defined genera and families, into an interminable
long list of Greek derivatives, quite sufficient to frighten
away nine-tenths of the students of nature, from the most
beautiful and instructive of all pursuits."
Gen. Anthus, Bechst.
Colour lark grey, taU shorter than in the wagtaUs, of
twelve feathers indented. Form a very good transition from
the wagtails to the larks, which latter genus they resemble,
but differ in the more slender build of body, the longer tail,
the more crooked hind claw, the more pointed head, and
the uncovered nostrils.
Like the latter birds they build on the ground, and lay
about flve dark- coloured eggs, either mottled or spotted. Are

PIPITS. 321
aU, except the rock pipit, summer migrants to the north or
accidental risitors.
{a) . Hind claw shorter than the toe.
105. Anthus Aeboeeus, Bechst. Trad Piplarka. The
Tree Pipit. D. F.
Length about 6 in.; colour above olive green, vrith
dusky spots; breast and sides spotted ochre yellow;
vrings with two transverse bars of yeUowish white.
Coraraon during the summer as far up as Enare,
Lapland. (b) . Hind claw longer than the toe.
106. A. RicAEDi, Veill. Richard's Pipit.
Length 7 in. ; upper plumage deep bro-wn, under
parts rusty yellow, with black spots on the breast and
sides ; a broad rusty streak over the eye ; hind toe
1 in., of which the claw is 5 1.; resembles the lark more
than any other pipit.
The only specimen that was ever taken in Scandinaria
was in 1 856, when a young female was captured on a steamer
lying during a fog in Calmar Harbour.
Not known either in Finland or Denmark.
107. A. Campesteis, Bechst. FjaU Piplarka. D. P.
Long 7 in.; hind toe 5 1., of which the claw is 2| ;
rusty grey above, with pale brown spots; underneath
yellowish, with small brown streaks on the breast and
sides of the throat ; a white streak over the eye ; the
two outer tail feathers, white on the outer fan. Iris
brown ; legs pale flesh.
Is very comraon on all the sandy plains and landbanks
on the coast of the south of Sweden, but never in Norway.
FUes in jerks, uttering a loud cry — " zirrly-zirrly-hvit."
Nests in a tussock of rough grass. Eggs four to six, very
pretty when fresh. Blue-white, with violet and red-brown
spots and streaks. Common in Denmark. Has only once
been kiUed in Finland.
Excellently figured by Dr. Bree as the " tawny pipit."
21

322 , TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
.108. A, RuPESTEis, Nilss, Skar Piplarka, D, F,
Length near 7 in. ; tarsus 7 1. ; hind toe 6 1., of which
the claw is 3 ; colour above dark ash grey, with dark
brown spots, especially on the back; below whitish,
vrith a rusty yeUow tinge on the breast and beUy, and
grey-brown spots ; only the outermost tail-feather with
a whitish edge ; legs dark.
This is certainly the comraon rock pipit of Sweden, and
is met with up to the North Cape. Can always be dis
tinguished from the British rock pipit, anthus aquaiicus,
Tem., thus : the spots on the breast of aquaticus are
large, and occupy one-half of the ground colour of the
breast, whUe in rupestris they are more distinct, and
very small, not occupying more than one-fourth of the
ground colour ; and, moreover, the ground plumage of ru
pestris is considerably richer. There is also a pale spot on
the auriculars of rupestris not in aquaticus. Although a
summer migrant, I have shot specimens off the southern
coast throughout the whole winter. Habits like the common
rock pipit, and the eggs are also much aUke. Figured by
Bree as " the water pipit."
The common rock pipit, A. aquaticus, Bechst, is not in
cluded in the Swedish fauna. I have, however, shot more
than one specimen of this bird off the coast of Scania, and it
is well known in Denraark.
The Pennsylvanian pipit, which has recently been added
to the British fauna, has probably been overlooked in Sweden,
and I will, therefore, quote the following remarks from Dr.
Bree : — " When placed beside A. pratensis, there is a general
resemblance between the two birds in size, colour, and mark
ings. It differs, however, from anthus pratensis in the
foUowing points : the wing is half an inch longer ; the hind
claw shorter and raore curved ; the beak stouter and broader
at the base. Plumage of the back is more uniform, ohve
grey, and less mottled, and on the lower part of the body
there is a rufous tint more or less pronounced."
109. A. PEATENSis, Bechst. Ang Piplarka. The Meadow
Pipit. D. F.

ACCENTOE— WEEN. 323
Length 6 in. ; back toe 5^ 1., of which the claw is 3^-. ; ¦
colour above olive green, with dusky spots ; neck,
breast, and sides vrith a yellow tinge, spotted; beak
sraall, thin.
As coramon as the last, and appears to go as far north.
Respecting the anthus cervinus, PaU., which Dr. Bree
considers a distinct species, and has figured under the narae
of the " red-throated pipit," Nilsson observes : " In every
thing else, except the rusty yellow throat and breast, it
exactly reserables the meadow pipit, and is clearly nothing
more than a local variety or race of this bird." But Bree
observes very properly ; " It belongs to the rock pipit
branch of the family, the claw being very much curved; and
if it is a local variety, or race of anything, it must be of the
rock and not of the meadow pipit."
Gen. Accentor, Bechst.
Beak straight; awl-shaped nostrils, pierced in a large
membrane, naked ; tarsi strong ; tail long, square ; third and
fourth -vring feathers longest.
110. AccBNTOE MODULAEis, Cuv. Jcrn Sparf. The Hedge
Sparrow. D. F.
Length 6 in. ; back rusty brown, with black spots ;
head, neck, and breast ash blue, with brown spots on
the head.
Is a suramer migrant, and goes far up into Lapland,
but is no where very coraraon, and, unlike the sociable
Uttle bird in England, they do not here seera to seek the
companionship of man, but confine themselves to the
deep woods. Gen. Troglodytes, VeUl.
Beak long, very thin ; wings round ; third and fourth
feathers longest ; tail short, weak, carried upright.
111. Teoglodytes Bueop^us, Leach. Gard Srayg. The
Wren. D. F.
Length 4 in. ; tail 2 in. ; back, wings and tail rusty

324 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
brown, -vrith black wavy lines, which are very conspicu
ous on the wing and tail feathers.
Met with in summer throughout the whole country,
from Scania to Lapland. Winters in the south and middle
of the country. Fam. 7. — Conieostees. Haed-billed Bieds.
Beak strong and conical ; wings moderate ; tarsi strongly
scaled. Unhke most of the members of the last family,
whose food consists of worms and sraall insects, the members
of this faraily Uve on hard seeds, etc., which their strong
beaks enable them to crack.
1. — ^githali, Veill.
Beak short, awl-like, raore or less compressed.
Gen. Parus, L.
Beak short, straight ; nostrils concealed by the feathers of
the forehead; fourth and fifth vring feathers longest; tail always
considerably longer than the wings. AU small Uvely birds
variegated in plumage, remaining in Scandinavia throughout
the winter. , Mostly breed in holes of trees, and lay a great
many eggs, white, generally spotted with red.
112. Paeus majoe, L. Talg Mes. The Great Tit. D. F.
Length 6 in. 4 1. ; tail 2 in. 6 1. ; head and breast
black ; cheeks white ; back olive green ; breast and
belly yellow, with a long dark stripe down the middle.
Comraon throughout the whole country as far up as
Tornea Lapland. There is little or no difference in the
plumage of the sexes in any of the tits.
113. P. ATEE, L. Svart Mes. The Cole Tit. D.F.
The least of all our European tits ; little over 4 in.
long; head and neck jet black, with a great white
spot on the sides and one on the neck ; back ash blue ;
breast and belly white ; sides vrith a grey tinge.
Is never seen in the south during the summer, at which
season it is confined to the fir forests, in the middle and

TITMICE. 325
north of the country. I never met with it, however, in
Lapland.
114. P. CEISTATUS, L. Toffs Mes. The Crested Tit. F.
Length about 4i in. ; tail 2 in. ; head vrith a pointed
crest ; throat, collar, and front of the neck black ; body
colour above reddish brown, vrith a grey tint, below
whitish; iris red-brown; legs lead- coloured; cheeks
grey.
This handsome little tit is, I consider, very local, and is
never seen out of the fir forests. Its northem range seems
to be Angermanland, about 63° north latitude. In winter
they flock much with the other tits and golden-crested wrens.
The note is a pecuUar shrUl " kirr-it," quickly and often re
peated, which is heard at a great distance. Go to nest early
in April ; nest always formed of raoss, wool, and hair, in an
old rotten stub ; eggs six (I never saw raore) ; the spots
larger, deeper, and more crowded at the end than in any
other of the tits. Not known in Denmark.
116. P. SiBiEicus, L. Sibirisk Mes. F.
A Uttle larger than the marsh tit ; head brown ; throat
and breast black ; cheeks white ; belly and under rump
ash-grey red ; tail long, round, about three times as long
as the tarsus ; his brown ; legs lead coloured.
Is the comraonest of all the tits in Lapland, and although
accidental specimens have been killed in the south of the
country in the winter, its summer range appears to be be
tween 67° and 69° north latitude. The nest is forraed of
moss, invariably mixed, often lined with the hair of sorae
dark field-mouse ; eggs (I never saw raore than five in one
nest) reserable those of the marsh tit far more than those of
the crested tit. Figured by Dr. Bree as the " Siberian tit."
116. P. PALUSTEIS, L. Karr Mes. The Marsh Tit. D.
Length 4i in., tail 2 in., beyond the wings 1 in. 2 1. ;
head black ; cheeks white ; sides of the neck greyish
white ; back and vrings grey ; breast and belly whitish ;
tail cloven ; the outer feather a little shorter than the

326 ,TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
others. The head of the marsh tit is glossy silk black ;
cheeks and sides of the neck dirty white ; back blackish
grey-brown; the edge of the outer web of the wing
feathers is a Uttle paler than the colour of the back.
Is common in the south and middle of Sweden throughout
the year, but it is hard to define its northern limit, as it is
still in dispute whether the P. borealis, De Selys, the north
ern form of this tit, is only a local form or a distinct variety.
Both Nilsson and Wright give the P. borealis a place in their
fauna as a distinct species ; and without offering an opinion
either way, I shall follow their example. According to
Wright the P. palustris is not met with in Finland.
117. P. Boeealis, De Selys. Gra Mes. F.
Size and colouring exactly like the last, except that
the colours are always purer, and this I have remarked
in all the specimens I have killed both in Wermland and
Lapland. The head is dull velvet black; cheeks and sides
of the neck clear white ; back grey ; the edge of the
outer web of the wing feathers clear white. In P. borealis
the taU appears a Uttle longer than in palustris. LUlje
borg says that he can easUy distinguish the one bird
from the other when in company, by the stronger note of
the borealis.
I raet with it up at Quickiock, Lapland, but rare (I never,
however, saw palustris there), and it is the coramon form
vrith us in South Werraland.
The nest of the British raarsh tit is always described as
being built of moss, feathers, etc., now the nest of borealis
is always altogether buUt of the finest shreds of the under
bark of some dead tree — I fancy the alder ; I never saw a
bit of moss or a feather in one. Lays the largest number of
eggs of any northem tit, often eight, exactly resembling
those of the raarsh tit. Figured by Dr. Bree from Lapland
specimens, furnished by myself, as the " northern tit."
118. P. CJSEULBUS, L. Bla Mes. The Blue Tit. D. F.
Smaller than the last ; crown of the head bright blue ;
forehead white ; body above olive green, under yeUow.

TITMICE. 327
Is one of the rarest of the northern tits, and confined to
the middle and south of the country.
119. P. CYANUS, PaU. Azur Mes. D.
Length 5i in. ; tail long, rounded ; the middle feathers
blue, and as long as the rest of the body ; head white,
vrith a black-blue band through the eye, and another
over the back of the neck ; back and shoulders pale
blue ; tail and -vrings dark blue, under parts white ; tail
tipped with white ; wings vrith two broad white bands.
This beautiful little tit, whose proper home is Siberia, is
very accidental in Sweden, and is not even included by
Wright in the " Birds of Finland." Is recorded by Kjar
boUing to have been twice observed in Denmark, but not to
have been shot.
Its habits resemble those of the blue tit, but it fre
quents the sarae localities as the raarsh tit. Of its breed
ing habits little appears to be known. The egg in ray
collection frora Siberia, which I received from a friend upon
whom I can place every reliance, resembles more the egg oi
the blue tit than any other. It is rather larger, but the form
is more oval than that of the marsh tit ; the spots are fewer
and much lighter, but it is absurd to describe the egg of a
tit from a couple of specimens. BxceUently figured in Bree's
" Birds of Europe " as the " azure tit."
120. P. Caudatus, L. StjertMes. The Long-taUed Tit. D.F.
Length 6 in.; tail long, wedge-shaped, the middle
feather black, and longer than the rest of the body ;
head, throat, and breast white ; back black ; shoulders
and under tail coverts reddish ; beak very short.
The colour of the long-tailed tits in the north appears to
differ altogether frora that in the southern forms. In France
the male has black or red-brown spots, and a band on the head
and neck. — NUss.
Is sparingly distributed over all Scandinaria, at least as
far up as the Dovre FeU. I never detected them breeding in
Wermland, where, however, they are common in the early
winter.

328 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The bearded tit, which has occasionally been kUled in
South Denraark, is a stranger to Scandinaria, and this
surprises me, considering the nature of the country. I may
here remark that I was astonished at the few titmice we met
with in Lapland. The only species I could identify were the
Siberian tit and P. borealis, of which the former was by far
the most common. Gen. Begulus, Ray.
Bill much more slender than in the last ; tarsi longer and
thinner ; nostrils oval, covered with one or two small thin
feathers directed forwards; tail shorter and more cloven-
The least of European birds. Builds a very small, pretty
nest on the hanging branch of a fir ; never lays in the hole of
a tree. The only Scandinarian species remains in the country
throughout the vrinter.
121. Regulus CEISTATUS, WiU. Kungs Fogel. The Golden
Crested Wren. D. F.
Length about 3i in. ; along the crown of the head a
bright saffron yellow streak, and on each side of that a
black one; cheeks and region of the eyes cinereous,
without any white bands; colour above, brown olive
green, below, pale greyish yellow ; a white band over the
vring.
This pretty, hardy little bird is met with in our midland
pine forests throughout the whole year, always in the vrinter
in company with the titraice, like butterfiies fiitting over the
tips of the fir branches, ever in raotion, and never appear
ing to sit still. According to NUsson, is met vrith in Scan
dinavia as far up as the fir tree grows, even within the
Polar circle. I saw one single speciraen at Quickiock.
The fire-crested wren, which is included in the Danish,
is a stranger to the Scandinavian fauna. These two Uttle
birds are much alike, and might very possibly be confounded
by a casual observer. The colour of the crest of the head
varies much even in the golden-crested wren with age,
sex, and season, and the crests of both species assume a
virid orange colour in the nuptial dress. The fire-crested

GOLDCEESTS— LAEES. 329
wren is, however, best distinguished by the three bands on
the cheek, two white and one black : the black line passes
completely through the eye, and one white band passes
above it and the other below it. The egg of the fire-crested
wren is much darker than that of the gold-crest, and of a
uniforra dull reddish colour.
The Dalmatian wren — probably the rarest bird in Europe,
which was added to the British fauna some years since, from
a single specimen shot on the Northumberland coast by ray
friend, Mr. John Hancock, of Newcastle, — has been probably
overlooked. Of late years specimens have been shot on
Heligoland. This differs from either of the two last, by the
streak of pale yeUow on the top of the head (not a crest),
the light lemon streak over the eye, and two of the sarae
colour on the wing coverts. But the principal raark of dis
tinction appears to be this, that whereas in the two last the
covering of the nostrUs consists of a single pluraelet, in the
Dalmatian wren it consists of several feathers.
2. — Passerini.
Beak short and conical, thick and strong ; nostrils basal,
generally covered vrith smaU feathers ; tarsus short ; outer
toe joined by the first joint to the raiddle one. Live in fields
or in woods, on corn, berries, etc. ; fiock in the autumn ;
many sing weU. Mostly leave Scandinaria in the winter ;
moult only once in the year, in autumn, but many of them
undergo a partial moult (by the edges of the feathers
changing colour) in the spring.
Gen. Alauda, L.
Tertials about as long as the primaries; claws very long,
especiaUy the hind one ; biU sUghtly convex above ; nostrils
hidden by feathers; tail moderate. Are all suramer raigrants
to Sweden ; buUd on the ground, and lay four or five dull
coloured eggs ; feathers of the head in aU raore or less crest-
Uke. 122. Alauda aevensis, L. Sang Larka. The Skylark.
D.F.

330 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Length 7-1 in. ; taU reaches 4i- 1. beyond the closed
wings ; hind toe 1 in., of which the claw is often 6 1. ;
colour above rusty grey, with dark spots, below rusty
white, vrith black spots on the breast ; the outer taU
feather white at the tip.
A very early spring migrant to this country, and met
with during the summer throughout the whole of Scan
dinaria nearly to the North Cape. I believe a few remain
in Scania throughout the winter, if the weather be open.
123. A. CEISTATA, L. Toffs Larka. The Crested Lark.
D.F.
Resembles the skylark in appearance, but is plumper,
and has a shorter tail; legs flesh-coloured ; eye red-
brown ; colour paler than in the last, more grey, and
without the pure black spots ; tail rusty yellow, instead
of white, and the under -vrings and sides are red-yeUow,
which distinguishes the bird at a, glance; crest on the
head thin and pointed.
Most probably breeds sparingly in Sweden. I have shot
both old and young birds in the south in auturan, but they
are rare. Has only once been killed in Finland.
124. A. AEBOEBA, L. Trad Larka. The Woodlark. D. P.
Smaller and shorter than the skylark ; tail shorter,
reaches only \ in. beyond the closed vrings ; hind toe
7 1. ; claw about 4 1.
Breeds in the southern and midland districts, but every
where sparingly. Wright mentions a curious fact, that early
in every spring they are seen near Helsingfors, in South
Finland, for eight to fourteen days, when they disappear;
nobody knows where they go to, nor are any seen again in
the autumn.
The short-toed lark, A. brachydactyla, Gould, has not as
yet been identifled in Scandinaria. This is, however, very
likely to be confounded with the woodlark, but the short
hind claw, scarcely one-fourth of an inch, the shorter front
toes, and the second wing feather being longest (in the
woodlark the third is longest), are marks of distinction.

LAEKS. 331
125. A. ALPESTEis, L. Berg Larka. The Shore Lark.
D. F.
Length 7-1- in. ; tail 1 in. beyond the closed wings ;
third wing feather longest ; colour reddish brown above,
under parts white ; forehead, front of neck, and a streak
over and at the back of the eye sulphur yellow (which
colour I have observed fades very much as soon as the
bird is killed) ; a streak under the eye, and a band on
the front of the throat black ; on the sides of the back
of the head are some pointed feathers, which can be up
raised Uke a sharp horn on each side ; tail black, edged
vrith white ; middle feathers red-brown ; eye red-brown ;
legs black.
In the female and in the vrinter dress the colours are less
pure and virid.
Till lately this lark was considered so rare in Scandinavia
that the capture of single specimens was deemed worth re
cording. However, as I kiUed more than fifty specimens in
the winter of 1859 off the coast of Scania, in the south of
Sweden, and again about sixty in the spring of 1862, at
Quickiock, Lapland, I fancy they are not so very rare in this
country. In the winter they frequent the sandy banks close to
the sea, and feed much on the heaps of dry sea- weed. They
seemed to keep in small fiocks ; their flight sharp and low,
and as they sweep over the ground they utter a sharp single
call-note. They were by no means shy. They appeared
at Quickiock about the middle of AprU, just as the snow was
beginning to disappear, and remained in the low grounds
round the rillage for about a fortnight, where their habits
were precisely the same as on the southern coast. They
then left, and went on to the fells to breed; and, strange
to say, although we searched everywhere, saw the birds
always on the fells during the whole sumraer, and killed
young birds in the end of July, we could never succeed in
taking a nest.
I observed that the colours in spring were very far
brighter than in summer. Little difference in plumage

332 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
between the male and female In the spring when they first
arrived I shot above fifty specimens, just round the rillage ;
strange to say, with one exception, they were all raales.
Nest, usually among loose stones and gravel, formed entirely
of grass ; eggs five, yellow grey, spotted all over with grey,
blue, and brown. Gen. Emberiza, L.
Bill short, strong ; a knot on the palate inside the beak ;
wings short ; feathers sharp, scarcely reaching down to haff
of the tail ; first hind claw crooked, never longer than
the toe.
126. Embeeiza miliaeia, L. Korn Sparf. The Common
Bunting. D.
Length 7-^ in. ; colour above brown-grey, with black
streaks; below whitish, with small black spots and
streaks on the throat and breast ; tail without a white
spot on the end.
Is met with only in the south and south-east of Sweden,
where it remains the whole year ; not known in Norway or
Finland.127. B. CiTEiNELLA, L. Gul Sparf. The TeUow Buntmg.
D.F.
Length about 7 in. ; head in male yeUow, in female
blackish oUve green ; throat and belly yellow ; the two
outer tail feathers with a white tip ; winter dress darker.
One of the comraonest birds in Scandinaria, and goes
up into Lapland ; remains in the middle and south of the
country throughout the year.
128. E. HoETULANA, L. Ortolan Sparf. The Ortolan Bunt
ing. D. P.
Length 6 in ; head and neck above ash grey, with
an olive green tinge; breast and belly brown-red;
throat yellowish ; beak and legs flesh red ; a yellow spot
over the eye; back greyish red-brown; rump rusty
brown ; eye brown. The colours in winter and of the
female are not so pure.

BUNTINGS. 333
A spring migrant to this country ; comes late, and then
frequents the new sown rye, where it always breeds ; does
not appear to go further north than Stockholra. The note
is a monotonous " tink, tink, tink, tink-tjohrr," and this I
have heard late in the summer nights ; builds generally in
green rye ; eggs six, pale grey, spotted and streaked with
purple black. The E. ccesia, Cretz, is nothing more than
a variety of this bird.
129. B. ScH^NiCLUS, L. Saf Sparf. The Black-headed
Buntmg. D. F.
Length 6 in. ; colour black above, with rusty yellow
feather edges ; below white, vrith brown streaks on the
sides ; head and front of the neck in male deep black,
vrith a white band on the back of the neck ; the feraale
has the crown of the head blackish, with rusty grey
feather edges ; a white streak above the eye.
Is met with in swampy places, and by the sides of water
during the summer, from the extreme south of Sweden to
the north of Lapland and Finland.
I once saw a pure Albino variety of the black-headed
bunting, which was shot by a friend of mine near Gothen-
burgi 130. E. Rustica, PaU. Vide Sparf. F.
Rather smaller than the last ; head above and on
the sides black ; a black streak along the crown, and
another above each eye ; body above red-brown or grey-
brown, with black spots on the back ; below white, a
reddish band over the breast, and reddish spots along
the sides ; rump as well as the edges of the primaries
reddish bro-wn.
Its habits are rather like those of the last, and the eggs
are nearly the same, but rather smaller. Very common in
Siberia and North Russia; has been occasionally shot in
Sweden ; supposed to breed in Lapland.
The two white streaks on the head, the throat without
black, the rusty red rump and back of the neck, and the
reddish spots on the breast and sides, will alv^ays distinguish

334 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
this from the black-headed bunting, and also from the next.
Figured by Dr. Bree as the rustic bunting.
131. E. pusilla, PaU. Dverg Sparf.
Length little more than 5 in.; head above black,
vrith a brown-red band along its crown; sides of the
head red-brown ; upper part of the body black, with-
rusty grey feather edges, under parts white, with long
black spots on the breast, sides, and neck.
Is common in Siberia and around Archangel, and has
been accidentally shot in the south of Sweden during the
periods of migration. According to LUljeborg, frequents
marshy places thickly covered with bushes ; the song is clear
and pretty, note resembling that of the warblers. Not
known in Finland. Figured by Dr. Bree as the "little
bunting." Second hind claw straight, longer than the toe.
132. E. Lapponica, L. Lapp Sparf. The Lapland Bunting.
D.F.
Length 6-|- in. ; head and front of the throat in the
male black, with a white streak over the eye and lower
side of the neck ; in female blackish, with white-grey
feather edges ; back of the neck in male red-brown ; in
feraale brown-yellow ; upper part black, vrith rusty
feather edges ; breast in male black, in the female rusty
grey, black spotted ; tail blackish, the two outer feathers,
with a white spot ; hipd claw rauch longer than the toe.
Is never raet with south of Lapland, save during the
periods of migration; They were very comraon on the fell
meadows round Quickiock in the raiddle of June, where they
bred araong rough grass and sraall willow bushes; nest
always on the" ground ; eggs six, vary rauch in colour ; they
combine the characters both of the buntings' and the pipits'
eggs; generally resembling those of the black-headed
bunting, but raore clouded and seldora streaked with purple.
I have seen them so like those of the meadow pipit as hardly
to be distinguishable.
The song of the Lap bunting is as rich and clear as any
of our northern songsters; not so shrill as that of the lark.

SNOW BUNTING. 335
but sweeter and more varied, for in this song the clear flute
like note of the corn bunting is blended with the varying
strain of the skylark.
133. E. Nivalis, L. Sno Sparf. The Snow Bunting. D. F.
Length near 7 in. ; two white bands and a long white
streak over the closed vrings (in the young bird) , or one
white band and a large white spot (in the elder bird),
or wings very white, with the exception of the black
bastard vring and the last two-thirds of the primaries
(very old bird) ; the three outer tail feathers white,
vrith or without a black spot on the tip.
The old raale, when it is at least four years old, has, in
the summer dress — head, upper wing feathers, and all the
under parts, white, -with a slight rosy tint ; back and shoul
ders glossy black ; the three outer wing feathers white, with
a black spot on the tip of the outer fan ; the fourth black,
vrith a white outer fan. The old female of the same age has
in the summer less white on the wings, and the feathers on
the head are blackish grey. In the winter dress the sexes
more resemble each other ; the black feathers have then a
rusty grey or ash grey tint ; head, neck, and cheeks tinged
with chestnut brown, as well as the blackish rump.
The young bird in the first vrinter is much darker
coloured than the old birds, and, therefore, easily distin
guished even at a distance.
The breeding haunts of the snow bunting in Scandinavia
are on the Lapland feUs, and they only appear in the middle
and south of the country in auturan and spring, and a few
remain in the south during the winter. The very wildest
fell tracts seem to be the peculiar summer home of the snow
bunting, and although I have seen the birds eridently breed
ing all round me on the Quickiock fells, I never had the luck
to find a nest ; which, I fancy, as in the case with the shore
lark, is often built under a large stone. In those desolate
tracts pretty fell flowers are found in the sumraer here and
there among the thin mosses and lichens, but no green herbs
cover the shingle where it is bare of snow, and no trees

336 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
or bushes give a change to the flat monotony of the
scene. Here the snow bunting runs along the ground, or stretches
out its wings for ffight. During the whole short summer
here are to be found numberless little open pools of water,
which hold the larvae of mUlions of midges and mosquitoes.
These creep up on to edges of the pools to undergo their
metamorphoses, and furnish an abundant supply of food to the
snow bunting, and the few other birds that frequent these
desolate regions in the short but beautiful northern summer.
Gen. Fringilla, IU.
Bill small, conical ; tarsi short ; first three quill feathers
nearly equal.
1 34. Feingilla linaeia, L. Gra Siska. The Mealy Red-
pole. D. F.
Length 5 in. ; tail deeply forked ; forehead and chin
black ; crown of the head glossy red, or reddish yellow ;
breast and rump, in the summer, in male rose red, in
female dirty yellow, vrith brown spots ; two white bands
across the vrings; neck, back, and shoulders grey-
brown. The two-year old male has less red on the
breast and rump ; the one-year old male is very grey
on these parts, but stUl with a slight tinge of red, and
resembles the female, in which the crown of the head
alone is red. In vrinter the male is much tinged vrith
grey.
Of this bird Professor Sundivall makes two forms — the
short-beaked form and the long-beaked form ; in the former
the beak is only 2|- 1. long, in the latter 3-^ 1. Nilsson says
that the long-beaked forra seldom comes further south than
Stockholm. This is wrong, for in the winter it is much
commoner than the other with us in Wermland. That there
is a striking difference between the shape of the beaks in
these birds is certain, but I have carefully examined so many
specimens kUled out of the same flocks, and seen the beaks
gradually decrease in size, that I have come to the conclusion

FINCHES. 337
that this is certainly no speciflc raark of distinction, nor do I
believe that our lesser redpole (which is not recognized in
the north as a distinct species) is anything raore than a
variety of the mealy redpole. The short-beaked form, how
ever, seems rarer than the long-beaked.
The mealy redpole remains in Scandinavia throughout
the year ; but they all retire to the north in summer to
breed, and I never obtained the nest anywhere except in
Lapland. Next to the brambUng, it is, perhaps, the com
monest bird in the Lap forests, and I think the nest, cup-
shaped, built of twigs and moss, lined with the pure white
down of the willow catkin and ptarmigan feathers, one of
the prettiest mementos of the northern forests. The eggs,
usuaUy six, reserable those of the lesser redpole precisely.
It is singular that the mealy redpole, as well as some other
northern birds, does not appear to obtain the full summer
dress tiU many of the young are flyers,
135, F, Spinus, L. Gron s'ska. The Siskm. D. F.
Scarcely so large as the last ; crown of the head in
male black, in the female the sarae colour as the body ;
upper parts greenish, raore or less spotted -vrith black ;
under parts whitish yeUow ; rump bright yeUow ; sides
-vrith oblong black spots.
Seems to be confined to the midland districts in the
breeding season, and I never met vrith it in Lapland ; re
mains in the south through the winter. The nest is most
difficult to find, always built high in a fir tree ; not nearly so
neat and pretty as the last ; eggs five to six, grey-white,
vrith purple red spot on the large end.
136. P. Caedublis, L. Steg litz. The Goldfinch. D. F.
Length 6-^ in. ; a bright yellow band on the black
wings ; forehead and throat blood-red ; occiput and
nape black; back and sides yeUow-brown; tail black,
-with white tip ; under parts white ; female less bright.
Is met with in the south and often in the middle of Scan
dinaria throughout the year. In the summer goes up as far
at least as Norrland, but I never saw it in Lapland. 23

338 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
13 7i F. Cannabina, L. Hampling, The Linnet. D. F.
About the size of the last. The male in the spring
has the head and breast blood-red ; neck and back of
the head ash grey ; back and shoulders Chestnut brown;
In the autumn the red becomes brownish, and the brown
on the back greyish. Feraale, which nevei* has red at
any time, and young, resemble the raale in autumn ; beak
as long as the hind toe, with half the claw ; in summer
stone brown, in vrinter gfey.
Distinguishing marks betweeU the common linnet, the
mountain linnet, and the mealy redpole in the breeding
dress : —
The mountain linnet has a red rump in the spring, but
ne-^ei" a ted head, and only one white band over the wing.
The common Unnet never has a red rump, only part of
the head and breast are red in the spring ; no white cross
band on the wing.
The mealy redpole has red over the forehead as -weU as
on the rump, and two white bands across the wing.
Is comraon over the whole country during summer, at
least as far up as Upsala. Some remain in the south during
winter. I saw one or two up at Quickiock in the summer,
but never took the nest there.
138. F. FlaviEosteis, NUss, Gulnabbad HampUng. D. F.
The Mountain Linnet.
About the size of the last ; upper parts blackish, 'With
rusty feather edges ; throat rusty yellow ; rump in male
red ; beak in summer yeUow, in vrinter brovrii.
In the summer appears to be confined to the very north
ern parts of Scandinavia, but in the autumn comes down
into the south. Neither this nor the last are so common here
at any time as the redpole.
Both the linnets remain in the south during the winter.
Gen. F. Erythrina, Mey.
The scarlet bullfinch is common during thb summer
throughout the whole south-east of Finland. Is said to have
been detected breeding on Sylt, in Denmai^k, and is reported

PINCHES. 339
to have been once kiUed in Sweden ; but I hardly think it
safe to include it in either list.
139. F. CcELBBS, L. Bofink. The Chaffinch. D. F.
Length about 6 in. In the feraale and young the
head is grey-green; back olive grey-brown; under
parts pale grey. The old raale in spring has the beak,
head, and neck ash blue ; back brown ; under parts red-
brown. In winter all the colours are duller and greyer.
Is one of the comraonest of small birds throughout all
Scandinaria during the summer. Most of thera migrate in
the vrinter.
140. F. MoNTiBEiNGiLLA, L. Bergfink. The BrambUng.
D.F.
About the size of the last ; throat, breast, and shoul
ders rusty yellow; under wing feathers yellow, oval
black spots on the sides ; back in middle white, on the
sides black ; beUy, and a streak over the root of the
wings white. In the auturan the raale has broad rusty
grey feather edges on the head, neck, and upper parts,
which in the suramer are black. The female has but a
sUght resemblance to the male in colour; young like
female.
Many remain in the south during winter. In the sum
mer vast flocks go up to Lapland to breed, and when they
flrst arrive, the whole forest rings with their monotonous
" cree-cree." In Lapland they breed early in June; nest generally
placed in a smaU fir, like that of the chaffinch, but not so
neat and pretty. The eggs also resemble those of the chaf
finch, but generally a trifle smaller; much darker in the
ground colour, and the purple lines and dots deeper, but not
so distinct ; in fact, the egg has a cloudy appearance. I
never heard the brambUng sing.
141. F. Chloeis, L. Grbnfink. The Greenfinch. D. F.
Length 6 in. ; the outer wing and tail feathers bright
yellow on the edges; raale green; female greyish
brown, with a green tinge.

340 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Is more a midland than a northem summer bird. I have
seen specimens in the winter in our midland forests; no
where so common here as in England.
142. F. DoMBSTiCA, L, Grasparf, The Common Sparrow.
D.F.
Length about 6 in. ; head above in male ash blue, in
female brown-grey, a white band over the wing. In
the feraale and young the body colour is greyish, with
out the chestnut brown and black, which distinguishes
the raale. In the winter both are raore grey.
Is comraon throughout the year in all parts of Scan
dinavia where men live.
143. F. Montana, L. Pilfink. The Mountain Sparrow.
D.F.
A little smaller than the last ; head above dark red-
brown ; two white bands over the wings ; back and
shoulders red-brown; breast ash grey; belly white. In
the female the colours are duUer, as both are in the
winter. No where so coramon as the last, and more
local, but seeras to have as high a northern range.
Gen. Ooccothraustes, Klein.
Bill extremely large ; vrings short.
144. Coccotheaustes vulgaeis, NUss. Stenknack. The
Hawfinch. D. P.
Length 7 in. ; upper parts brown; the middle vring
feathers in the end very much broader than in the
raiddle, and cut off square, glossy blue-black ; nape ash
grey ; a broad band of white across the wing ; bUl blue
in summer, white in winter ; the colour of the female is
duller.
Is rare in the north ; principally seen in the south ; but I
obtained one specimen in Wermland in the winter of 1864.
Gen. Pyrrhula, Briss.
Beak short and thick, as high as it is long; whigs
reaching scarcely to the middle of the tail ; body round and
plump.

PINE GEOSBEAK. 311
145. Pyeehula VULGAEIS, Tem. Domherre. The Bull
finch. D. F.
Length about 6i in. ; head, vrings, and taU black ;
rump white ; back ash grey ; a pale grey band across
the vrings ; under parts in male red, in feraale grey.
Is raet vrith in suraraer throughout the whole country, as
far as Quickiock, Lapland ; reraains in the midland districts
throughout the winter. Gen. Oorythus, Cuv.
Beak not so thick as in the last ; upper mandible hooked.
146. Coeythus enuclbatoe, Cuv. Tallbit. The Pine
Grosbeak. D. F.
Length 8J- in. ; vring breadth 14 in. ; tail 3 in. 4 1. ;
-wings and tail blackish, with two white bands across
the forraer ; body colour in the adult raale deep red,
female grey-brown or yeUowish.
The male grosbeak, like the male crossbill, is subject to
much variation in colour ; and as I have paid some attention
to the subject of the change of pluraage in both these birds,
I will shortly describe the different stages.
The nest plumage of the young pine grosbeak is dull
olive-green, -vrith a tinge of red occasionally on the head and
breast, but I never saw the longitudinal dark spots which
are peculiar to the young of the crossbills.
The dress of the young after the first moult in autumn is
ash-grey in the male, sUghtly tinged with reddish brown on
the breast; reddish yellow on the head. In the female,
the tinge on the breast and head (especially) is much more
yellow, and this is the only difference in the plumage of the
two sexes at this age. The young males retain this plu
mage tUl at least the next or second autumnal moult, and
that they can breed in this first plumage, I proved by
taking the nest up at Quickiock, and shooting both male
and female, which were very much alike. I cannot say how
long they retain this first dress, but I fancy until the second

342 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
autumnal moult. I do not think longer, but though I cannot
speak positively, this I can prove, that (although it is the
common dress of the feraale at all ages) it is only interme
diate, and assumed by the male before he comes to his red
dress ; for on August 4, 1 shot three specimens of these young
ash-green raales in deep moult, and the new red feathers
were shooting out under the ash-green feathers all over
the body, and most probably by the winter these birds
would have been deep red. However, I do not think that
all assurae the rich full red dress at once, for I have shot
raale birds with a deep purple tinge on the red, very diffe
rent from the fine carmine red which we have all supposed
to be the mature dress of the male pine grosbeak.
Now I am not aware that a single naturalist besides
myself has ever noticed this intermediate dress in the male
pine grosbeak. In fact, very few have ever had the oppor
tunity of studying these birds in the breeding season.
There is still another change of plumage in the male
pine grosbeak, as well as in the parrot crossbiU (and I
have no doubt also in the common crossbUl), which, as it
has only been observed in confinement, our naturahsts wUl
not consider normal. I allude to a bright green yeUow
dress which is assumed by the male bird at a very advanced
period of life. It is undoubtedly very rare, and I never
saw it but once,' and that was in confinement, but I have
killed the old parrot crossbill from the nest in this] dress,
and as it was certainly not the result of confinement in
this case, why should we not find the grosbeak with the
same dress in a state of nature. I wiU admit that it
is very rare, like the true grey pluraage in the old gos
hawk, and perhaps in a state of nature, is found only in
the very old males, although strange to say, in confinement
it is assuraed directly.
The nest of the grosbeak is one of the neatest I ever
saw. Neither large nor deep, but very compactly and
cleanly built, like basket work ; the outside waUs of very
fine fir branches and thin cranberry fibres tightly interlaced,
Uned with fine stiff grass and a little hair. Placed usuaUy

PINE GEOSBEAK— CEOSSBILLS. 343
in a fir about ten feet from the ground, often in a
conspicuous situation. Eggs, three or four, vary much
both in size and colouring, but usually about the size of
those of the hawfinch, perhaps a Uttle thinner ; pale blue-
green ground, blotched and streaked vrith light purple and
dark burnt umber spots and dots, always most apparent
towards the large end. Average size, 1 in. X f.
The old birds are very silent during the breeding season,
and never betray the locaUty of the nest. Both sexes have
a beautiful, clear, loud flute-like song in the winter and
spring, and a female which I had in confinement for above
a year (and which was one of the tamest and nicest pets
I ever had), would often wake me in the morning, by
suddenly at daybreak breaking out into such a wild, loud,
clear carol (which was, however, always short), the like of
which I never heard from any other bird.
Their food in the forest is principally berries in the
vrinter, in the spring and suraraer the young buds or
embryo of the young fir branches. I very rarely saw them
feed on a fir cone ; they can, however, shell out the seeds
as quickly as the crossbUls if they like.
We never see the pine grosbeak in the midland dis
tricts, except in the winter, and their migrations to us
are very irregular. They always leave very early.
Gen. Loxia, Briss.
Beak strong. Mandibles crossed at the tips. Tail
cloven. 147. LoxiA Pytioppsittacus, Bechst. Storre Korsnabb. The
Parrot CrossbiU. D. F.
Beak quite as high as the length of the under man
dible. The tip of the lower mandible scarcely reaches
the top edge of the upper mandible. Length, 7^ in. ;
taU 2 in. 3 1.; tarsi 6 1. Ground colour of the old
male, red. Female greenish grey.
The changes of plumage as described under the common
crossbill, wUl doubtless apply to the parrot crossbiU. In

344 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
fact, although I have not had so many opportunities of
examining specimens of the parrot as of the comraon cross
bill, I have seen enough to prove to me, that neither
this nor the other obtain their full red plumage at the 'first
auturanal moult, as most naturalists have erroneously stated.
I need here only reraark, that the parrot crossbill is
everywhere rarer than the comraon crossbill ; and another
curious fact I have remarked, is, that we never have
the two breeding together in our forest in the same year.
I fancy this depends much upon the state of the cones.
The parrot crossbill feeds more upon the pine cones,
the common crossbill on the fir cones.
I have heard some hazard an opinion that these birds
are not distinct species, but such an idea cannot be enter
tained by any one, who, like rayself, has had the opportunity
of watching the birds in a state of nature, and does not
merely study dry skins.
148. L. CuEViEOSTEA, L. Mindre Korsniibb. The Common
CrossbiU. D. F.
The beak is not so high as the length of the under
mandible, the long sharp point of which almost always
reaches over the top edge of the upper mandible.
Length, 6-i- in. ; vring breadth, ll-^- in. ; tail, 2 in. 2 1. ;
tarsus, 54- in.
With regard to the changes of plumage in the cross
bills, the following statements are the results of several
years' observations.
The first dress, which is changed at the first autumnal
moult, is greenish brown in both sexes, longitudinally
streaked with darker brown, in fact very Uke the nest
plumage. I believe that the parrot crossbUl is subject to
much the sarae changes as the comraon bird.
After the first autumnal moult, the body plumage is
much the same, but aU the under parts are tinged in the
young males with yellow-orange. In the females, much
brighter yellow. In the young males, the heads and
rumps are orange ; in the females, only tinged with yellow.

CEOSSBILLS. 345
The striped feathers of the young are very apparent in both,
aU through the winter and foUo-wing spring. They breed in
this dress, which I fancy lasts thera for one whole year.
I never saw the sUghtest indication that the plumage
of the male would becorae red untU the next moult, and
I think this does not take place tiU the foUowing autumn,
and that then it will not be deep red, but orange yellow-
red, for we find this colour in the birds breeding in this dress
in February and March, although I beUeve a change in plum
age may take place in May. It is clear that the bird does
not becorae red at once, because these orange-red birds
are not birds of the previous year, at least those which
we find breeding in March. I am of opinion that the full
red dress is not assumed until the third autumnal moult,
and the males breed in two interraediate stages of plumage
before it is resuraed ; because we find in the same forest,
and at the same time, the males breeding in all these three
stages of plumage.
I have proved that the very old parrot crossbill, becomes
yellow-green -with age in a state of nature, although I never
obtained an old male common crossbUl in this plumage.
In the summer, the red dress of the raale crossbill
seems to become darker.
The breeding habits of both species are aUke, save that
the parrot crossbill appears to go to nest a little later than
the other.
The pairing season begins with us in January, the birds
to breed in February. This is rather dependent on the
season, but when we do get the nests, we never take the first
later than the beginning of March, and after April we
never take one with fresh eggs. The nest is placed on
the top of a small pine, very rarely in a fir, never in the
depth of the forest, but always on a stony rise where the
trees are sraall, and stand wide apart. The nest (always
open, even in the raost incleraent weather) of both species
is much alike, coarsely buUt of sticks, Uned with raoss and
grass. The eggs, three, much resemble those of the green
linnet, but are larger. Tho egg of the parrot crossbiU

346 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
is often scarcely larger than that of the comraon bird, but
has always a bolder character. In the year 1863, I took
above thirty-five nests of the coramon crossbill in our forest,
but not one of the parrot crossbill. In the spring of 1864,
we never saw a specimen of either in our woods, until
the end of May. We rarely see any with us in the summer,
even in those years when they breed with us. No nest is
easier to find, for all the male seems to have to do with the
work of building is to sit on the top of a pine and sing,
thus betraying the locality of the nest.
Although they do not breed in colonies, you are sure to
find more than one nest in the same district, and they have
their favourite localities, where they breed year after
year,
149. LosiA BiPASCiATA, NUss. Bandel Korsnabb. The
Two-barred CrossbiU. D. F.
I do not beUeve it is very clear which of the two species
of wl^ite-winged crossbill we have in the north. Nilsson
describes only one, which he calls Loxia bifasciata, and in
his synonyraes adds Crucirostra bifasciata, Brehm. Wright
gives it the synonyme of Loxia leucoptera, Tem., but he
adds the Swedish name of Bandel Korsnabb, thus clearly
identifying the Finland bird vrith Nilsson's L. bifasciata.
KjarbolUng appUes both of the synonymes, 0. bifasciata,
Brehm, and Crucirostra leucoptera, Wilson, to the Danish
bird. Morris gives Nilsson's synonyme of L. bifasciata to
the two-barred crossbiU ; but in describing the American
white-winged crossbiU (which M. de Selys Longchamps
appears to have decided as a different species), he says that
" a few are occasionally seen in Sweden." Now it appears
to me that it is not at all clear which we have in the north,
and whether or not we have both species (if indeed they can
be considered distinct), or only one.
I never met vrith the bird in my Ufe here, although I
have more than once killed the common crossbUl vrith two
pale rose red bands over the vring, which Brehm, I be
lieve, calls the Loxia rubrifasciata, but I do not think he
makes it a distinct species.

CEOSSBILLS. 347
Nilsson's description of the L. bifasciata is, length 6 to
6-1- in.; from carpus joint 3 to 7 1.; beak at the root -^ in. high
and T-^-g- in. broad ; upper mandible ~ in. long at point, strongly
bent, long and pointed ; under mandible -f^^ in. at point, short ;
tail nearly 2 in. 3 1.; cloven reaches nearly 1 in. beyond the
closed wings ; tarsus -g-in.; raiddle toe without the claw nearly
half an inch, with the claw 5^ 1. The three outer priraaries
alike ; beak and legs brown. His description of the colour
ing will not help us in determining the species.
KjarbolUng's description does not assist us at all. He
only describes the white bars on the wings, and says, " that
this lesser North Araerican species," etc.
Wright gives the dimensions of the beak in the Finland
specimens — upper raandible 65 1. long; under raandible 6 1.;"
height of the beak at the root 3^ 1.; breadth of the under
mandible at the root 3 1.
The principal differences between the European and the
American white-winged crossbUl appear to be that the first
is larger in the body ; the beak is much larger (nearly as
large as in the common crossbUl), less corapressed than in
the American bird, and the point shorter. The tail is rauch
less forked, and the pluraage is not so brUliant a crirason.
In YarreU's representation of the two birds, there is one
striking difference which, if correct, will serve to distin
guish the birds at a glance. In the European bird the tips
of the closed wings reach very Uttle further than the root of
the taU, whereas in the Araerican bird they reach fuUy, if
not raore than half way down the taU.
Whichever the Scandinavian species raay be, it is only
an accidental risitant to Scandinavia, Finland, or Denraark,
and has not been detected breeding in any of these coun
tries. According to LUljeborg, it breeds very commonly
near Archangel.

Fam. 8. — Columbini.
Beak straight, compressed; upper mandible covered at
the base with a soft swollen membrane, in which the nostrils

348 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
are placed ; tarsi short, reticulated ; toes dirided. All lay
two oblong white eggs .
150. Columba Palumbus, L. Ringdufva. The Wood-
pigeon. D. F.
Length 17 in.; colour blue-grey ; breast reddish; a
large shiny white spot on each side of the neck ; tip of
the taU black, a white-grey band on its under side, and
a large white spot on the wings. The feraale has the
red breast, a little paler.
Common during the summer over the whole country, as
far up at least as Angermanland. Migrates in the winter.
151. C. CEnas, L. Skogsdufva. The Stock Dove.
D. P.
Length 12 in.; blue-grey, vrith a metallic green lustre
on the sides of the neck, and a red tinge on the breast ;
upper tail coverts blue.
As comraon as the last in the summer, at least as far up
as 61° north lat. Breeds in the hole of a tree.
152. C. LiviA, Briss. KUppdufva. The Rock Dove.
Rather larger than the last ; blue-grey, vrith a metalUc
gloss on the sides of the neck ; rurap white ; two black
bands across the vrings.
Said to be the original stock of all our tame pigeons, on
account of the white rump, and there raay be soraething in
this. Tou do not, however, see this white rurap till the
bird is flying.
Extreraely rare in Scandinavia, and only kno-wn to breed
in one place, Stavange, off the south coast of Norway, where
they remain throughout the year.
Not known in either Denraark or Finland.
153. C. TuETUE, L. Turturdufva. The Turtie Dove.
D. P.
Length scarce 11 in.; taU rounded, with a white
tip; edges of vrings ash grey; under breast and
belly whitish ; body colour pale brown or grey-blue ;

TLETLE DOTES— PAETEIDGE. 3-19
the yellow-brown shoulders have blackish spots. On
the sides of the neck three to four white and black
bars.
Is rare in Scandinavia, and appears to be killed ac-
cidentaUy at irregular seasons. Strange to say, two
were shot up at Quickiock, Lapland, in 1811, and in
1863 I received a third specimen from that place, killed
in July. The Turtur gelastes, Tem., has been twice killed in
Sweden, once up at Petea, Lapland. This is considered by
Swedish naturaUsts as a distinct species. I, however, foUow
Dr. Bree, and think it is nothing more than a large variety
of the common turtle-dove, with redder coloured abdomen.

DIVISION 2.— AUTOPEAGI.
The young of which can more or less feed themselves from
their birth.
OEDEE 3.- GALLING.
Rasores.
Wings and tail short (vrith few exceptions) ; beak short,
convex above, often furnished with a cere at the base ; legs
and feet strong, pecuharly formed for scratching and
perching. Tail vrith fourteen to eighteen feathers.
Gen. Perdix, Lath.
BiU short and strong, naked at the base; tarsi and
orbits naked ; tarsus in the male with a hind spur ; body
round and plump.
154. Peedix CiNEEEA, Lath. Rapphona. The Partridge.
D. F.
Length 1 ft.; forehead, sides, and throat rusty red ;
neck and upper breast grey watered; shoulders and

350 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
vring coverts vrith long white streaks. The side fea
thers of the tail rusty brown. In the female the red-
brown spot on the breast is smaller than in the male.
Very common in the south and midland districts, but is
not met with north of Stockholm.
156. P. CoTUENix, Lath. Vaktel. The Quail. D.
Length about 7 in.; a pale yeUow streak along the
crown of the head, and a similar one over each eye;
body above rusty brown or rusty grey, with black spots
and yellowish longitudinal streaks ; collar and breast
red brown, with white streaks ; belly white.
The AustraUan quail is not identical with the European.
Is met -vrith sparingly as far up as 59° north lat., probably-
further north. Gen. Tetrao, L.
Beak short, thick, convex above; cere round the eye,
naked, red, thickly covered with warts, but no signs of a
comb ; nostrils covered vrith a feathery skin ; legs always
more or less feather-clad ; toes naked, fringed ; tail in all
(except the hazel grouse, which has but sixteen) consistiag
of eighteen feathers.
Tarsi feather-clad only to the middle.
156. Teteao Bonasia, L. Hjerpe. F.
Length about 14 in., in Kalraan Land over 15 in.,
feathers on the crown of the head long and pointed,
shorter in sumraer than in -winter ; tail, except in the
two middle feathers, with a broad black band before
the grey tip. Throat in the male black, in the female
rusty yellow. Head and back of neck, grey-brown,
with black streaks ; shoulders rusty brown ; back and
rump ash grey. Very prettily variegated.
Is not met with in the extreme south, but from the middle
"to far up into Lapland, is found in all the old rocky fir forests,
and a favourite home of the hazel grouse is in woods of
trerabling poplar and birch, at the foot of high rocks. In
the summer they chiefly frequent leafy woods, in the winter

GEOUSE. 851
fir forests. Appear to be always on the ground, except
when frightened up into a tree. Call-note a soft whistle.
Monogamous. In April the female lays seven to ten pale
yellow-brown spotted eggs on a nest of moss. The whole
family keep together during the autumn and winter, but
several cocks are never known to pack, as is the case with
the black grouse, and even the capercaUlie.
Beautifully figured in Bree's '^ Birds of Europe" as the
hazel grouse.
Tarsi feathered to the very toes.
157. T. Ueogallus, L. Tjader. The CapercaiUie. P.
Length of raale about 3 ft., of female a Uttle over 2
ft. A good old male will weigh 10 to 12 lb., or even
more ; a female 6 to 7 lb.
I did not reraark that the Lapland capercailUe were rauch
smaUer than those we kiU in Werraland. Tail rounded;
male, body watered vrith black, on the throat vrith glossy
ash blue, on the vrings with red-brown ; feraale, speckled and
wavy, vrith black, rusty yellow, and white. Barren hens
reserable the cocks.
Is met -vrith in Scandinaria wherever fir forests grow,
from the north of Scania to the North Cape.
Polygamous. The feraale lays about seven eggs in May,
much resembhng those of the grey hen, but larger, and
scarcely ever so deeply spotted. *
158. T. Tbteix, L. Orre. The Black Grouse. D.F.
Length of male about 22 in.; female considerably
smaller; tail cloven, the side feathers in the female
much curved outwardly ; female black, with a beautiful
blue gloss on the neck and breast, a double white streak
on the wings ; under vring and taU coverts white ;
female speckled vrith rusty yellow and black transverse
lines; tarsus not l-i- in.; weight of male about 3 lb.
Is far more common and -vridely spread over the whole of
Scandinavia than the capercaiUie, but does not go so far
north. Rare in Denraark.

352 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
159. T. Hybeidus. T. UrogalUdes, Nilss. Rackel-
hane.
Produce of the black cock and capercaiUie hen. Tail
cloven, but the outer feathers are not curved as in the
black cock ; tarsus 2 in.; raale blackish or black, vrith
a lovely purple gloss on the neck and breast, a white
spot over the arra-hole, and black and white under
tail covert. Length 2 ft. 3 in., vring breadth 3 ft. 3 in.;
tail 9 in.; beak black. Tail in shape like that of the grey
hen, has eighteen feathers, of which the outer are 1|- in.
longer than the eight raiddle ones, which are equal.
Female 9 in.; tail 6i in., speckled vrith black and
rusty yellow transverse bands; breast darker rusty
brown. Weight of a good male about 6 lb.
The feraale might be mistaken for the female black
grouse, but raay always be distinguished by the under tail
coverts ; in the grey hen they are longer than the middle
taU feathers, in the female T. medius they only reach half
way down them.
Wing feathers in the T. medius — first rather shorter
than seventh ; second like the sixth, third, fifth, the fourth
a Uttle longer and longest.
In the black grouse — first, eighth, second, sixth, and
third a Uttle shorter than fourth, which is longest.
That the Rackelhane can lay is, I believe, tolerably
well proved, for I have seen an egg laid in confinement. It
was very similar to that of the grey hen, but rather larger.
I do not beUeve, however, that the birds themselves can
perpetuate their race.
The Rackelhane is not so very rare, especiaUy in those
tracts where the male capercailUe are shot out, for then the
feraales allow the black cock to tread them.
I never, however, had the luck to procure more than one
myself, and this was in April, 1864. It came down on a
moss to play vrith the grey hen. The note is a very hoarse
one, rather like some parts of that of the capercaiUie.
Directly this bird pitched on the moss, he drove aU the

GEOUSE. 353
black cock off. They play most, I beUeve, on the ground,
but also in trees. The female appears much more difficult
to obtain than the male.
Produce of Black Grouse and WUlow Grouse.
160. Tbteao Hybeidus Lagopides, NUss. Rip Orre.
Much more rare than the last. I never saw but one
specimen, and this was shot in North Wermland. It appears
that no Swedish naturalist has seen this kind in the summer
plumage, but the winter dress is as foUows : —
Male : black above, watered grey, or the feathers have
white edges ; underneath and on the neck and wings white
and blackish, vrith a great black spot on the front of the
neck. Feraale : above speckled with white, rusty yellow, and
black ; underneath white on the neck and sides, vrith black
and rusty yeUow transverse bands. The middle feathers of
the taU speckled rusty yeUow, the outer ones speckled on
the outer edge.
Tail cloven, vrith black feathers ; feet white, clothed vrith
feathers ; toes on the . outer half aunulated, and fringed on
the edges ; tarsus about If in.
Length of male 18 in., of which the taU forms 6 in.;
beak black, Uke that of the wiUow grouse, but much
larger. Like the black grouse, the naked red spot over the eye
is covered vrith warts, but like the wiUow grouse it forms a
crenated comb. As in the latter, the feet are feather-clad,
but their outer extremity is like the black grouse, covered
with horny rings, under which Ue a row of homy teeth. Like
the black grouse, the tail has eighteen feathers, and the side
ones are a little bent, but the tail is much less cloven than
in the black grouse, and the middle feathers are broadly
edged with white on the tips, as in the -wiUow grouse. In
size it stands between the black grouse and the wUlow grouse.
Gen. Lagopus, VeUl.
Beak as in the last ; naked red crest over the eye, rises
23

354 TUN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
in a crenated comb. Tarsi and toes in winter, thickly
clothed vrith feathers; claws in winter long and broad;
tail consists of sixteen feathers, of which all but the two
middle ones, lying above the others, are black at aU
seasons.
161. Lagopus Subalpina, NUss. Dal Ripa. P.
Length 16 in.; tail beyond the vrings 3 in.; female
about 1 in. shorter ; the primaries at all seasons white,
vrith brown shafts.
Summer dress : head and throat in front red-brown in
the male, or rusty yellow in female, with black spots; back
black, and speckled with red-brown in male, or rusty yeUow
in female. Winter dress : snow white, -vrith a black beak and black
tail feathers. In this dress it is not easy to distinguish the
female willow grouse, from the female ptarraigan, (the male
ptarmigan may always be known at aU seasons by the black
mark between the eye and the gape, which is wanting in
the male willow grouse) ; but the beak is always much
thicker, the bird is larger, and there is this difference in
the relative proportions of the wing feathers : —
In the willow grouse, the first wing feather is If ia. shorter
than second, which is f in. shorter than third, which is equal
to the fourth and longest; fifth always longer than the
second. In the ptarraigan, the first wing feather is If in. shorter
than second ; this is f in. shorter than third, which is Uke the
fourth and longest ; fifth shorter than second.
In the suraraer, the female vrillow grouse may always
be kno-wn frora the male by the deep black chin, which
in the female is rusty yellow, and by the red-brown feathers
on the breast and throat. Moreover, in the male the under
taU coverts are red-brown, speckled vrith black, and marked
with a dark band in front of the white tip ; in the female
they are rusty yeUow, with black transverse bars, and
this I have always found a safe mark of distinction. Figured
by Dr. Bree as the " willow grouse."

GEOUSE. 355
The -wiUow grouse is met -with very plentifully from
North Wermland, about 60° north lat., up to the extreme
north of Lapland. Never in any forests which Ue far from
the foot of the feUs.
Both the ptarmigan and the wUlow grouse are strictly
monogamous, but they both have a kind of lek or play
in the spring, in which, however, the male does not
tread raore than one female, to whora he attaches hiraself
during the whole breeding season. The old ptarraigans
leave the females while they are sitting, and pack together
in smaU companies (in this respect they much resemble
the common vrild duck), but join the brood again in autumn.
The raale -willow grouse, however, never leaves the feraale
or yoimg brood.
The vrillow grouse is always found in the forests,
generally araong bushes and near water, and I never by
any chance saw one higher up on the fells than the bushes
grow, and never found a nest any where except in the
forest. They occasionally perch, but rarely except in the
-vrinter. The caU note is exactly that of the red grouse.
The feraale lays, in the end of May or early in June,
seven to nine eggs, so Uke those of the ptarmigan as
scarcely to be distinguished, except that they are perhaps
a very little larger and blunter at the ends.
The usual weight of an old male willow grouse is sixteen
ounces, EngUsh ; that of a ptarmigan ten ounces.
162. Lagopus Alpina, NUss. FjaU Ripa. The Ptarmigan. F.
Length 14 in. Winter dress, pure white, with black
tail feathers, and a black moustache in raale. Auturan
dress : blue-grey, finely watered -vrith black ; feraale
also grey watered. Summer dress ; male, head, neck,
back, and breast, black, more or less spotted with
white, and finely speckled with rusty grey. Female,
covered vrith black spots, and pale rusty yellow wa-vy
lines.
I ara clearly convinced, that the ptarraigan raoults
three times in the year, and that all the changes of
plumage take place through a regular moult.

356 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
I never saw the ptarmigan off the true fells, nor in
the forests on their sides. They go to nest on the fells a
little later than the wiUow grouse. Southern range iu
Scandinaria, the Dovre Fell.
163. L. ScoTicus, Gould. Mo Ripa. The Red Grouse.
Length, 16 in. The whole pluraage, in both sexes,
chestnut brown variegated with black; tail with
sixteen feathers' the six outer ones on each side
dusky; the wing priraaries at all seasons dusky
brown.
Has lately been introduced into Sweden, and some pairs
have been tumed out near Gothenburg. They have already
bred in a state of nature, and as they are to be preserved
by the king's order for sorae years, it is probable that the
red grouse will now be estabUshed in Scandinavia.
Gen. Pterocles, Tem.
Feet -vrith short toes ; tarsi only feathered in front ;
taU conical, the two middle feathers much elongated, as
in the skua's.
164. Pteeocles Alchata, Steph. The Pin-tailed Land
Grouse. D.
Length, to the end of the long thin taU feathers
(which extend 3 iu. beyond the shorter feathers of
the tail), 13 in. Head, nape, and back, in male,
olive-green ; upper tail coverts, red fawn, pencilled
-vrith black ; throat black ; side of the neck, and a
band across the crop, dark fawn edged with black;
beUy pure white. In the female the colours are much
duller.
Was added to the- Scandinavian 'fauna in 1863, by
specimens killed in one of the eastern prorinces, and
also in Denmark, when Europe was overrun by a ffight
of these African birds.

BUSTAEDS. 357
OEDEE 4.— GEALL^.
Waders.
Legs high, naked raore or less over the knee. Hind
toe generally placed high up, often wanting. Beak long,
round. Wings long ; under wing coverts or scapulars
very long. TaU short, of twelve to twenty feathers.
They are aU sumraer raigrants to the north, although
occasionally an odd speciraen remains in the south through
the winter of the purple sandpiper, and even of the wood
cock and water rail.
Fam. 1. — Pebssieostees, Cuv.
Beak straight ; legs tolerably high. Live on dry
sandy plains, or stony sandy beaches, not on mosses or
swamps. Gen. Otis, Lin.
Beak as long as the head; upper mandibles swollen;
gape wide; nostrils oval, open in the middle of the
beak; legs high, naked above the knee, reticulated. No
hind toe. Second, third, or fourth, vring feather longest.
TaU rounded, twenty feathers.
The bustards form a good link between the rasores
and the true waders, partaking of the characters of both.
165. Otis Taeda, L. Storre Trappen. The Bustard. D. F.
Length, 3 ft. 9 in. ; beak, frora gape, 3^ in. Naked
space above the knee 2 in. Colour, head and neck
pale ash grey; raantle deeply spotted transversely
with black and rusty yellow. Wing feathers black-
brown, white at the roots. In the raale, at the root of
the under mandible, is a plume of narrow feathers
about 7 in. long, falUng backwards, covering a strip
of bluish grey skin, on the sides and front of the neck.
Legs black; tail rounded. The female reserables
the raalo; but is sraaUer, and wants the moustache.
Was formerly common on the sandy plains of South

358 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Sweden, is now very rare, but not. extinct. A summer
migrant. 166. O. Tbteax, L. LiUa Trappen. D.
Length, about l-i ft. Beak, frora gape; ll in.
Colour, head black, with rusty yellow spots. Wing
feathers white. Mantle, in the female, finely speckled ;
in the male, finely watered with black, on a chestnut
ground. Neck, in the male, black, vrith two broad
white cross bands ; in the female, speckled.
Is only accidental in the north.
167. 0. Houbaea, L. Krage Trappen. D.
Length, 26 in. Beak long, much compressed at the
root. A long tuft of white feathers on the crown
of the head, and on either side of the neck, a bushy
tuft of long black and white pendent feathers. Upper
parts rusty brown, barred with darker brown. Sides
of the neck grey, under parts white. Legs dark green.
Eye reddish.
Has been once shot at Plensburg, in Denmark, and once
on Gotland, Must not be confounded vrith Macqueen's
bustard, 0. Macqueenii, Gray, which has once been kUled
in Britain. Figured by Dr. Bree as the " ruffed bustard."
The pratincole and the stone curlew are included in the
Danish fauna. Gen. Charadrius, L.
Beak straight, shorter than the head ; head large, vrith
high forehead, and large eyes ; nostrils small, long, opaque,
basal ; nasal channel extending two-thirds of the length of
beak ; tarsi slender ; outer and middle toes connected by
a membrane ; wings long, first feather longest ; taU square
or rounded ; twelve feathers. All lay four eggs, on the bare
ground, except the dotterel.
A. — With no hind toe.
168. Chaeadeius hiaticula, L. Storre Strandpipare. The
Ring Dotterel. D.F.
Length 7f in. ; the outer half of the beak black, the
inner half as well as the legs yellow; all the wing

PLOVEES. 359
feathers vrith shafts white only in the middle ; the outer
taU feather white, the following blackish, vrith long
white tips; eye brown; upper parts grey-brown; a
broad gorget of black on the breast.
Very common during the summer on most of the coasts,
and I kiUed them up in Quickiock, Lapland, by the side of
fresh water.
169. 0. MiNOE, Mey. Mindre Strandpipare. The Littie
Ring Dotterel. D. F.
Colour like the last, but it is smaller ; bill entirely
black ; legs flesh colour ; the whole shaft of the outer
vring feather white; outer taU feather white, with a
black spot on the inner fan, the rest with white tips.
Not so common as the last, nor does it go so far north.
I, however, frequently take the nest on the Wener. The
egg is much sraaUer than that of the last, and the dark spot
on the grey-bro-wn ground sraaUer.
170. C. Cantianus, Lath. Hvit Brostad Strandpipare.
The Kentish Plover. D: F.
A little larger than the last ; upper parts cinereous
brown ; crown of the head and nape brownish red ; a
black patch on each side of the breast, which does not
form a band ; beak and feet black ; the two outer taU
feathers altogether white, the rest browU.
Not nearly so comraon in Scandinaria as the last, but I
think raore so in Denmark. I never met with it except on
the very southern coast of Scania.
Eggs have much the character of the last, but always when
fresh, are darker, and have a kind of mouldy appearance.
171. C. MoEiNELLUS, L. FjaU Pipare. Lafol, Lap. The
Dotterel. D. F.
Length 9 in. ; female generaUy larger and handsomer
than the male; beak and eye black; colour above
brown ash, edged with reddish ; breast and sides red-
brown ; a white band over the eye ; a white gorget on
the breast ; the outer wing feather vrith a white shaft.
In the winter the colour is duller.

360 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Breeds only up on the northern fells, where they are very
coramon in the suramer. The full nuraber of eggs is in
variably three, dark clay-brown, blotched with black.
172. C. Pluvialis, L. Ljung Pipare. The Golden Plover.
D.F.
Length about 11 in.; upper parts dusky brown,
spotted vrith yellow. In the spring and suramer the
under parts and breast are black ; in winter, and in the
immature dress, grey, -with yellow spots. But at all
seasons the long axiUary plume under the wing is
white ; in the American golden plover always grey>
One of the commonest birds on the moors and fells of
Scandinavia, during the summer, right up to the North
Cape. B. — Hind toe rudimentary.
173. C. Helveticus, Bp. Kust Pipare. The Grey Plover.
D.F.
Rather larger than the last, which it much resembles
in the summer dress, but is always Ughter in colour,
and the axillary plume is deep black at all seasons. In
the vrinter the plumage is rauch whiter, and the breast,
instead of being dark black, is white, -vrith dark spots.
There is a great mystery regarding the breeding haunts
of this bird. I have shot the old birds on the southem coast
of Scania, in August, in nearly fuU suraraer dress, as weU as
birds of the year, so that it was reasonable to suppose they
were bred somewhere on this continent. But I never could
succeed in procuring the egg here. It certainly does not
breed at Quickiock, and the egg has never been taken at
Munioniska either by the coUectors of the late Mr. WoUey
or any one else. Still, for all that, I do believe that it
breeds on the Scandinavian fells.
The egg is flgured by Morris from a specimen " taken by
Mr. Tristram in Finland, 1862." No doubt this is genuine,
but it is a great pity he does not give us more particulars of
the capture of so rare an egg.

PLOVEES. 3G1
Mr. Newton has described and figured the egg in the
"Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 1861, and his
figure, in the raain, agrees with Morris's, but the egg is con
siderably smaUer. This I rather wonder at. It was taken
by Middendorff on the Taimyr river. North Russia, 74°, 1st
July, 1843, and is also doubtless a genuine egg. As Mr.
Newton observes, the egg greatly resembles in character that
of the lapwing and dotterel, but is much larger. The speci
mens in my cabinet were procured from Greenland, and I
have every reason to believe in their authenticity. They
are fully as large as Morris's figure, and have raore the
character of the eggs of the golden plover, than of the
dotterel. Gen. Vanellus, Briss.
Beak as the last ; nostrils pierced through ; legs high ;
wings round ; third feather longest ; long crest on the back
of the head.
174. Vanellus ceistatus, Mey. Toffsvipa. The Peewit.
D.F.
Male usually larger than female ; length 12 in ; under
wing coverts black in male ; grey in female ; back and
scapulars olive green ; crown, fore part of neck, and
breast greenish black ; a black crest of feathers, 4 in.
long, on the back of the head ; belly white ; under tail
coverts orange ; tail white, with black tip.
Is very comraon in the south of Sweden during the
suraraer ; comes sparingly up as far as Wermland, and goes
up certainly as far as Upland. I am not certain that three
is not the full number of eggs as often as four. Any how, I
have taken both three and four closely sat upon.
Gen. Strepsilas, 111.
Beak quite as long as the head, conical ; nostrUs pierced
through ; legs short ; front toes cloven to the root ; hind toe
placed high ; wings long, pointed ; first feather longest.

362 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
175. Steepsilas inteepees. 111. Roskarl. The Turnstone.
D.F.
Length 9 in. ; colour above variegated, white, black,
and ferruginous ; throat, hinder part of the back^ and
root of the tail white j breast black ; taU shorter than
the closed wings ; beak and eyes black ; legs yeUoW'
red.
Is common in the south of Sweden, and in the BaltiCj
and on the Norwegian coast; goes up vrithin the Polar
circle. I am not certain, whether the turnstone does not as
often sit on three eggs as four.
Gen. Hcematopus, L.
Beak much longer than the head ; nostrils small,' pierced
through ; tarsus reticulated ; outer and middle toe webbed ;
-vrings pointed ; first feather longest.
176. H.a3MAT0PUS Ostealegus, L. Strand Skata, The
Oyster-catcher. D. F.
Length 16 in. ; wings even with the taU; bUl 2f in. ;
colour of both sexes alike ; head, neck, scapulars, pri
maries, and upper parts of the breast black ; the rest of
the body white ; beak, eyes, and legs blood red. The
winter dress is marked by a white semicircular cravat
on the throat.
Coraraon on raost of the Scandinavian coasts, from
Scania up to vrithin the Polar zone. I received a specimen
from Quickiock, which lies at least a hundred miles inland
frora the sea, shot in July, 1863, and they are also some
times seen on the Wener. I never saw more than three
eggs in a nest, often only two.
Fam. 2.  CuLTEIEOSTEES, Cuv.
Beak long, straight and sharp ; neck long ; legs high ;
four toes ; the point of the hinder toe does not reach the
ground ; tibia in all, and the tarsi in some, reticulated ; vrings
round ; tail feathers twelve.
All large waders; sexes aUke; but the young dO not
attain the mature dress untU they are three years old, when
they commence breeding.

CEANES. 363
Gen. Grus.
Beak a little longer than head ; nostrils oblong, pierced
through the beak at about half its length; legs very high;
skin on the tibia and toe roots reticulated, on the tarsi scaly ;
outer and middle toes joined by a web ; third and fourth
wing feathers longest.
177. Geus CINEEEA, Bechst. Trana. The Crane. D. P.
Length 4 ft.; beak about 4 in. ; tarsus 10 in.; ash
grey, with black vrings, and a large whitish grey spot
on the side of the neck and head ; crown of the head
naked, covered thinly with hair, red and warty.
Is principally confined to the morasses in the middle and
south of Sweden, although a few go up as far as Lapland.
They arrive here about April, and I have counted twenty-
nine together upon one field, just after they had corae. I
think the loud trumpet bray of the crane, which may be
heard at a long distance, the wUdest and finest note of any
bird we have.
They breed commonly in our morasses ; the nest, a heap
of dry rushes and grass, flat, not unUke that of the coot ;
eggs, as far as I have seen, always two, nearly as large as
swan's eggs, greenish grey, irregularly blotched with dark
brown. I do not believe the old bird ever sits on the nest
during the day.
178. Geus Viego, Briss. Numidisk Trana.
Much sraaUer than the last ; colour blue-grey ; behind
each ear a bushy tuft of white feathers ; pointed black
feathers, about 9 in. long, hang down in front of the
breast; some of the vring coverts much lengthened;
eye red ; beak yeUow ochre, black at root ; legs black-
brown.
One single example which I have seen stuffed in the
museum, at Orebro, was shot in Nerike in June, 1867.
Beautifully figured in Bree's '"Birds of Europe" as the
" Numidian crane."

364 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Oiconia, Briss.
Beak nearly double the length of the head, straight,
conical, pointed ; nostrils basal ; eyes encircled by a
naked patch of skin, which is distinct from the beak ; legs
long ; back toe reaches the ground with its posterior third
part; skin on the tarsi and tibia reticulated; third wing
feather longest.
179. CicoNiA ALBA, Briss. Hrit Stork. The White Stork.
D.F.
Length about 3 1- ft. ; beak 6f in. ; tarsus 8 in. ;
whole body white, with black vrings; beak and legs
red ; cere black ; eye brown.
Is very common in Denmark. In Sweden is confined to
the southem prorinces of Scania and Halland, where they
breed. Are said to lay three to five white eggs, but never
to hatch more than three. I think, however, that three is
the usual number laid.
180. C. NiGEA, Briss. Svart Stork. D.F.
About the size of the last; head and neck glossy
black, with blue, green, and copper-coloured reflections ;
breast white ; back glossy black, with a bronze tinge.
Has been occasionally shot in Denmark, and once in
Finland. Gen. Platalea, L.
Beak long, flattened at the end to a large round broad
spatula; hind toe resting on the ground, throughout its
length .
181. Platalea Lbucoeodia, L. Sked Stork. The Spoon-
biU. D.
Length about 1 ft. 4 in. ; beak 7 in. 2 1. long, 1 in.
10 1. broad at the tip.
The whole body white. In the older birds there is a
long crest on the back of the neck, which, as well as the
breast, is rusty yellow ; eye red ; beak black, with yellow
tip ; legs black.

HEEONS. 365
Has been several times shot in Denmark ; twice in the
south of Norway. Was naraed by Linnaeus as a Swedish
bird, which in sumraer was raet vrith in Westerbotten and
Lapland ; but no modern naturaUst can corroborate this
statement. Is certainly only accidental in the north.
Gen. Ardea, L.
Beak as long or a little longer than the head ; the whole
of the hind toe resting on the ground ; nostrils basal, oblong ;
eyes placed in a naked cere, which joins on to the beak;
wings round.
Distinguished from all the other waders by the pecuUar
shape of the neck (which can be drawn back and laid on
the shoulders), and the four bare patches under the feathers,
c overed only vrith flne down, one on each side of the breast,
and one on each side of the rump. I think three may be
taken as the fuU number of eggs of aU this genus.
DiuENAL. Neck long, and covered vrith short feathers.
182. Aedba CINEEEA, Lath. Hager. The Heron. D. F.
Length 3 ft. 3 in. ; beak 5 in. ; tarsus 6f in. ; much
longer than the middle toe ; crest on back of head 6 in. ;
colour above ash-grey ; tail, vring primaries, and crest
black ; long white feathers hanging 6 to 8 in. down on
the lower part of the neck ; beak and eye yeUow ; legs
grey-bro-wn, over the knee orange red. (This, however,
is not the case in aU.) In the old feraale the tarsi and
crest are much shorter than in the male ; iris yeUow.
Comraon in some places, in the south of Scandinavia. I
have occasionaUy procured specimens both of old and young
birds in Wermland, but I do not think they go further north
in the interior. On the Norwegian coast appear to go up as
far as Trondtheim. Breed in colonies, like rooks on trees;
eggs generaUy three, pale blue-green.
183. A PUEPUEBA, L. Purpur Hager. The Purple Heron.
Length about 32 in. ; tail 5 in. ; beak from gape 6 in.
4 1. ; naked part of tibia 2 in. ; colour above dark slate
grey; neck rusty yeUow, with black longitudinal

366 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
streaks; head and neck black, vrith long drooping
pointed feathers from the back of the head ; scapulars
long and drooping, rusty yellow.
One example has been kUled in South Scania in 1833.
184. A. Bgebtta, L. Hrit Hager. The White Heron.
Length about 40 in. ; beak from the gape 6 in. ;
whole of the body white ; no crest on the back of the
head ; naked part of the tibia, 4 in.
The only authentic Scandinarian specimen was shot at
Westeras on the east coast of Sweden in 1856.
Noctubnal, Neck thick and short, covered with broad
feathers.
185. A. Stellaeis, L. Rordrum. The Bittern. D. F.
Length 30 in. ; beak 3 in. ; tarsus 4f in. ; colour aU
over speckled, and spotted with rusty yeUow and black ;
neck feathers long ; vrings covered with blackish and
rusty yeUow transverse bands. Little difference in the
appearance of- the female, except that she is rather
smaller than the male.
I never myself met with the bittern in Sweden, though
it is said to be sparingly distributed everywhere up as far as
Loderraanland; but I do not think it common.
186. A, MiNUTA, L, Dverg Rordrum, The Little Bittern,
D. F,
Length 15 in,; beak 2 in,; tarsus 1 in, 7 1.; colour
above black-bro-wn, under rusty yellow, with or without
longitudinal streaks ; tibia feathered nearly to the
knee,
Only accidental in Scandinaria ; said to breed in the
south of Denmark.
The squacco heron and the night heron are both in
cluded in the Danish fauna.
Fam, 3. — Longieostees,
Beak long and thin; hind toe when present always
placed high ; wings pointed ; first or second feather longest.

IBIS. 367
All frequent marghes and low swampy ground or river
sides, never sandy heaths; aU are monogamous, and lay
their three to four pyriform eggs on the ground. Are all
summer migrants to the north.
Geoup 1. — Legs long, naked, high above the knee; the
outer toe always joined at the root to the inner toe by a
web. Are all taUer than those in the second group, never
hiding themselves among grass; are shy, and when dis
turbed, utter loud cries.
A. — Beak curved downwards like a sickle.
Gen. Ibis., Cuv.
Beak long and thin, very much bent, four-cornered at
the root ; nasal furrow extends along the whole length of
the beak ; nostrUs basal, oblong ; a naked tract between the
beak and the eye ; legs high ; tibia reticulated ; tarsus vrith
transverse scales ; second and third wing feathers longest.
187. Ibis ealcinellus, L. Svart Ibis. The Glossy Ibis.
D.F.
About as large as the curlew, but the beak is thicker
and longer, and the legs rauch higher; tail 4 in. ; beak
in a straight Une 5 2- in. ; tarsus longer than the middle
toe; upper parts of the body dark green, vrith metallic
gloss ; under pq,rts chestnut brown ; legs green ; beak
greenish black ; iris brown,
Is only a casual risitant to Scandinaria, but has been
kUled as far north as Helgoland, in Norway ; and, strange
to say, one specimen was shot in Iceland, and is now pre
served in the Copenhagen museum.
Eggs said tQ be two or three, pale seargreen colour.
Geu, N'U'merdus, Lath.
Beak bent dovvn, long, thin, round ; nasal furrow ex
tending only two-thirds of its length ; nostrils basal ; the
whole f*Q® covered with feathers ; the naked part of the leg
equal to the length of the beak ; hind toe reaches the ground

368 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
only vrith its tip ; first wing feather longest ; tail with twelve
feathers. 188. NuMBNius AEQUATA, L. Storro Spof. The Curlew.
D.F.
Length about 23 in. ; beak in a straight Une 5 in. ;
tarsus 3 in. 2 1. ; the lower part of the tarsus and toes
vrith transverse scales ; head blackish grey, -with no
streak on the top ; rump and the long axUlary plume
white spotted ; head, neck, breast, and all the upper
parts rufous ash; belly white, the whole variegated
with dusky spots. The male is raore black and rusty
brown, the feraale more bro-wn and rusty grey.
The young bird can be known by the broad upper part
of the tarsus, and the shorter, straighter beak.
Is very common in the south and middle of the country.
Goes far up within the Polar circle, but never so high on
the fell sides as the next.
As far as I can see, three is as often the fuU number of
eggs as four.
189. N. PHiEOPUS, Lath. Liten Spof. The Whimbrel.
D.F.
On the middle of the head a white-grey streak ; rump
white; axiUary plume white, with black transverse
bands ; length 1 ft. 5 in. ; beak 3f in. ; tarsus 2 in. 2 1. ;
head, neck, breast, and upper parts pale ash, spotted
-vrith dusky ; aU the under parts and rump white.
Are seen only in the south and raidland districts, during
raigration to and from their breeding places on the feUs in
the very north.
The egg of the whimbrel is smaUer than that of the cur
lew, which it rather resembles ; but I have seen the egg of
Richardson's skua so like it, as to be scarcely distinguishable.
Three was the full number I ever took out of a nest on the
feUs, but still they may lay four. My opinion, however, is
that the curlews and the godwits wUl often sit on less than
four eggs, whilst in every other genus of this famUy, the fall
number of eggs is invariably four.

GODWITS. 369
Gen. Limosa, Briss.
Beak long and straight, weak ; nasal furrow extends
along the whole bUl ; nostrils basal pierced through ;
legs very long; wings and tail as last. The females
are always larger and handsomer than the males.
190. Limosa melaudea, L. Svartstjertad Langniibba, The
Black-taUed Godwit, D, F.
The outer half of the tail black ; the base white at all
seasons ; a white spot on the wings ; beak straight ; the
claw of the middle toe long, dentate on the inner
edge ; length about 16 in. ; beak from the gape 6 in. ;
tarsus 3 in. 2 1.; naked part above knee 2 in. ; tail
3 hi. 2 1.
In the summer dress rusty red, especially on the breast,
vrith dark transverse spots all over the body, and black on
the hinder part of the back ; vrings black ; a white stripe
over the eye ; belly white. In the winter the upper parts
are brown-grey, with paler edges ; throat white ; neck and
breast pale grey, vrith small spots. The young are Uke the
old in winter, but more rusty.
Is met with throughout all Scandinaria, and breeds in
many places as far up as the North Cape.
Eggs pyriform ; vary in colour from dark green to light
olive brown, faintly blotched with darker spots; not so
large as that of the whimbrel.
191. L. RuPA, Briss. Rostrod Langniibba. The Bar-
taUed Godwit. D. F.
Tail at aU seasons streaked with white and black-
brown bars ; beak in the old birds double as long as
the tarsus ; in the young birds one and a half tiraes as
long ; raiddle claw short, not dentate ; no white spot on
the wing.
Length 14 to 15 in. ; beak about 4 in. ; taU 3 in.
Reserables the last in colour, but in the sumraer the
rusty red colour underneath extends frora the chin
down to the tail, and is much deeper and purer than
in the last. 24

870 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Breeds only, as far as I could see, in the far north,
and is met with in the south only during the periods of ,
migration. I believe, however, that both have an equaUy
high northern range.
Eggs smaller than the last, and much more difficult to
procure. I have generally seen thera lighter in colour.
The terek godwit, L. Cinerea, Gm. — which may be dis
tinguished- from either of the last by being only half the
size, by its long, very recurved beak, and by its uniform
grey colour at all seasons, never -vrith a rufous tinge, — is com
mon around Archangel, and is probably to be met with
occasionally on the Scandinarian continent.
Gen. Tetanus, Bechst.
Beak long, nearly straight, at the root weak and com
pressed; round and hard at the tip, upper mandible longest;
nasal furrow longer in some than in others ; nostrils sraall,
basal ; legs long, naked higher up over the knee than in the
trvnga, but in both the hind toe is small, and only reaches
the ground with its tip.
Subgen. Glottis, Nilss.
Beak long, recurved at the tip ; nasal furrow does not
extend half way down the beak ; middle feather of the tail
longest, 192, ToTANUs GLOTTIS, Bechst, Gluttsnappa, The Green-
shank. D. F.
Beak as long as the tarsus, much higher than it is
broad; legs long; raiddle of the back and rurap, white
at aU seasons ; tail white, with sraall brown transverse
bands ; shaft of the flrst pinion feather white, the rest
brown; axillary plurae slightly banded -vrith light
brown; length 14 in. ; wing from carpal joint 7-^- in. ;
beak 2f in. ; tail 3 in. ; front of the back and shoulders
rusty grey, with large dark longitudinal spots on the
feathers ; all the under parts white ; head and neck
lighter than the back ; legs yello-vrish green ; beak
blackish in the young, blue-grey from the root to the

GEEBNSHANK— EEDSHANK. 871
middle. In the winter there is much more white, and
the whole plumage is much lighter.
Common over all Scandinaria during the periods of
migration, but seems to prefer the north of the country for
breeding. Nilsson says they breed in Gotland. Kjar
boUing says they breed comraonly in some parts of Denmark,
and I have seen them myself in the end of June in North
Wermland, but I never obtained the egg except frora Lap
land. Eggs four, laid on a few pieces of dry grass, sorae
tiraes up in an open place in the forest, always on the ground ;
considerably larger than those of the redshank; ground
colour clay brown, blotched all over vrith deep purple brown
and fainter patches. The eggs are, however, subject to
variation, and are soraetimes very handsome, especially when
fresh. Although there is rather a reserablance, the larger size
wUl always distinguish this egg frora that of the redshank.
The habits of this bird rauch reserable those of the green
sandpiper, vrild and shy, often perching on trees. When
disturbed, flies high over the forest, uttering a loud, shrill
" chee-wheet, chee-wheet." Straight Beaks,
Subgen. Totanus, NUss.
Beak longer than the head, straight, slender, thin ; nasal
furrow in the old bird extends scarcely half way down the
biU.
193. T. Calideis, Bechst. Rodbent Snappa. The Red
shank. D. F.
Beak shorter than tarsus ; both mandibles red at the
root for half way down the beak ; tip black ; legs bright
red in the old birds at all seasons, in the young dirty
reddish yellow, as well as the base of the beak ; all the
three front toes joined at the root, by a web ; length
about 11 in.; beak 1 in. 6 1.; carpus joint 6 in. 3 1.;
taU 2i in. ; summer dress, upper parts rusty grey-brown,
vrith black spots, under white, vrith blackish spots.

372' TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
which on the throat, and front of the breast are long and
close together ; on the belly fine and small, on the sides
transverse; tail white, finely barred with black. In
the winter the whole upper plumage is more ash grey,
and the under parts are less spotted ; the young bird is
more rusty.
Much commoner everywhere than the last ; breeds in the
south, and goes up also quite as far north as the greenshank.
194. T. Fuscus, Bechst. Svart Gra Snappa. The Dusky
Redshank. D. F.
Beak as long as the tarsus ; the under mandible alone
red at the root ; legs brown-red ; never like the last,
deep red ; size rather larger than the last ; suramer
dress grey-black ; back and shoulders vrith a metalUc
gloss, and covered with very fine white spots; taU
black-grey, with twelve to fourteen white transverse
bands.
The young bird is best known by its broad thick tarsus,
especially at the knee ; colour above ash or brown-grey, and
this is much the winter dress of the old birds.
Although not uncomraon in many parts of Scandinaria
during the seasons of migration, the summer home of the
dusky redshank is Lapland, and I never procured the eggs
from any other part of this country. Eggs four, considerably
larger than those of the redshank, thick, and have more the
colouring of the egg of the great snipe. They vary, how
ever, I believe, much.
195. T. OcHEOPUs, Tem. Grabent Snappa. The Green
Sandpiper. D.
Length about 9 in. ; beak same as tarsus, 1 in. 3 1. ; tail
even with the wings, about 2 in. ; the female rather the
largest, and the beak and legs about one-eighth longer ;
all the shafts of the vring feathers dark brown ; colour
of the under wing dark ; rump and lower part of the
back white ; upper body colour very dark brown, with
metalUc gloss, covered with small white or yellowish
spots; axillary plume white, with black transverse

GEEEN SANDPIPEE. 873
bands ; legs ash grey, only green on the knees ; beak
green-brown, with black tip; tail white, vrith broad
black bands, which are not so apparent on the side
eathers; iris dark brown.
Is very coramon during the sumraer, especially in the
midland districts, but does not go up into Lapland, where,
however, the wood sandpiper is common at that season,
Morris observes that he is inclined to believe the green
sandpipers do not all leave England in the sumraer, but
only are less noticed from their resorting then to the raost
sequestered spots to breed. Now of all our waders this is
the noisiest, and there is little trouble in finding the locality
where it breeds, for the old male is always about sorae brook
in the neighbourhood, and I have before noticed that the
loud wild cry of the green sandpiper and greenshank are
rauch alike ; but although it is easy enough to know where
abouts the bird is breeding, a raan raight seek till doorasday
for the eggs, if he followed the stereotyped description of,, I
believe, all our naturalists, and sought for the nest where
they tell us, " in sand, on a bank, or among grass by the
side of a stream." The fact is, I do not believe any natu
ralist had seen the really authentic egg of this bird until I
discovered its breeding habits some few years since. In
Sweden the green sandpiper never makes a nest on
the ground, like the rest of its congeners, but invariably
lays its four pyriform large eggs — of a very light ground
colour, spotted all over sparingly towards the small end (at
the top the spots are much larger, darker, and crowded
together), with two shades of purple and uraber brown — in
an old deserted nest of a squirrel, jay, or crow (I once, how
ever, saw them in a new common thrush's nest), in the forest,
often far from water, always in a fir tree, soraetimes forty
feet from the ground. How the old bird takes her young
down to the ground I cannot say, but I once found four very
small young ones, apparently not a day old, at the foot of a
fir, and in the nest I found shells of the eggs stUl wet inside.
196. T. Glaeeola, Tem. Gronbent Snappa. The Wood
Sandpiper. D. F.

374 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Length 84- in. ; beak shorter than tarsus, which is
1 in. 4 1. long ; the shaft of the first primary is white,
the following white only on the under side ; colour of
the under wing light ; tail white, vrith deep, well de
fined brown transverse bands on all the feathers ; axil
lary plume not regularly barred, as in the last, but
covered vrith largish brown spots ; legs all greenish ;
upper parts deep brown, spotted with white; under
parts and rump white, but not nearly so conspicuous
as in the last.
More common and much more widely dispersed over
Scandinaria than the last, from Scania right up into Lap
land; breeds always on small open mosses, but often far
away from the forests ; four eggs, generally laid under a
small bush of bog myrtle, etc. They are not nearly so large
as those of the last, much darker coloured, and the spots
much larger and deeper.
This bird has a very pretty little call note, it can hardly
be called a song, during the breeding season. In habits it
more resembles the redshank than the last.
197. T. Hypoleucos, Tem. DriU Snappa. The Common
Sandpiper. D. F.
Length about 8 in. ; beak 1 in. ; tarsus 71.; aU the
upper parts cinereous brown, with an ohve gloss ; shafts
of all the primaries brown ; under parts white ; rump
the same colour as the back (not white), and this vrill
distinguish it at a glance from the others.
The comraonest of all the Scandinavian sandpipers during
the suraraer from Scania up to the North Cape.
The spotted sandpiper {T. Macularius, Tem.), the
T. Semipalmatus, Tera. (American vriUet), and the marsh
sandpiper, {T. Stagnatilis, Bechst.), are supposed to have
occurred in Sweden, but are not sufficiently authenticated to
warrant their being placed in the Scandinarian fauna.
Gen. Machetes, Cuv.
Although possessing many characters in common with
the last genus, totanus, aa they have also some of the charac-

THE EUEF. 375
ters of the tringa, it has been deemed safest to include the
ruff in a separate genus, the principal characters of which
may be said to be: tarsus elongated; beak as long as the
head, thin, straight, compressed at the base, then round,
vrith a blunt tip; upper mandible longest, its tip rather bent
down over the point of the under mandible; nasal furrow
extending the whole length of the beak ; hinder part of the
back and rurap dark at aU seasons ; outer and middle toes
united at the base ; front toes fringed on the sides ; neck in
the male vrith an ornamental ruff during tjie breeding season ;
forms a very good link between tringa and totanus.
198. Machetes pugnax, Cuv. Brushane. The Ruff (male).
Reeve (female). D. F.
Male : length above 12 in. ; wing 24 in. broad; from
carpus 7f in. ; tarsus 2 in. ; beak If in. Female :
length 10 in.; vring 19 in. broad; from carpus 6 in;
tarsus If in. ; beak If in. ; wing feathers blackish, vrith
the shaft of the first white ; the three outer taU feathers
of one colour, generally grey ; beak red or brown-yeUow,
darker at the point, which in the winter is black ; legs
reddish or saffron yellow, in the young birds green.
Summer dress : the male is distinguished by a naked
face, covered with warty pimples, and a large ruff or cravat
of different colours, scarcely two birds being alike. It is
said (how proved I don't know) that the male bird has the
same coloured cravat every year. The feraale in the suramer
has no cravat; head grey; neck and breast with blackish
spots ; back, black-brown, and shoulders with rusty or white-
grey feather edges. In the autumn and vrinter, both sexes
resemble each other, save in size (the cravat or ruff is laid
aside in July, when the face of the male becoraes feathered);
crown of the head black, vrith rusty grey feather edges;
neck and breast rusty grey, with black spots ; back and
shoulders like the feraale in summer, but more grey. The
young bird is more rusty coloured than the old. Is coramon
in many parts during the summer, and goes far up into
Lapland.

376 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Geoup 2. — Legs not so long as in totanus, nor so
naked above the knee; all the toes dirided down to the
roots. Hide themselves much among grass, and fly up generally
silently. Gen. Tringa, Nob.
Beak thin, compressed at the root, weak thronghout
its length; nasal furrow long; legs small; tarsus never
longer, generally shorter, than beak ; wings and tail as in
totanus. Subgen. Peli'dna.
The middle tail feathers longest, and pointed; beak
more or less curved, longer than tarsus.
199. Teinga maeitima, Brun. Svart Gra Strandvipa. The
Purple Sandpiper. D. F.
Length about 8 in. ; beak If in.; tarsus f in.; tail
2f in. The male rather smaller ; beak very slightly
bent down ; tarsus rather shorter than the middle toe ;
upper tail coverts black at all seasons ; taU rounded.
Summer dress : black above, with a riolet tint, and pale
rusty brown feather edges ; under parts white, with blackish
spots. They lose this dress in September, when the upper
parts become black, vrith ash grey feather edges; head,
breast, and sides black, with white edges ; wing coverts and
feathers edged with white.
Breeds only in the far north, and is never seen in the
south of Scandinavia, except in the autumn, and occasionaUy
in -winter. It is said by Soramerfeldt to be very comraon
during the summer on the north coasts of West Finland,
where, probably, they breed. I never, however, received
the egg from Lapland, although I have from Iceland and
Greenland. I believe it breeds more on the coast than on
inland moors.
200. T. Subaequata, NUss. Bagnabbad Strandvipa, The
Curlew Sandpiper, D, F,

SANDPIPEES. 377
Tail shorter than the closed vrings; beak curved,
longer than the tarsus ; rump and upper tail coverts
white, or vrith a very few brown spots ; beak and legs
black ; eye dark brown, about the size of a lark in the
body; length about 8 in.
Young dress : grey-brown above, below grey-white ;
upper part of neck pale ochre yellowish, streaked black.
Sumraer dress : upper parts black, with rusty brown
edges ; shoulders bro-wn-grey ; hinder parts black-grey ; all
the under parts red.
Winter dress : upper parts brown-grey, under whitish.
Is certainly rare everywhere, and only seen on the south
ern coasts during the periods of migration. I have shot
thera myself on the coast of Scania in August, in full sum
mer dress. This is one of the few of our northem birds" whose
eggs I never saw, nor can I hear of any one who possesses
a really authentic one. Baedeker, in his splendid German
work on eggs, flgures two varieties of the egg of the pigmy
curlew, both considerably larger than that of the dunUn, and
the one which I should take to be the type form, rather re
sembles the egg of that bird in colouring. If it breeds any
where in Scandinaria, I fancy it is ou the west coast of Fin
mark, probably not far inland.
201. T. Albina, L. ForanderUg Strandvipa, The Dun
Un, D. F.
Length, 8 in. ; tarsus, 1 in. ; beak If in. Beak very
sUghtly curved, corapressed, flattened at the tip ;
upper tail coverts black and grey {never white, as in
Schinz's sandpiper, which rauch resembles the dunUn,
if indeed it is anything raore than a variety of that
bird). Tail longer than the closed wings; beak and
legs black. Summer dress : black above, with red-
brown feather edges ; a black shield on the breast; neck
and throat spotted ; belly and undertail coverts white.
Winter dress : ash grey above, with black feather
shafts and brown-grey shoulders; under parts white;
wing feathers in all seasons black.

878 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
There is sometimes met vrith in the south of Sweden,
for I have shot such on the coast of Scania, a larger form
of dunlin, which is about 9 in. long, vrith a wing breadth
of 15f in.; carpus 5in. ; tarsus 1 in.; legs brown; breast,
in the autumn, spotted like a thrush.
Is one of the comraonest of all the genus in Scandinaria,
and we meet with them in the summer, as weU in the south
of Scania, as on the Lap fells.
Schinz's sandpiper is said to have been detected breeding
in East Finland, but I think on questionable authority.
202. T. Platyehincha, Tem. Bred Nabbad Strandripa,
The Broad-biUed Sandpiper, D, F,
Less than the last; a little over 6 in. long; beak
longer than the head, 1 in. ; tarsus 71.; taU shorter
than the wings ; first and second wing feathers alike,
and longest.
The peculiar shape of the beak will always distinguish
this from any other of the class. This is round, and
when seen from above, much broader than that of the dunlin.
At the root, however, more high than broad, but in the
middle, depressed, round, more broad than high, rather
curved at the point ; under root of the beak reddish ; thin
black nasal furrow, short. The female has the beak nearly
double the size of that of the raale.
In plumage, has a great resemblance to the jack snipe,
especiaUy in the long bronzed scapulars. The vrinter and
suraraer dress are much alike, but the latter is rather
greyer. Has always been considered very rare in Scandinavia,
but as I have shot the bird, not unfrequently, both in Scania
and the raiddle of Sweden, taken the eggs myself in Lulea
Lapland, and received them from East Finland, I do not
think it is so very rare. I do not, however, think that they
breed anywhere except in the very far north. Of all the
sandpipers this is certainly the shyest and most unobtru
sive in its manners, and its custom of creeping through
the grass like a little mouse, causes it to be seen very sel-

LITTLE STINT. 379
dom. When flushed (which is never untU you nearly tread
upon it), it rises vrith a faint single call note, flies for a
short distance, then suddenly drops, and it is difficult to rise
it a second time. The nest which I found was on a tussock
of grass, in a large fell meadow half way up to ray knee in
water. The eggs were four, very pyriform. Ground colour
grey-bro-wn, covered all over with minute spots of light
umber brown, nearly hiding the ground colour ; size 1-1 in.
by f in. There is a particular character about the egg, as
weU as the bird, which wiU always distinguish it.
In June, 1 864, I kUled five specimens in a meadow up
at Dalby, North Wermland, where they were eridently
breeding, although I was unable to find the nest.
{a). Beak straight, as long as the tarsus.
203. T. MiNUTA, Leisl. LUla Strandripan. The Lesser
Stint. D. F.
Length 6 in. ; tarsus g in. ; tail -with three grey side
feathers ; all the vring feathers vrith white shafts in
the raiddle. Suraraer dress : upper parts black-brown,
vrith red-brown feather edges, under parts white,
breast reddish bro-wn, with black streaks. Winter
dress : brown ash grey, vrith black feather shafts, crown
of the head rusty grey, and a brown streak between
the beak and eye.
Is met with on all the Scandinavian coasts in the spring
and autumn, but I do not beUeve any one has yet found
out its breeding place in Scandinavia. The egg is figured
by Baedeker as considerably larger than that of the Tem-
rainck's stint. Ground dblour light drab, thickly covered
with brown spots, especially at the larger end ; of different
shades and sizes. Morris's figure rather resembles this, but
his egg is smaller.
Von Middendorff obtained one nest vrith four eggs on the
River Taimyr, 74° north lat. The egg, according to Mr, New
ton, agrees very much vrith that of Temminck's stint, which,
according to Middendorff, breeds in the same locaUty,

880 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
but is a much rarer bird there. I fancy many of the rarer
Scandinavian waders and water fowl breed more to the east.
204. T. Temminckii, Leisl. Temmincks Strandvipa. Tem
minck's Stint. D. F.
Very much resembles the last in size and propor
tions, but the side feathers of the taU are all equal, the
outer ones white, and the first wing feather alone has
a white shaft, the rest are all brown. The colour is
darker ; back blacker, with broad rusty yellow spots,
the breast rusty grey, spotted black. In the winter
the colours are all greyer.
Is much comraoner than the last in Scandinaria. Eggs
four, very pyriform, chocolate brown, covered with a deeper
shade of sraall fine spots all over.
I have taken the nest in Lapland, and as I have shot
the old bird in June in Wermland, I have every reason to
beUeve that it also breeds there.
{b) . AU the tail feathers of an equal length, beak straight,
a Uttle longer than tarsus.
205. T. Islandica, L. Islands Strandvipa. The Knot. D.F.
Length 10 in., about the size of the missel thrush ;
beak If in, ; tail, which is always grey, 2f in. Sum
mer dress : black above, with rusty yellow spots;
under parts rusty brown, nearly rusty yellow; vring
feathers always black, with white shafts. Winter dress :
ash grey above, with brown feather shafts and black
transverse spots ; under parts white-grey, -with a faint
rusty tint on the front of the throat, breast and sides ;
beak and legs black-green ; iris brown. The young
bird is more brown-grey ; sides of the breast and beUy
transversely streaked with sraall brown streaks, upper
tail coverts white, with black wavy bands. In the old
birds they are rusty yellow, with black bands.
Is 'only seen in the south during the periods of migra
tion. I could never hear of it with certainty breeding

SANDEELING. 381
in Scandinavia. The eggs which I have received from
Greenland are rather less than those of the double snipe
(not so long), and rather resembling them in markings, but
not so dark. Gen. Oalidris, HI.
In most respects resemble the sandpipers, but may be
always distinguished by the total absence of the hind toe.
206. Calideis Aeenaeia, 111. ForanderUg Sandlopare.
The Sanderling. D. F.
Length 8 in. ; beak 1 in. ; tarsus 1 in. ; taU 2 in. ;
secondaries and taU feathers always with white shafts.
Summer dress : rusty red and black above, a yellovrish
stripe over the eye ; breast and sides of the head, pale
rusty red. In vrinter dress, ash grey above, white
underneath. Toung, under parts and a stripe over
the eye white ; back and shoulders brown-black, with
yeUovrish feather edges; back of the neck grey-white,
spotted.
Is not often seen in Scandinavia, and then only during
the periods of migration. I never saw the eggs, nor do
I beUeve the bird breeds in Scandinavia. The egg figured
by Baedeker is about as large as that of the purple sand
piper, minutely spotted with brown, on a light white-green
bottora. He gives Greenland as a breeding place, and
as I see thera advertised in an English dealer's catalogue
at 2s. 6d. each, they raust be comraon enough somewhere,
although no oologist that I know has yet been able to find
out where. Gen. Scolopax, L.
Beak always considerably longer than tarsus, thin, weak
to the point, which is hard and blunt and formed into a nail;
upper mandible longest ; both mandibles furrowed along the
edge beyond the middle. Eyes large, set far back right
under the crown of the head. Legs moderate, slender,
naked space above the tibia, very smaU. First and second
vring feathers longest. Tail with twelve to sixteen feathers.

383 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
A character of this genus is the large pale longitudinal
streaks down the back. The colour is not changed either
by difference of sex, age, or season. AU summer migrants
to thfe north. Subgen. Rusticola.
Tibia feathered to the joint ; tarsi short ; toes altoge
ther dirided ; hind claw shorter than toe.
207. Scolopax Rusticola, L. MorkuUa. The Woodcock.
D.F.
Length 14f in. ; beak 2 in. 6 1. ; tarsus 1 in. 3 1.;
tail, beyond the wings, 1 in., with twelve feathers.
Back of the head with black and rusty yellow trans
verse bands; whole plumage above variegated -vrith
black, grey, and ferruginous yellow-white; underneath
with transverse undulating lines. The female may be
distinguished from the male by the outermost primary,
which is rusty yellow or white on the edge, without
spots. In the male, this feather is barred trans
versely on the edge with black. Weight varies ; a good
cock, especially in the spring, will weigh twelve ounces.
The woodcock generally makes its appearance on the
southem coast early in April, and leaves again in the end of
October or November. During the summer they are thinly
spread over the whole country to far up in Norway, but not
so far as Lapland.
They breed generally in rocky fir woods, and the female
lays four thick, shortish, pyriform eggs, larger than those
of the great snipe; light greyish yellow, strewed aU over
vrith brown and ash grey spots of different sizes. Nests
early in May. Subgen. Scolopax.
Lower part of the tibia naked ; tarsi more elongated ;
toes entirely dirided or united at the base vrith a very short
membrane ; hind claw longer than the toe.
208. S. Majoe, Gmel. Dubbel Becassm. The Great
Snipe. D. F.

GEEAT SNIPE. 383
TaU rounded, sixteen feathers, of which the fourth
and fifth side feathers are pure white on the outer
edge ; the shaft of the outermost wing feather white,
all the under parts spotted and barred with black;
length llf in.; beak 2f in.; tarsus If in.; but the
male is proportionably smaller. The young birds, in
the first auturan, have shorter beaks, and fewer, if any,
white outside taU feathers. These are probably at
tained at the first moult, for this species is often
described as being vrithout any white outer taU feathers,
and at other times with as many as five or six on each
side of the taU. It is larger and paler in colour than
the comraon snipe, but the beak is shorter; upper
parts glossy black-brown, vrith rusty coloured spots
and pale cross bands over the vring. General weight
nine ounces.
It is supposed that in Sweden we have two sorts of
double snipe, the one larger than the other. I always thought
the same, but not so much on account of the size, as of
the difference in the taU feathers, which may, afler aU,
be dependent only on age.
The double snipe, in the summer, appears to be sparingly
dispersed over the whole of Scandinaria, but is, I think,
a very local bird. I never took the eggs in South Werm
land, although I feel certain that they breed here ; a friend
of raine, however, took the nest with four eggs, in June,
1864, near Gothenburg. I have received the eggs from
North Wermland, and it is said to be common up the
Alten, near the North Cape. The greatest breeding
locaUty is near Upsala in Upland, where hundreds are
shot every spring on their playing grounds, for they have
a regular " lek " or play in certain meadows, Uke the black
grouse, when they are pairing.
The egg is large, pyriform; colours bold and clearly
defined ; Ught clay ground, covered vrith large blotches of
three shades of red-brown crowded at the large end. The eggs
of aU the snipes have precisely the same character, and
nothing can distinguish them but the size.

384 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
209. S. Gallinago, L. Enkel Becassin. The Common
Snipe. D. F.
Tail, with fourteen feathers, rusty yellow, with black
band and white tip ; the outer wing primary white on the
external fan ; breast and belly always white, unspotted ;
weight four ounces; length about 12 in. ; beak 3 in. ;
tarsus If in. ; male rather smaller, has not nearly so
many white spots as the last, and having no white bars
on the wings, the whole body colour above has a darker
appearance.
Common during the summer, and breeds over all Scan
dinaria.210. S. Gallinula, L. Half Enkel Becassin. The Jack
Snipe. D. F.
Tail sharp, twelve feathers ; side feathers dark grey,
spotted ; a long broad black band on the crown of the
head. Length, 8f in. ; beak If in. ; tail extends nearly
1 in. beyond the closed wings ; tarsus under 1 in. ;
colour as in the last, but the breast is pale grey with
brown spots, and the back and scapulars are black,
glossed with green and purple.
I could never find the jack snipe breeding either in the
south or middle of Sweden, but as I have shot the young
birds, apparently only just flyers, in South Wermland, in
August, I am pretty certain they were bred in the ricinity.
It is apparently the latest breeder of all, for the eggs I
have received from Lapland have been taken in the end
of July ; eggs very like those of the common snipe, but a
little rounder and considerably smaUer.
Fam. 4. — Maceodactyli.
Beak short, corapressed, and high ; legs longish ; toes
very small and long ; hind toe resting with about half its
length on the ground; tail short, twelve feathers; body
slender and compressed. The sexes are alike, but the male
is the largest ; are all summer migrants to the north.

EAILS. 385
Gen. Rallus, L.
Beak and tarsus of sarae length; beak sraall, long,
pointed, curved down, corapressed throughout its whole
length; nasal furrow extends half way down the beak;
legs short ; toes long, divided ; third wing feather longest ;
. body compressed at the sides.
211. Rallus Aquaticus, L. Vatten RaU. The Water RaU.
D.F.
Length 10 in. ; beak If in. ; raiddle toe over 2 in.
Olive brown above, -with black spots; face, breast,
and throat, blue-grey ; sides of the body black, trans
versely barred with white ; beak red, with a brown
back and tip. The young bird is known by the white
throat, rusty yellow breast, with black transverse
bands, and the white bands on the black beUy have
rusty yeUow edges.
I never saw the water rail in Sweden although, ac
cording to NUsson, it is met with (sparingly, however)
both in the north of Norway and in the south of Sweden.
Sorae appear to remain in the south all the winter. It is
singular that this little bird is a constant resident in
Iceland, where it is called "keldu srin," and according
to Faber's account, leads a melancholy Ufe in the winter in
the neighbourhood of the warm springs.
Gen. Gallinula, Lath.
Beak much shorter than tarsus, straight, high, and com
pressed at the sides, equally pointed above and below, root
above more or less bare ; nostrils much larger than in the
rail, placed nearly in the middle of the beak ; second and
third vring feathers longest ; legs and toes as in the last ;
taU short, nearly hidden in the coverts.
1. — Tibia naked; moult in spring and autumn.
212. Gallinula Ceex, Lath. Ang knarr. The Land Rail.
D.F.
Length about 11 in.; beak from the forehead 71.;
25

386 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
tarsus and front toe equal, 1 in. 4 1. ; colour above, rufous
brown; the centres of the feathers dusky, beneath yel
lowish white; vring coverts ferruginous; bUl brown;
legs grey-brown ; eye pale brown.
Is common during the summer throughout the whole
country, from Scania at least, as far north as Upsala.
213. G. PoEZANA, Lath. Smaflackig Sumphona. The
Spotted Crake. D.F.
Length 8f in. ; beak f in. ; tarsus If in. ; colour
brown olive green, bestrewed vrith white spots and
streaks ; back spotted with black ; outer wing feather
white on the outer edge ; wings reach down only to
two-thirds of the taU ; biU yellow green orange at the
base ; legs yellow-green ; eye red hazel.
Is not rare, especially in Wermland, and goes up at least
as far as Upland.
I have generally found the full number of eggs six, laid
in wet grass, on a thick careless flat nest of rushes. I have
taken fresh eggs early in August.
214. G. Pusilla, Lath. LiUa Sumphona. The Little
Crake. D.
Wings and tail of equal length ; outer wing feathers
of one G6lour; body above olive brown, with black
spots ; below slate blue, unspotted ; bill and legs sap
green ; eye red ; vrings unspotted.
Has only once been killed, accidentally, in Gotland, in
1856. More coramon in Denraark.
BaiUon's crake, which may be known from the last by
the white spots over the wings, by the flesh-coloured legs,
and by the -vrings reaching only to half the length of the
taU, has not as yet been detected in the north.
2. — A naked round spot on the forehead; moult only
in spring.
215. G. Chloeopus, Lath. Gronfotad Sumphona. The
MoorHta. D. F.
Length 13f in ; beak, with naked spots, 1 in. 5 1. ;
tail 3 in. ; tarsus 1 in. 7 1. ; whole body colour blueish

THE COOT. 387
grey-black, with dark olive brown mantle, underneath
more grey ; ridge of the vring and under taU coverts
white. In the old birds the naked patch on the fore
head, as well as the beak (aU except the yellow tip)
bright red ; legs green ; naked space on the tibia red.
The female can only be known by the smaUer plate on
the forehead, and paler colours.
In the young, beak and forehead plate are bro-wn-green ;
tip of the beak olive green. Must be rare in Sweden, for I
never met with one. Is, however, sparingly dispersed over
the whole country, with the exception of, perhaps, the far
north. Gen. Fulica, L.
Characters much the same as in the last, but the front
toes are very long, and bordered by a broad scaUoped mera
brane. 216. FuLicA ATEA, L. Sothoua. The Coot. D. F.
Forehead plate, and beak white ; whole body plumage
black ; under tail coverts black, a white band over the
-vring ; length IS in. ; tarsus 2 in. 3 1. ; beak 1 in. 3 1. ;
the female a littie smaUer.
Is about as common as the last. I never met -vrith either.
It seems, however, to have a wide northerly range, for
according to Soramerfeldt, two young coots were shot at
Vardo, near the North Cape, in 1857. I have more than
once heard of their being shot in South Werraland. Strange
to say that Soramerfeldt mentions in his list two coots, both
young birds, being shot near the North Cape in October,
1857. Fam. 5. — Hy6eobat.S!.
Beak long and thin ; legs thin ; front toes united as far
as the first joint, after that, lobed as in the coot and phala-
ropes, or webbed to the points of the toes, as in the avocet;
sexes alike in plumage ; aU summer migrants to the north.
Gen. Phalaropus, Briss.
Beak long, straight, round ; nasal furrow extending the

388 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
whole length of the mandible ; front toes lobed ; hind toe
small, sitting high ; first and second wing feather longest ;
tail feathers twelve, of one colour, neither banded nor spotted;
feather covering tight and downy, as in the water fowl.
217. Phalaeopus platyehinchus, Tera. Brednabbad Sim-
snappa. The Grey Phalarope. D. F.
Beak broad,- flattened at the top; tail long and
rounded; hind toe very slightly lobed; length 9 in. ;
beak 1 in. ; tarsus f in. ; tail 2f in. ; beak at the root
2 1. broad and If 1. high, flattened, and the nasal fur
row extending throughout its whole length. Winter,
grey above, white underneath. Summer, brown above ;
feathers edged with rufous ; breast, beUy, and all the
under parts red, unspotted; beak reddish yellow, black
at the tip ; legs green-grey.
Is rare in Scandinaria, and although I never obtained the
egg in this country, I fancy it breeds on the coast of North
Norway, and in West and Bast Finland.
218. P. Hypeeboeeus, Lath. Smanabbad Simsnappa.
The Red Phalarope. D. F.
Boak thin, round ; hind toe -vrith no signs of a lobe,
but the great difference in size will always distinguish
this from the last ; length 7 in. ; tarsus 6f 1. ; beak 7 1. j
tail 2 in. ; beak at the root about 1 1. broad and 1 1.
high, tapers off gradually, and is throughout its whole
length, thin and pointed.
Sumraer dress : upper parts black-brown, vrith rusty
feather edges, and a white band across the wing ; crown of
the head and crop ash grey ; top of the neck white, under
that a red band ; belly and under parts white.
Winter dress : ash grey above, under white ; and this is
the dress of the young bird, only not so pure.
Far commoner than the last in Scandinaria, but I do not
think that they breed anywhere except in the Lapland fell
valleys. They breed commonly near Quickiock. Eggs four ;
pale olive green, covered with large and small black-brown

THE AYOCET. 389
spots. There is little difference between the eggs of the
two species, save that those of the grey phalarope are con
siderably larger. Gen. Recurvirostra, L.
Beak long, thin, smooth, flattened on the top, the outer
half bent upwards ; front toes joined by an indented mem
brane to the points ; hind toe sraall, , does not reach the
ground ; first wing feather longest ; taU vrith twelve feathers ;
under coverts very long. Feraale resembles the male, but
is smaUer, with a shorter beak.
219. Recuevieostea avocetta, L. Skarflacka. The
Avocet. D. F.
Length 18 in. ; tail 3 in. ; beak 3^ in. ; tarsus 3f in. ;
the naked portion of the tibia 2 in. ; ground colour pure
white ; crown of the head, nape of the neck, scapulars,
and lesser wing coverts, black ; beak black ; iris brown ;
legs grey-blue. In the young the back is tinged with
brown, and the shoulders edged vrith red-brown.
Rare in Scandinaria, and is seldom seen north of Got
land and Aland, where they are said to breed. Breed in
many places in Denmark. Eggs three, scarcely so large as
those of the golden plover, much resembling in colour those
of the black- winged stilt, drab ground, covered all over with
deep black spots. The black-winged stUt has been killed in
Denmark. OEDEE 5.— NATATOEES.
Legs short ; toes webbed to the claws ; feathers tight
and downy ; the male always the largest, and, in most cases
the handsomest ; moult twice in the year. Many — such as
the geese, swans, and ducks — shed all their wing feathers at
once, generally about the end of July, and for a fortnight or
so cannot fly. Fam. 1.— LoNGiPENNES, Cuv.
Wings long and pointed; beak, hard, smooth (never

390 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
dentate) ; compressed at the sides, and pointed ; front toes
webbed. Gen. Sterna, L. Terns.
Beak moderate, straight, slender, sharp pointed at the
tip ; mandibles equal ; mental angle in the lower one very
Uttle projecting ; nostrils small, pervious, basal ; legs short ;
outer toe longer than the inner ; membranes or webs deeply
notched; wings long, acuminated, pointed; flrst feather
longest ; tail generally forked, often with the side feathers
far projecting, as in the swallow.
In both the gulls and the terns the taU in the young
bird is always even. May aU be considered as summer
migrants to the north, though many occasionaUy remain
off the southem coast during the vrinter.
"White or Sea Tems.
220. Steena caspia, PaU. Skran Tama. The Caspian
Tern. D. F.
The largest of aU the European terns-; beak large,
thick, deep red ; legs black ; tarsus If in. ; tail not
deeply cloven ; length 22 in. ; beak 2f in., f in.
high ; tail 65 in., much shorter than the wings.
Spring dress : whole of the head and back of the neck
black ; mantle pale ash-blue ; wing feathers on the tips and
inner fan slate-blue ; sides of the head, breast, and under
parts pure white ; iris red-brown.
Winter dress : forehead white ; neck spotted -with black
and white ; the rest as in spring.
Young : spotted with brown ; beak brownish.
Is a very local bird. A few pairs breed yearly on the
Wener, and it has been killed as far north as Tornea, but
is certainly rare in Sweden. Seems to breed commonly on
the Isle of Sylt, in Denmark. Eggs three, considerably
larger than those of the common gull, smooth, of a light
drab colour, with large and smaU purple brown spots,
strewed over the whole surface of the egg. The spots are
wide apart, learing the ground colour very apparent, and

TEENS. 391
giving the egg a lighter appearance than that of any
other tem.
221. S. Cantiaca, Gm. Kentska Tarna. The Sandvrich
Tem. D. P.
Beak small, long, black, vrith a yeUow tip ; legs and
feet black; tarsus l-fV in.; taU deeply cleft, shorter
than the wings; length 17 in. ; the longest tail feathers
6 in. ; beak frora gape 2f in. ; iris dark bro-wn.
Summer : head black ; mantle, wings, and tail ash-blue ;
aU the under parts white ; first -vring feather black, vrith a
white shaft, and a broad white inner edge ; the rest more
grey ; the outer tail feather vrith a grey spot towards the
point. In the winter the head is white, spotted vrith black.
The young have a shorter, paler beak, and the head and back
spotted; all the terns are subject to these changes in winter
and young dress. Is certainly rare in the north.
222. S. DouGALLii,- Mont. Douglalls Tama. The Roseate
Tern. D.
Beak black, reddish yeUow at the root; tail rauch
longer than wings ; legs yeUow-red ; middle toe longer
than the tarsus, which is only f in. ; the outer fan of
the first primary black ; inner fan grey-white ; outer
fans in all the rest grey- white ; length 1 7 in ; tail 74- in. ;
head black; mantle Ught blue; taU white; under parts
white, vrith a beautiful rosy tint on the breast.
Must be very rare in Scandinaria, although Yarrell states
that Mr. Dann found it breeding in Lapland. I never saw
the bird in Lapland, nor did I ever hear of any one who
had seen it.
223. S. HiEUNDo, L. Fisk Tarna. The Common Tem.
D.F.
Beak red, vrith a black tip ; legs red ; tarsus 6 1. ;
the grey streak on the inner fan of the first primary at
2f in. from the tip, 2 1. broad ; head black ; mantle and
taU (which is deeply cleft, and of about the same
length as the closed wings) light ash-blue ; cheeks and

393 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
all the under parts white ; length 16 in.; tail 6f in.;
beak from the gape 2f in. ; eye red-brown.
Is certainly the commonest tern on all these coasts ;
breeds far inland, for instance, on the Wener, and goes up
far into Lapland.
224. S. Aectica, L. Rodnabbad Tarna. The Arctic Tem.
D.F.
Beak straight, altogether red (in the young it is yel
lowish) ; legs red (in the young orange red) ; tarsus
f in. ; the grey streak on the inner fan of the first
primary 2f in. frora the tip ; f in. broad ; sides of the
head and throat pale ash-grey, which colour is even
deeper on the breast and under parts, and this vriU dis
tinguish the arctic from the coramon tern at all seasons.
Head in the summer black ; the wings, mantle, and tail
ash-blue, deeper than the breast and belly; tail
cleft, a little longer than the closed wings, much re
sembles the last, but is a little slenderer and smaller ;
beak from the gape If in. ; the first primary has less
ash-grey, and the tail is lighter grey than in the com
mon tern.
It is singular that this tern has never yet been met vrith
on the west, or north-west coasts of Scandinavia, although .
common on the Baltic. Is certainly the comraonest of the
terns in the heart of Lapland, and is the only species men
tioned by Soramerfeldt in his list of the birds at Vardo, near
the North Cape.
225. S. MiNUTA, L. Sma Tarna. The Lesser Tern. D.
Beak yellow, with black tip ; legs reddish yeUow ;
tarsus f in. ; the shafts of the two outer vring feathers
black ; tail white, 1 in. shorter than the closed wings,
and cloven down one-third of its length; head and
cheeks black ; mantle, tail, and wings ash-blue ; all the
under parts white; forehead white; length 9 in.; tail
2f in. ; beak from the forehead 1 in.
Appears to be confined to the very south of Sweden, and
no where common.

TEENS— GULLS. 393
The gnll-billed tern, 8. Anglica, Mont, appears to breed
in some parts of Denmark, but has never been identified in
Scandinaria. Black or Swamp Terns.
226. S. NiGEA, Briss. Svart Tarna. The Black Tern.
D. P.
Beak black ; legs brown ; wings and the tail, which
is very little cloven, dark grey, vrith white shafts ;
tarsi 5f in. ; feet webs deeply indented ; head and neck
in sumraer black ; all under parts ash grey ; under tail
coverts white. In the winter the head and neck white,
with a spot over the root of the beak black; length 9f
in. ; beak frora forehead If in. ; tail goes 2 in. beyond
the closed wings.
Is not coramon in Scandinavia, but is met with breeding
on many of the swamps on the eastern coast as far up at
least as Upland.
227. S. Leucopteea, Tem. Hvit-ringad Tarna. The
White-winged Black Tern. D.
Much resembles the last in size, but the tail is shorter
in proportion; beak and legs red; rump and under
and upper taU coverts white ; wings grey, with white
shoulders ; head, back, and breast black. In the winter
the colours are paler.
Has been shot only once in South Sweden, and only
seen once in Denmark, about the same tirae, probably the
same bird.
The whiskered tem {8. Leucopareia, Natt.) has been ob
tained accidentally in Denmark.
Gen. Larus, L. Gulls.
Beak larger than in the terns and compressed laterally
throughout its whole length ; strong, straight, bent at the tip ;
under mandible shortest, with a large mental angle ; nostrils
pierced in the raiddle of the beak ; legs large, naked over
the knee; webs not so deeply indented as in the terns;
wings not so pointed, with the first and second primaries

394 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
equal; tail always even with, or shorter than the -wings. The
taU and the beak will always distinguish the gulls from the
terns. The sexes do not differ in plumage, but the female is the
smallest. They do not assume the full mature dress until
the third or fourth year, when they are ready to breed. With
the exception of the glaucous, Iceland, and ivory guUs, are
chiefly suramer migrants to the north, though many remain
off the southern coasts all the year, and they are all seen off
the North Cape in the winter.
A. — With black or brown head in summer, which, how
ever, is always white in the vrinter. The immature dress is
more or less spotted. Breed in fresh water.
228. Laeus minutus. Pall. Dverg Mase. The Little Gull.
D.F.
Tarsus and middle toe alike, 1 in. ; primaries in the
ends white ; the shafts grey-brown ; the claw of the
hind toes very small and straight ; raantle ash-blue ;
beak dull red ; legs bright red ; taU If in. shorter than
the closed wings; length 11 in. ; beak f in. ; rump and
aU the under parts white ; sides in summer vrith a faint
rosy tint.
Breeds in Gotland, and I believe in no other place in
Scandinaria. Far more common around Novaga, Ladoga,
and Archangel, in Russia.
In habits much resembles the black-headed guU, and
the egg is of much the sarae shape and colour, but smaUer ;
those I have seen measuring about 1-^ x If.
229. L. Ridibundus, L. Skratt Mase. The Black-headed
GuU. D. F.
Tarsus If in. longer than the middle toe ; the outer
wing feather white, with black tips and edges ; mantle
ash blue ; tail 2i in. shorter than the wings ; length
16 in. ; beak, from forehead. If in.; beak and legs
reddish.
Is very common in South Sweden ; rare in Norway.

GULLS. 395
B. — With white head, both summer and winter, but
in the winter the heads of some are spotted brown.
1. — With white back.
230. L. Bbueneus, Gm. Hrit Mase. The Ivory GuU.
D.F.
Length 20 in. ; beak, from the nostrils, 6 1. ; tarsus
1 in. 4^ 1. shorter than the middle toe ; foot web in
dented. The whole plumage ivory white, with black,
rough, short legs ; beak large, grey-blue, vrith yeUow
tip ; the first primary longer than the following. The
young bird has small black spots on the wings, thicker
on the head ; a black band at the point of the taU ;
beak blackish, with yellow tip.
Has never been detected breeding in any part of Scan
dinaria, but is only occasionaUy seen off the coast in the
winter. Morris gives a very good figure of the egg of the ivory
guU. I have not seen many, and all these have been from
Greenland. Ground colour reddish white, covered all over
vrith large and smaU red-brown spots. I know no gull's
egg so Ught in colour. Rather larger than that of the last.
2. — With ash blue back; both in summer and winter
aU the under parts white.
231. L. Teydactylus, L. Tretaig Mase. The Kittiwake.
D.F.
The absence of the hind toe will distinguish this at
once from any other gull. Mantle ash blue ; tarsus
1 f in. ; the outer primaries black, with white tips ;
biU green-yellow; legs dark olive green; length 18 in.;
wings 2 in. longer than taU ; beak from forehead If in.
Except as accidental wanderers, they seem to be confined
entirely to the Polar seas on these coasts.
232. L. Canus, L. Fisk Mase. The Common GuU. D. F.
Length 17f in. ; beak, from forehead. If in.; the
older the bird grows, the higher and more bent at
the tip does the beak become ; tail about 2 in. shorter

398 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
than the wings ; first wing feather a Uttle longer than
second, which is much longer than the third, which
is longer than the fourth; mantle ash blue; tarsus
2 in. ; the first two primaries black, with a large white
spot near the tips ; beak green, with the tip yellow ;
iris grey ; legs greenish yellow ; in some, probably very
old birds, the iris is brown, and the legs blueish.
Is the commonest of all the gulls, in the summer, on
all the Scandinarian coasts.
There is a form of the coramon gull on these coasts,
which some vrish to make a distinct species, in which the
six outer primaries are black, their shafts white in the
middle. Nilsson caUs this the hrit spoUg (or white-
shafted) gull.
233. L. Leucoptbeus, Fab. Hrit-ringad Trut. The Ice
land GuU. D. F.
Length 20 to 22 in.; beak, from nostrUs, 81.; tail
7 in., 2 in. shorter than the wings; the first vring
feathers pale ash blue, with white shafts and long white
tips ; mantle pale ash blue ; first wing feather longer
than second; beak yellow, with a red spot on the
angle of the under mandible ; legs white flesh colour.
Resembles the herring gull, but the colour of the back
is much paler, and the vring primaries are never black;
in the young birds the wing feathers are tinged with grey-
brown, and have dark spots behind the white tip.
Said to breed in East Finland, but is only an occasional
risitant, generally in the winter, to the other Scandinarian
coasts. The egg is small for the size of the bird ; smaller than
that of the herring guU, which it often much resembles.
234. L. AegentatuSj Brun. Gra Trut. The Herring
GuU. D. P.
Mantle ash blue, darker than the last ; the four first
wing feathers black, with black shafts; the first vrith
a long white tip, the second vrith a large round white
spot at the back of the tip, which, as in the two

GULLS. 397
next, is white; beak much as in the last; legs pale
grey ; tail about 2 in. shorter than the wings ; iris
yellow- white ; length about 2 ft. ; beak, frora the nos
trils, 1 in. ; first wing feather longest.
Is the coraraonest of all the gulls (next to the comraon
guU) on all these coasts, right up to the North Cape, but
does not, I think, breed in the South, although said to do so
on Gotland. But the Isle of Sylt in Denraark appears to be a great
breeding place of these birds, for according to KjarbolUng
30,000 to 40,000 eggs have been sent away in one season
frora that island.
236. L, Glaucus, Britn. Stor Hrit vingad Trut, The
Glaucous GuU, D. F,
The largest qf all our gulls. Length 2 ft. 4 — 6 in. ;
beak from gape 4 in.; tail 8 in. ; tarsus 3 in. Mantle
ash blue. Wings scarcely longer than the tail ; the first
two primaries equal ; aU ash blue, with white shafts
and tips. In the winter the head and neck have long
grey-brown spots. Beak large, yellow, with a red spot
on the large angle on the under mandible ; eyes yel
low ; legs pale yeUow-grey.
Is said to breed on the coasts of East Finland. Eggs
two, seldom three ; rather smaller than those of the great
black-backed guU, and much like them, but the ground
colour is lighter.
3. — With black back at all seasons; under parts white.
236. L. Maeinus, L. Hafs Trut. The Great Black-backed
GuU. D. F.
Mantle black ; legs white ; tarsus over 3 in. ; wings
longer than the tail by about 1 in. ; the first vring
feathers black, with white tips ; shoulders and secon
daries tipped with white ; beak, wax yellow, with a red
spot on the under mandible; iris yeUow-grey; legs
pearl grey ; length about 28 in. ; beak from gape 4 in.;
tail 8 in. ; tarsus 3f in. The winter dress is rauch the
same, but streaked dark on the head and neck.

398 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Breeds on most of these coasts as far up as the North
Cape, but in the South is more comraon in the Baltic than
in the Cattegat and North Sea. Breeds even sparingly on
the Wener, as weU as the next.
237. L. Fuscus, L. SUI Mase. The Lesser Black-backed
GuU. D. F.
Mantle black ; legs yeUow ; beak as in the last, but
smaller ; vrings the same, but more than 2 in. longer than
the tail ; length about 21 in. ; beak from the gape 3 in.;
tarsus 2f in. ; tail 6 in., rather rounded.
The difference in size between the sexes of this species is
remarkable ; the feraale is often two inches shorter than the
male. Commoner than the last, and breeds as far up as
the North Cape, as weU as inland in the midland districts.
Gen. Lestris. Skuas.
Have much the character of the gulls, but the upper
mandible of the beak is furnished with a membranous bony
cere reaching from the base to about two-thirds of its
length; at the] end of this is placed the bent tip, which
is distinct. Nostrils pierced just behind the tip; under
mandible as in the gulls, but much raore hooked ; vrings
pointed, first feather longest ; taU -vrith twelve feathers,
of which the two middle ones are always more or less
lengthened. TaU rounder, middle feathers projecting but Uttle.
238. Lesteis Cataeehactes, IU. Stora Labben. The Com
raon Skua. D. F.
The three middle taU feathers of an even breadth to the
end ; tarsus 2f ; the outer wing feathers from the root
to the middle white, which forms a white spot on the
dark -vring. Length about 23 in. (in these species the
length is reckoned to the ends of the feathers next to
the middle pointed ones), and about the size of the
herring gull ; beak from gape 2f in. ; middle tail
feathers 6 in, ; side feathers 5f in. Colour, dark brown.

SKUAS. 399
with rusty feather shafts; under grey-brown; wings
black, vrith a white spot (as the bird becomes older, the
rusty tinge, especially on the sides of the head and
breast, becomes deeper) ; beak and legs black ; in the
young pale blue ; iris grey-bro-wn in the young, in the
older birds dark brown.
Is rare in the south of Scandinaria, Never seen in the
Baltic or the Sound, but more common on the west coast of
Norway.239. L. PoMAEiNA, Tem. Bredstjertade Labben. ThePoma-
rine Skua. D. P.
TaU nearly even at the end, 5 in. 4 1. long; the
middle tail feathers broad, even to the tip ; tarsus 2f ,
as long as the middle toe vrith claw ; wing brown, never
vrith a white spot. Length about 18 in, ; beak If in. at
the root, 5 1. high, and 4 1. broad ; wing feathers black,
the front ones vrith white shafts, and the inner fan
white at the root ; iris dark bro-wn ; beak blueish, with
a black tip ; cere greenish ; legs and toes in the old
birds black, in the young blue-grey. In the fuU sura
mer dress the neck, breast, and raiddle of the belly are
pale yellowish white, the first vrith smaUer, the latter,
especiaUy on the sides, with broad dark transverse
bands; crown of the head and raantle uniform dark
bro-wn; neck and throat feathers shiny gold yeUow;
across the breast a band of brown spots. The young
birds have rusty feather edges on the mantle and head ;
neck bro-wn, with a rusty tinge; under parts grey-
brown, vrith irregular rusty yellow wa-vy spots.
In the summer is rarely seen on the Scandinavian coasts
below the Polar circle. Breeds on the coast of Finmark,
but is nowhere so common as the next. Late in autumn,
however, is occasionaUy seen in the Cattegat and Baltic.
I consider this egg one of the rarest to obtain. I have,
I beUeve, authentic specimens from Greenland. The eggs
of aU the skuas have rauch the sarae appearance ; pale olive
green or yeUowish grey ground colour, irregularly blotched
and spotted vrith two shades of reddish brown. That of the

400 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
common skua is at once known by its size, beuig as long, and
generally thicker, than that of the lesser black-backed guU.
The eggs of the other three are, however, difficult to dis
tinguish. They all vary much in size, shape, and colouring;
but if a lot could be mixed -vrithout marking them, it would
be alraost impossible to separate thera. As far as I have
observed, the egg of the pomarine is usually thinner and
more pointed at the smaller end than the other two. But I
can hardly see any difference between the eggs of Richard
son's and Buffon's skua, except that perhaps that of the
latter is rather thicker and blunter at the large end,
and usually greener in colour, especiaUy when first taken.
Respecting the breeding habits of the skuas in East Fin
land, Soramerfeldt observes — "The pomarine skua breeds
inland, a little way from the coast ; Richardson's skua, on
certain islands in the sea, and on some tolerably dry places
on the mainland, but does not corae far into Waranger
Fjord. Buffon's skua breeds on the marshes near the fjord,
and also on the fell mosses by the side of the large Tana
River." The middle feathers of the tail elongated and pointed.
240. L. Paeasitica, Boie. Spetsstjertade Labben. Richard
son's Skua. D. F.
The two middle taU feathers pointed, about 3 inches
longer than the others ; middle toe, with claw, equal to
tarsus, 1 in. 6 1. ; the front edge of the nostril is much
nearer to the tip of the beak, than to the point of the
feathers on the sides of the beak. Length 1 ft. 5 in. ;
the side feathers of the taU 4f in. ; the next to them
5 in. ; the middle ones about 8 in. ; beak from gape
2 in. ; height at the root f in. ; breadth a Uttle more;
horn coloured, with a green tinge ; legs and feet black ;
iris brown ; mouth, tongue, and gape, white ; legs in the
young, lead coloured, toes at their bases white ; old bird,
mantle dark brown,becomes blue-grey with age; head and
neck blackish; wing feathers and tail white at the
roots ; temples, throat, a ring round the neck, as well

SKUAS. 401
as the under parts, white, with a golden tint on the
sides of the neck and head; under tail coverts and
thighs brown-grey. The colour, however, varies. The
young bird in all the species may be known by the
rusty yellow wavy lines on the upper plumage, the
grey-white and black-brown transverse bars on the
under parts, and, in this and the next, by the nearly
even tail.
Is the commonest of the species on these coasts, but I
do not believe either it or the pomarine skua go far inland
to breed, like Buffon's.
241. L. BuFFONii, Boie. FjaU Labben. Buffon's Skua.
D.F.
The two middle taU feathers very long ahd pointed,
as in the long- tailed duck, 12 to 13 in. long, and in
very old birds wUl often extend from 6 to 7 in.
beyond the others. Middle toe If in., much shorter
than tarsus. The front edge of the nostrils Ues
exactly between the tip of the beak, and the edge of the
feathers at its base. Length to the end of the side tail
feathers 15 in. ; beak from the forehead 1 in. 1 1.,
green-bro-wn, black tip ; iris brown ; tarsus lead grey ;
web black. Head and neck glossy black; throat
white, vrith a yellow tinge on the sides, in front
white ; breast ash grey, which becomes darker on the
beUy and under the rurap ; back and shoulders bro-wn-
grey, tinged with ash blue, soraetimes altogether
ash blue; primaries black, with white shafts on
the three first; tail feathers same as the back, but
with black tips. The sexes do not differ the least
in plumage.
Although occasionally seen accidentally in other parts of
Scandinaria, the peculiar breeding home of the Buffon's
skua is on the Lapland fells. They are not always seen in
the same numbers every year, and they say (although I
fancy this is not correct, for I never but once found the
remains of a leraraing in one of these birds) that it is the
migrations of the lemmipgs which draw them down to
26

402 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
certain localities. One thing, however, is certain, that in
1862, we had a migration of lemmings at Quickiock, and
that year in one fell meadow, a Uttle distance from the
village I shot about twenty-five old birds, and procured
above thirty eggs. I got the first nest on June 3rd. I never
but once found raore than two eggs in a nest ; the nest is
nothing more than a few pieces of dry hay scratched
together on the ground, generally near water, never on
the real snow fells. Although they breed in colonies, I
never found two nests close together. In the young birds
just flyers, the plumage much resembled that of the common
skua, and the tail was perfectly even.
Gen. Procellaria, L.
Much resemble the gulls ; the beak, which is as long
as the head, is in shape more Uke that of the skua, but
the nail or hook on the end is much more developed,
and the nostrils form a single tube, which opens out in
the middle of the upper mandible; wings long, first
feather longest; taU rounded, or wedge shaped, fourteen
feathers ; the sexes do not differ in plumage, and the young
are more grey, but rauch resemble the old birds.
242. Peocellaela Glacialis, L. Storm Fogel. The Ful
mar Petrel. D. F.
Ash blue above, vrith dark -wings; below white;
point of the beak, legs, and feet, yellovrish ; eye brown,
becoraes yellow vrith age ; primaries dark grey ; beak
1 in. 4 1. long at the root, thick and round, 6^ 1. high
and the same broad; about the size of the coramon
gull; length 18 in. ; taU 5 in. shorter than the wings;
tarsus 2 in. ; nasal tube 3f 1. broad.
Is not seen on the Swedish coasts in summer, but occa
sionally in autumn and winter. Never further south on
the Norwegian coast than Trondtheim. Breeds in the far
North in the islands off Norrland and Finland, but Iceland
appears to be the principal breeding place of the fuhnar
petrel. The female lays one white egg, vrithout any nest ;
3 in. long, 2 in, broad.

SHBAEWATEE— PETEELS. 403
Gen, Puflinus, Ray,
Beak Uke the last, but longer and not so thick; the
nasal tube is double, and does not extend nearly so far
along the back of the upper mandible as in the last ; in
both the hind toe is nothing more than a small pointed
claw; taU -vrith twelve feathers ; colour dark brown,
243, PuEPiNus Angloeum, Ray. Mindre Liran. Manx
Shearwater. D.
Upper parts black in the old birds, brown-grey in
the young; under parts white; tail rounded, about
equal vrith wings ; length 14 in. ; beak, from the fore
head 1 in 4 1. ; tarsus 1 in. 61.; beak black ; legs black-
brown ; web flesh-coloured ; eye brown.
Is only accidental in these seas.
244. P. Majoe,^ Fab. Storre Liran. The Greater Shear
water.
Grey-brown above, much lighter than in the last ;
below white ; tail rounded ; length 20 in. ; beak, from
forehead, 1 in. 7 1. ; tarsus 2 in. 2 1.
There is a great question if this bird can be included
in the Scandina-rian fauna ; at any rate it is only very ac
cidental. Gen. Thalassidroma, Vig.
Beak very thin, shorter than the head; of the same
form as the last; nasal tube smgle; vrings long; second
feather longest; taU with twelve feathers; the smaUest
web-footed bfrds in the world ; principal colour black.
245. THALASSiDEOMAPELAGicA,Vig. LUla Storm Svala. The
Stormy Petrel. D.
Black aU over, with a white mmp; taU square;
sometimes a whitish streak on the wings ; length 6 ill ;
beak, from the gape, 4 1. ; taU ^ in. shorter than the
wings ; beak, legs, and claws, black.
I do not think it has been detected breeding on any

404 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
of these coasts, but many assemble in the winter off the
north-west coast of Norway. Only accidental in the South.
246. T. Leachii, Tem. Klystjertad Storm Svala. Leach's
Petrel. D.
Like the last, but the vring coverts are brown-grey ;
length 8 in., and the tail is deeply cloven, 6 1. shorter
than the wings ; the longest feather in the tail 3 in. ;
beak, frora gape, 71.; nasal tube does not reach half
way down the beak ; hinder back, rump, and sides white.
Is said to have been once killed in Norway.
Wilson's petrel, which is about the size of the last, but
with a square tail, much shorter than vrings, and has an
oblong yellow patch on each of the webs between the toes,
has never been identified, nor has Bulwer's petrel, in any
of these seas. Fam. 2. — Lamellieostees, Cux.
Beak various; both mandibles armed -vrith lamellEC or with
smaU denticulations ; front toes wholly webbed ; hind toe
placed high, not webbed.
Gen. Cygnus, Bechst. Swans.
Beak longer than the head ; the nail on the top of its tip
does not occupy the whole of the point of the beak ; nostrils
pierced through, placed in the middle of the beak ; tract be
tween the beak and the eyes in the old birds naked : neck
thin, as long or longer than the whole body; second and
third wing feathers longest.
The swans differ from the geese in that the beak is longer
than the head ; sides of the cheek bare ; tarsus shorter than
the raiddle toe, and neck as long as the whole body. The
young do not attain their fuU white plumage till the third
year, before which tirae they are greyish blue. Like the
ducks, they are monogamous.
247. Cygnus musicus, Bechst. Sang Svan. The WUd
Swan. D. F.
The whole of the body colour white ; biU black,
longer thanf* the head, bright yellow at the base and

SWANS. 405
sides to beyond the nostrUs, then black ; no knob at the
root of the beak, as in the nest ; the lamellae in the beak
not risible when it is closed ; length 4 ft. 9 in. ; weight
22 to 26 lb. ; head, neck, and beak 2 ft. 6 in. ; beak
from forehead 4 in. 4 1. ; tail rounded, with twenty
feathers, 3| in. longer than wings ; tarsus 4 in. 6 1.
Is only seen in the southem and raidland districts during
the periods of migration. Breeds up in Lapland, generally
in the retired fell lakes. Eggs seven, brown-yellow, rather
shorter and thicker than those of the comraon swan.
Many wUd as well as tame swans remain in the Sound,
off the southern coast of Sweden during mild winters ; but
none of them or geese are seen off the north coast of
Finland at this season.
248. C. MiNOE, Keys and Bias. Mindre Sang Svan.
Bewick's Swan. D.
Beak black, at the root yellow, which colour, how
ever, does not extend to the nostrils, sarae length as the
head ; taU feathers eighteen to twenty ; colour as in last ;
length never exceeding 4 ft. ; the principal difference,
however, is found, upon dissection, between the shapes
of the -vrindpipes of the two species.
Has been once killed in Norway and once in Denraark,
and probably overlooked in Sweden.
249. C. Oloe, VeUl. Tara Svan. The Mute Swan. D. F.
The forehead furnished vrith a horny knob, which, as
well as the tract between the eyes and beak, and the
oblong nail at the end of the beak, are black, rest of
the beak yeUow-red ; tail sharp, about the same size as
the last, but the body is not so thick or heavy ; legs
black in all the swans.
That the tame swan breeds in a wild state in some places
on the south-east coast of Sweden is pretty certain, but it
does not appear to be met vrith in Lapland or Norway. It
has always been a mystery to me where the large flocks of
these swans come from, which assemble after the breeding
season on the southern coasts of Sweden,.and furnish game

406 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
for a swan-hopping on a large scale, off Falsterbo, about the
8th of August. I cannot think that they are all bred here,
and it appears singular that they should migrate north from
more easterly lands. Are the tame swans ever seen in a
wUd state off the British coasts in winter ?
Gen. Atiser., Briss. Geese.
Beak shorter than the head; nail occupies the whole
point of the beak ; nostrils oblong ; neck shorter than the
body ; the windpipe is single ; sexes exactly ahke in plumage.
They moult once in the year, and the summer plumage is
Uke that of vrinter; side lam ellse in the beak apparent.
1 . — Anser.
Beak as long as head.
250. Ansee cineeeus, Mey. Gra Gas. The Grey Lag
Goose. D. F.
Beak large and thick, reddish yellow, with a whitish
nail; legs pale flesh-colour; the closed wings 1 in.
shorter than the taU; length 2 ft, 9 in,; tarsus 3-|
in, ; beak from forehead 3 in. at the root. If in. high.
If in. broad; colour above ash grey; breast paler;
upper and under taU coverts, as weU as the rump,
white.
I never could flnd out exactly where the common wUd
goose bred in Scandinavia, but it certainly does not go up
to breed in Lapland. Somraerfeldt, however, says they breed
off Trorasoe, on the north-west coast of Norway. A few may,
but my opinion is, that raost of them breed in the eastern
districts, for I have obtained the egg more than once there,
but I never could, during the breeding season, hear of or
see the bird in Lapland, or near us in the middle of
Sweden.251. A. Segetum, Gnab. Sad Gas. The Bean Goose.
Beak long, black, with a yellow band (paler but
apparent in the young birds) on the upper mandible
just behind the naU; legs reddish yellow ; -wings gene-

GEESE. 407
rally longer than the tail ; head dark brown ; colour
much as in the last, but generally a little browner ;
length 3 ft. 2 in. ; weight 8 lb. ; beak 2f in. long at
the root, 1 in. 3 1. high, 1 in. 1 1. broad; tail 6 in.,
eighteen feathers, all vrith white edges.
Breeds up in Lapland, not on the high feUs, but in the
forest lakes, on which account it is called there the " skogs
(or forest) gas ;" egg pure white, 3| in. long by 2{ in.
broad. 252, A, Albipeons, Bechst, Bias Gas. The White-fronted
Goose. D. F.
Beak pale flesh-coloured, with a large white nail at
the end ; legs yeUow ; neck and head brown ; a large
patch of white in the old birds, on the forehead and
root of the beak, which is wanting in the young ; the
outer and under wing feathers pure ash grey ; hinder
parts of the back and rump blackish grey, un
spotted; under tail coverts white. In the old bird the
breast is marked vrith deep, black, large transverse
spots ; in the young bird these are wanting, and the
breast is only blackish grey ; length 28 in. ; beak 1 in.
6 1. long, 1 in. high at root; taU about equal to the
closed wings, 5 in. ; beak short, and in form Uke that of
the coraraon wild goose; tarsus 2^ in. The young bird
is generally 4 in. shorter than the old.
That this goose has for a long tirae been confounded with
the next is pretty certain. Nilsson says this is the true fell
goose of Scandinaria. This is quite wrong. It is not known
to the Laps, nor do I believe, except accidentally, this
species is ever raet with in Scandinavia. I do not think
they breed in this country.
253. A. Minutus, Naum. Dverg Gas. FjiiU Gas. D. F.
The same description will pretty well suffice for both
these species, so much do they resemble each other,
but they are very different in size. The beak of A.
minutus is much smaller, and the upper lamillce, which

408 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
are very apparent in albifrons, are in minutus very
small, and cannot be seen when the beak is closed.
Legs red ; beak rosy red, with a brown nail ; aU the
primaries have white shafts ; the second longest, first
and third aUke, and a little shorter ; tail sixteen
feathers, length 22 in. ; beak from forehead 1 in. 2 1.,
6 1. high, and 6 1. broad ; tarsus 2 in. 4 1.
This is the comraon fell goose of Sweden, and the only
one which breeds on the Lap fells. Both the bean and this
goose breed in Lapland, and they are the only two that do
so in the interior of the country ; but the bean goose, as
I have before remarked, never breeds on the fells. The
Lap .name for this goose is "kasak," on account ofits pecu
liar cry. The egg is ivory white when clean (but I have
observed that they are generally very dirty), 2-] in. long
by If in.
WeU figured by Dr. Bree as " the Uttle white-fronted
goose." 2. — Bernicia.
Beak shorter than head ; lameUee not apparent when the
beak is closed.
264. A. Lbucopsis, Bechst. Hrit Kinkad Gas. The Ber-
nicle Goose. D. F.
Beak and legs black ; forehead, sides of the head, and
throat white ; crown of the head and neck black ; mantle
ash blue, with blackish spots ; shoulders and back,
rurap and tail black ; belly, breast, upper and under tail
coverts white ; length 2 ft. ; beak 1 in. 1 1. ; tarsus 2 in,
4 1. ; tail 4 in. 4 1., equal with the closed wings ; sixteen
tail feathers.
Only a bird of passage through Scandinaria, to and from
their breeding haunts, either in Spitzbergen, Greenland, or
on the shores of the White Sea. The egg much reserables
that of the last, but is smaller. I have received them from
Greenland, never from Scandinavia, nor do I fancy it breeds
in this country.

GEESE. 409
255. A. ToEQUATUs, IU. Prut Gas. The Brent Goose. D.F.
Head and neck and breast black ; no white on
any part except the upper and under tail coverts, and
a little white pateh on the upper side of the neck ; back
and shoulders black-grey ; tail and wings black ; belly,
upper and under taU coverts pure white ; beak and legs
black; iris deep brown; tail sixteen feathers, round,
equal to the closed wings; weight about 5 lb. The
young have head and neck ash grey, with no white
spots ; length 2 ft. 1 in. ; beak 1 in. 3 1. ; tarsus
2 in. 2 1.
I do not beUeve this goose breeds in Scandinavia, except
perhaps on the north-west coast of Norway, but in Spitz
bergen and Greenland it is comraon during the suraraer. The
egg rauch reserables the last, but is sraaUer, light ivory yel
low, smooth, very little larger than that of the sheldrake.
Soramerfeldt, however, says that both this, A. cinereus, and
A. arvensis all breed here and there around Tamsoe, but
the barnicle never.
256. A. RupicoLLis, PaU. Rodhalsad Gas. The Red-
breasted Goose. D. P.
Cro-wn of the head, breast, throat, cheeks, neck, back,
glossy black ; a large white patch between the beak and
the eye, and a brown-red patch encircled by white on the
sides of the head ; lower neck and upper breast bro-wn-
red, with a white ring below ; belly, under and upper
tail coverts pure white ; length 22 in. ; tail 4 in. ; beak
1 in. ; beak black ; legs black-green ; eye brown.
Only a very accidental visitant to Scandinavia. Breeds
in Siberia and North Russia. Egg dirty grey -white, with a
kind of belt round the middle, of indistinct, confused dirty
yeUow-brown spots ; scarcely so large as the egg of the brent,
and raore pointed. I raay add that I never saw but two of
these eggs ; these, however, were genuine, and frora Siberia,
A. arvensis, Brehm, which is, I believe, nothing more than
a variety of the bean goose, and A. hyperboreus, PaU., the
snow goose, are both added to the Danish fauna.

410 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
AnatincB. Ducks.
Gen. Anas, L.
Legs placed under the middle of the body ; tarsus round,
about as long as middle toe ; beak the length of the head,
of an even breadth throughout, high at the root, sometimes
broader at the tip ; a nail on the tip, and the upper man
dible furnished with laraeUee visible at the sides ; nostrils
placed in a sraaU nasal furrow, much nearer the base of the
beak than its tip, and near the top ridge of the beak ; vrings
pointed, first and second -vring feathers longest ; wing specu
lum with a metallic gloss ; hind toe bare, without lobe.
The species belonging'to this division are not true diring
ducks, like the Fuligulce. They are generally larger, the
males handsomer, and they live principaUy in fresh water
during the whole year. Little difference between the sum
mer and winter plumage, except for about two months, in
July and August, when the male assumes a dull plumage
like the female. Are all summer migrants to the North.
257. Anas Tadoena, L. Graf And. The Sheldrake. D.F.
Variegated white-black and brown-red ; wing specu
lum green, fringed above vrith a brown-red band; beak
red, vrith a large knob on the base in the breeding
season; legs red, or in the young red-grey; head
green; neck white; breast red-yellow; shoulders
black ; back, sides of the breast, and belly, pure white j
tail white, -vrith a black tip. Little difference in the
plumage of the sexes, but the female is smallest, and
never has a knob on the beak.
As the duck's eggs are often difficult to distinguish, I
shall try and describe them as well as I can, from authentic
specimens in my own coUection.
The sheldrake breeds, as far as I know, only in the
south of Sweden. I cannot say whether it is met with on the
south-west coast of Norway. It certainly does not go up
within the Polar circle, and in the Baltic no higher than
Kalraar Land, in Sweden. A specimen however, according
to Nordri, has been shot in Waranger Fjord, near the North

DUCKS. 411
Cape. Egg large, cream white, about 2 J in. long by 2 in.
broad. 258. A. RuTiLA, PaU. Rodgul And. The Ruddy Shel
drake. D.
"Whole body colour red-yellow ; head yeUow-white ;
tail and rump glossy black ; the male has a broad black
collar round the neck ; wing speculum green, with a
great white patch on the front wing; beak and legs
black. Length 22 in. ; tarsus 2 in. 2 1 ; beak from
forehead 1 in. 6 1. ; tail with fourteen feathers.
Egg exactly Uke the last, but a little blunter and smaUer.
These two eggs are the most white ivory -hke of any of the
ducks' eggs.
Only very accidental in Scandinavia. The eastern tracts
of Europe are its native home.
259. A. Clypeata, L. Sked And. The ShoveUer. D. P.
Beak long, broad at the end Uke a spoon ; head and
neck glossy green ; back bro-wn ; belly and abdomen
brown-red ; lesser vring coverts pale blue ; top of the
breast white ; scapular long, pale blue, glossy ; specu
lum green, bordered in front vrith white and pale blue ;
beak black ; legs yellowish. Female rauch reserables
the female wild duck, but may always be known by the
beak. Length 20 in. ; beak 2f in. ; tarsus 1| in. ; eye
yellow.
Is, I consider, a very rare duck in Scandinavia, and one
which I never met with. Is said to breed at Quickiock, and
even up at Happaranda. I did hear that a specimen had
once been kiUed at Quickiock, but I never heard that it
bred there.
The egg is something the colour of that of the common
wUd duck, but a Uttle blunter than that of the vridgeon, and
no larger.
260. A. BoscHAS, L. Griis And. The Common WUd
Duck.
Head and neck glossy dark green, a white cravat
round the neck ; back grey-brown, vrith darker streaks;

412 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
shoulders grey- white, watered with black ; wing feathers
dark grey ; speculum large, riolet green on both sides,
fringed with black and white ; upper breast dark chest
nut bro-wn ; the rest of the under plumage finely watered
with black, on a grey- white ground ; rump and the four
crooked tail feathers, which are peculiar to the mallard,
black. This is the plumage of the mallard during the
whole year, except about the raonths of July and
August, when he lays aside his fine livery, and then
rather resembles the female, whose dress at all times is
pale reddish grey-brown, with black transverse and long
streaks, and a much less briUiant speculum. Beak in
male yellow-green ; legs orange-red. In feraale, beak
greenish grey. The young resemble the feraale, and
the young raales raay be known frora the feraales by the
black back, without the rusty brown feather edges.
Commonest of all the ducks throughout the whole of
Scandinavia during the breeding season. Egg 2 in. 3 1.
long, li in. broad ; light clay green. The weight of a good
maUard here wUl be 4 J lb. ; of a vrild duck, scarcely 3ilb.
261. A. Acuta, L. Stjert And. The PintaU. D. F.
Length 2 ft. ; tarsus 1 in. 6 1. ; beak 2 in. 2 1. long,
5| broad. Male, except just during the summer, when
they resemble the feraales, head and neck dark purple
brown ; a white stripe down the sides of the neck,
which is longer and slenderer than in any other duck ;
breast white ; the raiddle and sides finely watered vrith
grey and white ; back wavy grey ; scapulars long and
fine, velvet black, vrith white edges; tail long and
pointed, 7 in., extending 5 in. beyond the closed wings;
the raiddle feathers black ; speculum green, purple and
grey-brown, in front with a rusty red, behind with
black and white, bands ; beak long and smaU, lead-
coloured ; legs black-grey. The female is bro-wn-black
above, covered vrith dark wa-vy streaks ; under parts
yellowish, with brown and white transverse bands ; tail
pointed, but the two middle feathers scarcely longer
than the others.

DUCKS. 413
Is confined in the breeding season to Lapland, where it
is far commoner than the last. I always used to find the
nest very early in June, in the small wiUow shrubberies that
skirt the very foot of the fells. The egg oi the pintaU
resembles that of the long-tailed duck, being much about
the sarae size, and of a yellowish green clay colour; but
they breed at very different seasons and in very different
localities. 262. A. Steepbea, L. Snatter And. The GadwaU. D. F.
Length 20 in. ; beak 2 in. ; breadth at root 5 1. ; tarsus
1 in. 4 1.; wing speculura white; legs yellow; beak
long, of an even breadth, with long overhanging
lamella ; black in the young and feraale ; yellow on the
sides ; head and neck rusty black-brown ; breast black,
watered with white ; back, shoulders, sides, and under
rurap, black and white, finely watered; upper and under
taU coverts white ; a red patch on the shoulder ; tail
grey ; under breast and belly white. The feraale is
dark brown above, with rusty feather edges; under
parts rusty brown, with small black spots. The male
during the suraraer resembles the female.
Is one of the rarest of the Scandinavian ducks, and never
met with in the north of the country. More coramon in
Denraark. The egg oi the gadwall is usuaUy a Uttle less
than that of the common wild duck ; greenish grey.
263. A. Penelope, L. Bias And. The Widgeon. D. F.
Beak small ; speculura green, fringed above with
white, forraing a white patch on the shoulder. Length
20 in. ; tail 3 in. 6 1. ; tarsus 1 in. 4 1. ; beak 1 in. 4 1.
long, 4f 1. broad at the root, 5| 1. high; nail large and
oval. The raale is one of the handsomest of our ducks ;
beak and legs blueish ; forehead and crown of the head
yellow- white ; rest of the head and neck red ; back and
shoulders finely watered with black and white ; vring
coverts long, white, with black edges ; breast pale rose
red ; under parts white ; tail black. The female is rusty

414 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
brown spotted above, vrith a blackish speculum ; under
parts duU silvery white.
Is one of the commonest of aU the northern ducks, and
breeds in almost all the still waters to far up within the
Polar circle. Eggs clear yellow-white, about 2f in. long.
If in. broad.
264. A. QuEEQUEDULA, L. Arta. The Garganey. D. .F.
A dark-looking little duck. Speculum dull grey-
green ; shafts of all the wing feathers white ; nail on
the beak large, oval, 2 1. broad; a white stripe from
the eye do-wn the side of the neck. Length 16 in. ;
tail 2i in. ; beak 1 in. 5 1. ; tarsus 1 in. 1 1. ; head and
back black-brown ; scapular long, dark green, vrith a
white band down the raiddle ; sides and under parts
grey watered ; beak black ; legs brown ; eye pale
brown. The female much sraaUer ; upper parts black-
bro-wn, vrith a rusty tinge ; under parts rusty white ;
scapulars brown.
Is rare in Scandinaria; and although, according to
Wright, has been seen up at Tornea, is decidedly a southem
species. Egg exactly like that of the teal, but larger,
2f in. by If in.
265. A. Cebcca, L. Krick And. The Teal. D. F.
Wing speculura green, edged -with black and white ;
all the wing feathers with black shafts ; beak nail 1 1.
broad. Length 15 in. ; beak 1 in. 6 1. ; tarsus 1 in. 1 1.;
head red, vrith a green patch on the sides and two white
streaks ; back and sides handsoraely watered -vrith black
and white ; breast rusty yellow spotted ; vring coverts
brown ash grey; wing feathers dark; taU ash grey.
Female, upper parts black, edged with rusty grey;
under parts dull white, unspotted; young like the
female ; beak blackish ; legs grey ; iris brown. Eggs
clear yellow-white. If long by If broad.
Is very comraon in the summer, and breeds in all parts,
from the very south of Scania to far up vrithin the Polar circle.

DUCKS. 416
The bimaculated duck is said to have been once observed
in Denmark.

Fuligula, Bp. Diving Ducks.
Hind toe furnished with a tolerably large lobe; beak
about the length of the head, as high as it is broad at the
root; nostrUs placed in the middle of the beak; taU with
twelve to eighteen stiff feathers ; speculum white or grey,
rarely coloured as in the last ; body thicker and shorter than
in the other ducks ; head thick, generally vrith more or less
bushy feathers. The winter and summer dress not the
same. All breed in fresh water, but, except in the breeding
season, are generaUy in the sea.
Subgen. 1. — Fuligula, Proper.
BUl as long as the head, broad ; nostrUs smaU, a Uttle
before the base ; lameUae not projecting.
266. Fuligula ceistata, Steph. Vig-gen, The Crested
Duck, D, F.
Beak at the root 4| 1. broad ; tarsus 1 in. 3 1. (longer
than half the middle toe). The male has a smaU
pointed crest at the back of the head. Length 17 in. ;
beak 1 in. 7 1. ; taU 2 in. 2 1. Male, head, throat, and
breast, glossy black, vrith a green tint ; belly white ;
the rest of the body, except the white speculura, black
ish bro-wn, vrith a green gloss, Male and female, during
the summer moult, have the colours all duller, tinged
-vrith grey ; belly tinged with rusty brown ; the crest is
shorter. The young may be known by the short crest,
the brown-yeUow iris (which is bright yellow in the old
birds), a white cheek spot, and the general plumage
being black or grey-brown,
I never could detect this bird breeding even so far south
as Quickiock, but it does so coraraonly in Munio Lapland,
Egg rather smaUer than that of the pochard, which it much
resembles in colour, dark grey-brown.

416 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
267. F. Maeila, Schl. Hvit Buk. The Scaup, D. F.
Beak large and blue, f in. broad at root, becomes
much broader at the end; tarsus equal to half the
middle toe ; no crest. Length 21 in. ; tail 2 in. 4 1.,
extending 1 in. 4 1. beyond the wings ; beak 2 in. 1 1. ;
tarsus 1 in. 4 1. ; eye small (as it is in all this group),
bright yellow ; beak pale blue, with large nail ; legs
grey ; nostrils placed in the basal third dirisions of the
beak, which is 1 in. broad at the tip. Male, head bushy
black, with green gloss ; neck, breast, rump, upper
and under tail coverts, glossy black ; back and shoul
ders grey, watered with black zig-zag lines ; all the
under parts white. Female smaller; a broad white
band round the root of the beak ; head black ; breast
bro-wn ; upper parts dark bro-wn ; on the sides and
shoulders watered with white ; under parts white ; beak
lead coloured. The young bird may be known by the
rusty brown tint over the whole body ; otherwise much
resembles the female.
Does not breed south of Lapland. Very common at
Quickiock, in the lowlands and fell raeadows. The egg
much resembles that of the pintaU in colour, but is larger
and thicker, 2f in. by If in.
268. P. Feeina, Schl. Rodhalsad Dykand. The Pochard. D.
Speculum ash grey; tarsus 1 in. 2f 1., Uke the mid
dle toe ; beak in male black, vrith a pale blue band over
the middle ; in the female the band is lead coloured, with
a black nail ; and in the young birds the band is very
indistinct ; iris red ; head and neck chestnut ; lower
neck and breast black ; back and shoulders pale grey,
watered; priraaries brown-grey at the base ; upper taU
coverts and tail black ; belly pale grey, watered ; legs
blue-grey. The female has the head dusky brown ; back
much darker than male ; breast ash brown ; beUy grey.
Is certainly one of the rarest ducks in the North, but
has been occasionally killed in Norway, and even as far
north as Karesuando Lapland. Does not breed in Scandi-

DUCKS. 417
navia. Egg the size of that of the common wUd duck, but
of a deeper brown.
The ferruginous duck {F. Nyroca, Steph.), the white-
headed duck {F. Mcrsa, Degl.), and the red-crested pochard
{F. Ruflna, Steph.) have been accidentally killed in Den
mark, but not one of the Fuligula, except the eider duck,
breeds in that country. Subgen. 2. — Oidemia, Flora.
Beak large and broad (in the raale swoUen at the
root) ; nail very large, covers the whole point of the beak ;
lameUas coarse ; nostrils not so far as the middle of the beak.
269. Oidemia eusca, Steph. Sjo Orre. The Velvet Scoter.
D.F.
Wing speculum white ; legs and toes red ; whole
body plumage in male black, in female brown ; eye
white. Length 23 in. ; taU 3 in. 2 1.; beak 2 in. long,
1 in 2 1. broad ; tarsus 1 in. 6 1. ; middle toe 3 in. 2 1.;
beak yellow on the sides in the male, but altogether
brown in the feraale.
Breeds only on the Lap fells. I could never find the nest
of this species in Quickiock, Lapland, although I often
saw them in the breeding season. Contrary to the habits
of the coraraon scoter, this duck leaves the lowlands to
breed high up on the fell lakes. The egg is very Uke that
of the common scoter, but more ivory white and larger,
2f in. by 2 m.
It receives its Swedish name from the white wing specu
lum, as in the " orre " or black cock.
270. 0. NiGEA, Steph. Svarta. The Common Scoter. D.F.
No -wing speculum ; beak in male black, yeUow only
on the top ; in female brown ; raale body colour aU
black ; feraale all brown ; head in raale vrith a purple
tinge ; eye brown. Length 21 in. ; vrings short, reach
scarcely over the taU root ; tail 4 in. ; beak from fore
head 2 in., f in. broad ; tarsus If in.
Is certainly not so rare as the last in Scandinavia. We
27

418 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
found them breeding commonly in all the low meadows
round Quickiock. The egg hardly so clear in colour as that
of the last, 2f in. by If in.
271. 0. Peespicillata, Steph. Hrit nackad Svarta. The
Surf Scoter.
This North Araerican species so closely resembles
the last in size, absence of the wing speculum, etc., that
it may almost be doubted whether it is anything more
than a local form of the common scoter. The beak in
the male is yellow-red, with a square patch of black on
either side ; irides cream white ; a patch of white on
the crown of the head, and another on the back of the
neck; the whole of the body plumage black. The
feraale has a dusky biU, and the whole body plumage
brown.
One specimen shot in 1836 at Karesuando, Lapland.
Subgen. 3. — Glangula.
Beak small, elevated at the base, much more contracted
than in the Fidiguloe ; lameUse not projecting ; nostrils in the
middle of the beak; tail pointed; nail occupies the greatest
part of the beak point.
272. Clangula vulgaeis. Leach. Knip And. The Golden
Eye. D. F.
Male, wing speculum white ; naU occupies one-third
of the beak point ; beak black ; nostrUs nearer the tip
than the base ; head bushy in male, glossy green ; in
female brown, with a white ring round the neck. Male,
round white spot in the front of the eye ; back and ter
tials black ; the long scapulars white, edged with
black ; all the under parts white. In the feraale, upper
parts are dusky ; breast grey ; under parts white ; and
the white on the wings less clear. Bye in both yellow;
beak blackish, occasionaUy the feraale has a yellow band
round the black naU. Birds of the year differ from the
feraale only in having the back more brown and the
breast not so white.

DUCKS. 419
Is certainly commoner than any of the diring ducks in
Scandinaria, and breeds (never, that I could find, on the
ground, but always in holes of trees, or tubs set up for the
purpose) from North Wermland up to the North Cape. The
egg varies much in colour and size ; generally larger and
thicker than that of the coramon vrild duck, of a pure blue
ish green colour ; very handsome when fresh.
273. Clangula baeowi. Rich. Barrow's Dyk And. P.
Precisely resembles the last, but is rather larger
The vring speculum is dirided by a black band ; the
naU occupies two-thirds of the point of the beak, and the
spot on the side of the head in the male is larger and
in the form of a crescent. The female resembles the
female of the last, but the beak, as in the male, is nar
rower and shorter.
Is comraon in Iceland, and has once been killed in East
Finland. Figured by Dr. Bree as the " Arctic garret."
274. Clangula (Somatbeia ?) Dispae, Yarr. Alforradare.
SteUer's Western Duck. D. P.
NUsson places this species here, but I do not think
it belongs to this group. NaU occupies the whole of
the beak point ; nostrUs nearer the root than the tip ;
tarsus 1 in. 31.; a white streak behind, and a large
white spot in front of the blue-black speculum. About
as large as the long-taUed duck, but the taU is only
3| in. long, although sharp pointed ; head bushy in the
raale; white, -vrith a green spot on the top, and a
smaller one in front of the eye ; chin black ; a black
ring round the neck ; back black ; belly and under
rump black ; breast, and aU the rest of the under parts,
light chestnut brown ; scapulars long and fine black,
blue, and white. In the female the head is dark bro-wn;
back and shoulders rusty black-brown ; breast red-
brown ; vrings black-grey, vrith a white streak on each
side of the blue speculum.
Only accidental in the other parts of Scandinaria, but
appears to remain during the whole year off Waranger Fjord,

420 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
near the North Cape, where they most probably breed. I
never saw nor heard of an authentic egg taken in Scan
dinaria.
275. Clangula HiSTEioNiCA, Flem. Strom And, The Har
lequin Duck. D.
One of the raost beautiful of aU the diving ducks ;
beak shorter than tarsus, sraall ; no white band behind
the blue speculura; nostrils basal; iris brown; legs
blackish. The chief colour in the male is slate blue ;
head violet black, with a large three-cornered white
spot on each side, behind the root of the beak ; two
white cravats ; rusty red on the body sides, and a large
white shoulder spot. Feraale, grey-brown -vrith a white
spot under the eye, and on the ear ; -vring speculum not
apparent ; middle of the breast whitish ; length about
18 in. ; tail 3 in. ; beak 1 in. 2 1. long, 6 1. high at the
root, and 4^ 1. broad ; 3 in. broad at the tip ; tarsus
lin. 4L
The egg much resembles that of the long-tailed duck,
but is rather longer, and more yellowish white.
276. C. Glacialis, Boie. Alfogel. The Long-taUed
Duck. D. P.
Beak short, black, often with a reddish cross band ; a
dark spot on the cheeks and sides of neck; tail long, four
teen feathers, the middle ones in the raale very long, small^
¦ and pointed, the short outer ones with white edges ; the
longest pair aU black. Male, in the winter or handsoraest
dress (and in this dress I shot them in Lapland as late as
June), white head, with a reddish tinge ; a long crescent-
shaped red spot at the back of the eye; breast, back,
and the middle -wing feathers, black-brown ; the white
shoulder feathers very long and pointed. Length 20 in. ;
beak 1 in. ; tarsus 1 in. 2 1. ; tail very pointed, the side
feathers, 2 in., and the middle ones, 9 in. long.
The old female, in winter dress, differs from the male
in wanting the two long pointed tail feathers, and the long
shoulder feathers, and the young male differs from the

DUCKS. 421
female in the winter dress by the white shoulders and black
beak, with a transverse orange band.
The summer dress of the male is : a pale grey spot around
the eye ; beUy, under rump, and under tail coverts, white ;
sides of the belly blue-grey ; aU the rest of the body black,
vrith rusty brown feather edges on the back and shoulders.
The female, in summer dress, wants the long taU feathers ;
on the side of the neck a large grey spot ; a bro-wn spot
at the root of the beak, and the back of the eye ; the rest
of the head, neck, and back, blackish ; shoulders vrith rusty
brown, and -wing coverts vrith broad grey edges ; crop brown-
grey, which merges into the white colour of the rest of all
the under parts.
Never seen in sumraer, except up in Lapland, where
they breed in the foU meadows, by the sides of the small
feU lakes. The old males leave the females at the breeding
time, and we used to see them in smaU flocks on the river
down near the viUage, whUe the old females were busy with
their broods up on the fells.
.Egg very Uke that of the pintaU, but smaller.
Subgen. 4. — Soinateria.
Beak swoUen, and elevated at the base ; nearly straight,
extending up the forehead, where it is dirided by an angular
projection of feathers, narrow at the end ; nail strong, and
hooked; lameUae coarse; nostrUs sraall, medial; taU four
teen feathers ; male variegated, black and white ; female
grey spotted.
277. Somatbeia Mollissima, Leach. Bjder. The Eider
Duck. D.F.
Breed on the sea coast, never in fresh waters.
Length 2 ft. 3 in. ; tarsus 2 in. ; beak, from the end
of the forehead feather ridge, 2 in. 2 1. ; first wing
feather rather shorter than the second, which is longest.
In the adult male the dusky green bill is swollen at the
base (but vrithout any knob as in' the king duck), the nail
is white ; irides brown ; upper part of the head velvet black ;

422 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
divided at the sides of the occiput by a green band ; cheeks
white; back of head, and sides of neck pale green; neck,
back, scapulars, lesser wing coverts, tertials (which fall
handsoraely over the vrings), shoulder, and sides of rump,
pure white ; greater wing coverts black ; primaries brown ;
upper neck white in front, lower neck cream yellow ; breast
black ; legs and feet yeUow-green.
The female is of a yello-wish brown colour aU over, with
darker markings, not unUke a dark grey hen ; wings and
tail black.
Male, in suramer, shot in JiUy; the whole bird coal
black ; a pale streak through the eye ; throat grey ; upper
breast watered yellow, brown, and black ; lower breast black
and brown ; back blackish ; of the old taU feathers nothing
remaining except worn stumps.
On many places off these coasts, as the Isle of Bom-
holm in the South Baltic, but more especially on the
coast of Norway, vrithin the Polar circle, the eider breeds
in great numbers.
278. S. Spectabilis, Flem. Prakt Bjder. The King Duck.
D.F.
Nearly as large as the last ; the angular projections
of feathers from the forehead extends rauch further
down the beak than the two side projections (in the
coraraon eider it is rauch shorter, and the lateral feather
projections extend as far as under the nostrUs), and
the forehead in the raale has an upraised sweUing as
in the scoters ; beak orange in the male, brown in
the female ; legs in the male red. The male : crown and
back of the head grey, sides of the head green ; neck,
upper portion of the back, and wing coverts, white ;
rest of back and upper tail coverts, black ; primaries,
secondaries, and tertials black, the latter falUng over
the vrings ; breast buffy white ; all the rest of the
under parts black ; an oval patch of white on the black
flanks. The female : general plumage pale brown, with
darker markings.
I never heard of the king duck visiting these coasts.

DUCKS. 423
except in an accidental manner, nor do I beheve that it
breeds on any Scandinarian coast.
The egg is smaller than that of the last ; glossy pure
blue-green. Gen. Mergus, L.
BUl moderate, slender, cylindrical, straight ; upper man
dible tapering towards the tip, which is armed vrith a
strong hooked nail ; both mandibles deeply serrated ; nos
trUs perrious, medial ; legs short, placed far behind ; hind
toe lobed ; tarsi corapressed ; taU rounded ; they raoult only
once in the year, and the sumraer and winter dress are
the same.
279. Mbegus Meegansee, L. Stor Skrake. The Goosander.
D.F.
The distance frora the nostrils to the tip of the beak
scarcely longer than half of the outer toe; neck
bushy, especiaUy in the male ; vring speculum white,
undivided. Male : head green ; back black ; wings and
shoulders white ; priraaries black ; rump and tail grey ;
all the underparts sulphur yellow; beak dark red, with
a black ridge ; eye red-brown ; legs red. Female :
ash grey above, vrith a red- brown head and white chin ;
tail rounded, eighteen feathers. Length 28 in.; tail
5 in.; beak from forehead 2 in. 41.; tarsus 1 in. 71.;
but the female is considerably smaller.
Breeds in many parts of Scandinaria, from North
Scandinaria up far into Lapland. Lays early; sometimes
in the hole of a tree, sometimes on the open ground. Eggs
about seven; dirty yellow, pointed nearly alike at both
ends, much like those of the merganser, but thicker, and
hardly ever of so clear a yeUow,
280, Meegus Seeeatoe, L. Sma Skrake. The Red-breasted
Merganser, D, F.
The bushy head feathers long and thin, forming a
kind of crest on the back of the head ; wing specu
lum white, divided by a -white band ; the distance from

424 . TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the nostrUs to the tip of the beak is much longer than
half the outer toe ; length 24 in ; beak from forehead
2 in. 3 1. ; tarsus 1 in. 5 1. ; beak red, above more
brown ; legs outwardly red, inwardly yellow-red.
Male : head and upper neck glossy black-green ; a
broad white ring round the neck ; upper breast red-brown,
vrith black spots ; all the rest of the under parts white ;
back and shoulders black; the hinder parts and the sides
of the body watered with black and white.
Female : grey-brown above ; sides of the head reddish
brown ; much smaller than the male.
Is commoner than the last, quite as widely spread, but
much raore numerous in Lapland during the season than any
where. All the eggs which I have taken of this bird have
been on the ground; like those of the goosander, but more
oval, and not so large.
281. M. Albellus, L. Sal Skrake. The Smew. D. F.
Wing speculum white, with a black cross band over
the raiddle, and another behind ; legs and beak lead
grey ; length 1 7 in. ; beak 1 in. 2 1., conical, thick at the
root; tarsus 1 in. 2 1. ; middle toe 2 in. 2 1.; head,
breast, and all the under parts in raale, pure white, a
great black-green spot on each side of the head over
the eye, and a sirailar oblong one on the back of the
neck ; back, two cross bands on each side of the breast,
and shoulders black ; taU ash-grey ; sides watered vrith
zig-zag white and black lines ; head rather bushy.
The female is grey-brown above, below* shiny white;
breast and throat ash grey ; crown of the heaa and back of
neck red-brown; a large white spot on the wings. The
young bird resembles the feraale, but the wing spot is grey,
not white, and the hinder part of the back is black. Is
never seen on the south-western or eastern coast of Scan
dinavia except in winter. Breeds sparingly in the far north,
but the egg is, I think, raore difficult to obtain than that
of any other Scandinavian bird, except the great auk. I
fancy they breed more easterly in Siberia. The egg in my

DUCKS— PELICANS. 425
collection was taken out of a hole in a tree between lockmock
and Quickiock, in Lulea Lapland. The year before a golden
eye had bred in the same hole. The egg is so like that of
the widgeon in shape, size, and colouring, that it is difficult
to tell one from another, but the widgeon never breeds in a
tree. I beUeve, when placed under a microscope, there is
some difference in the texture of the sheU.
Any raan who really vrishes to make an authentic collec
tion of ducks' eggs should always collect nests as well. I
always do, and this is a very great help in identifying the
eggs. The foUowing description of a few ducks' nests will prove
what I say to be correct : —
1 , The Golden Eye, — The very thin light do-wn is pure
white ; centre white ; rays long, white, vrith a sUght grey
tinge towards the tip.
2. Long-taUed Duck. — The thick down is blackish grey.
3. The Pintail. — The large thick do-wn is pale grey
brown, vrith a light centre,
4, The Widgeon. — The down is not thick, dark grey-
brown, vrith a paler centre.
5. The Teal. — Down short, greyish, with white spots on
the ground of the white centre.
6. The Scoter. — The fine thin down is very pale, vrith a
reddish grey tinge.
7. The Velvet Scoter. — Down dark, with pale grey
spots, , 8, The Merganser, — Down short and thick, pale blue-
grey, Fam, 3. — PELBCANIDiE.
Toes four, all joined together by a broad web, and directed
to the front ; beak longish, hard, straight, point raore or
less bent down ; face bare ; taU stiff.
They all live on the sea coast, and lay a smaU quan
tity of eggs (one to five), white, covered over with a chalky
substance. The sexes are alike in plumage.

426 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Sula, Briss.
fieak long, sharp-pointed, very thick at the root ; upper
mandible toothed behind the tip ; nasal furrow long ; nos
trils basal, scarcely perceptible ; both mandibles crenated on
the edges, and the gape extends far back under the eye, as
also is the case with the cormorants ; throat and face bare ;
legs short ; wings long and pointed ; first wing feather short ;
tail pointed ; twelve feathers.
282. Sula bassana, Briss. Hafsula. The Gannet. D.
Length 3 ft. ; tail 7-J- in. ; beak from gape 6 in. ; tarsus
2 in. 1 1. ; middle toe 4 1. ; primaries and their nearest
coverts black ; all the rest of the plumage white, with a
deep yeUow ochre tint upon the head and neck ; beak
blueish ; cere blue ; legs green-brown ; toes with long
green-yellow streaks ; eye yellow.
The female is less than the male. Young, grey-brown,
white and brown spotted. Is rare on these coasts, and does
not, I beUeve, breed in Scandinaria.
Gen. Phalacrocorax, Briss.
Beak long, sharp, edges not serrated ; the point of the
upper mandible forras a large hook over the tip of the
under one ; eye, cheeks, side of gape, and chin, bare ; nos
trils basal ; wings short ; third feather longest ; tail rounded,
twelve to fourteen elastic stiff feathers.
283. Phalaceocoeas oaebo, Cuv. Hafstjader, The Cor
morant. D. F.
Length 2f to 3 ft. ; beak from gape 4 in. 5 1. ; tarsus
2 in. 6 1. ; taU 6 in., fourteen feathers ; a white gorget
under the throat ; back and shoulders brown-grey, with
a bronze tinge ; all the under parts, middle of the back
and rump glossy blue.
In the spring the front of the neck is grey, and there is
a white patch on the thighs ; beak brown-grey ; feet black ;
iris green ; the head is bushy, but no top crest. The sum
mer dress differs but little from this, only the white thigh

SHAG— PELICAN. 427
patch is wanting. The young is raore tinged with brown.
Is met vrith on raany of the western coasts, both in suraraer
and winter, right up to the North Cape.
There are found in Scandinaria two forms of cormorants,
the one above described and a smaller one, which Nilsson
calls the P. Carbo medius, Mellanskarf. This latter is a little
over 2 ft. long; beak from gape 3 in. 6 1.; tail 6 in. ; tarsus
2 in. 4 1. ; outer toe 4 in. ; the rings on the outer toe are
fifly, in the larger form they are sixty.
284. P. Ceistatus, Steph. Krak Skarf. The Shag. D. F.
Tail twelve feathers, rounded ; beak thin ; the upper
mandible not so hooked as in the last, as broad as high
at the root ; length 26 in. ; taU 6 in. 4 1. ; beak from
gape 3 in. 6 1. ; tarsus 2 in. 2 1.
Adult in winter and spring : the whole body colour
glossy bronzed green ; a high crest on the head ;
eye green; legs, feet, and beak black. In the suraraer
and autumn the crest on the top of the head is wanting.
The young are brown above, white underneath. Like the
last, is met vrith on the north-west coast throughout the
year. Gen. Felecanus, L.
Beak straight, long and broad ; upper mandible flattened,
ending in a large hook ; a naked skin under the base of the
under mandible, which forms a pouch; face and throat
naked ; nostrils basal ; vrings pointed ; the secondaries as
long as the primaries ; tail rounded; twenty feathers.
285. Pelecanus Onoceotalus, L. Hrit Pelikan. P.
Length 5 ft. ; primaries black ; all the rest of the
feathers white, tinged vrith rosy red ; face pale flesh-
colour ; pouch pale yeUow.
One specimen was shot in Finland in 1839, and another
in Dalecarlia in 1860. Figured by Dr. Bree as "the white
pelican."

428 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Fam, 4, — Pygopodes, IU.
Back toe absent or free; beak not crenated; wings
short, small; tail short or none; front toes webbed or
fringed. Geoup 1. — Feet with four toes. AU breed in fresh water.
Gen. Podiceps, Lath.
Beak long, conical, straight, compressed at the sides ;
nostrils basal near the top edge of the beak ; naked cere
from the eye to the beak ; legs large, set far back ; tarsi
flat ; front toes only webbed at their roots, but after that
fisso-palraated ; hind toe lobed ; no true taU ; wings small ;
the first and second feathers alike and longest. Sexes ahke,
but there is a great difference between the summer and
winter plumage. All lay three to six eggs on a flat, gene
rally floating nest, dirty white, oblong, pointed alike at each
end.286. PoDiCEPS ceistatus. Lath. Hvit Strupig Dopping.
The Great Crested Grebe. D. F.
Beak from gape longer than head ; from the feathers
on the forehead 1 in. 6 1., reddish ; throat white at all
seasons ; length 20 in. ; beak from gape 2f in. ; tarsus
2f in.
The twelve outer wing feathers brown, with white tips
to the five or six inner ones ; the next two are all white,
but with brown bands to the shafts ; the rest are aU pure
white. Summer pluraage : cheeks white ; crown of the head
occipital ; crest, and a large ruff of feathers standing out
round the neck, glossy black ; on the sides of the head red
dish yellow ; front of the neck and all the under parts silvery
white ; hinder neck and all the upper parts dusky brown,
save a white patch on the wing ; sides of the body vrith
a reddish tinge ; beak reddish brown ; eye red ; legs
duskv. In the autumn the whole upper parts become browner,

GEEBES. 429
with grey feather edges, and the sides of the body lose their
red tinge.
In the winter the occipital crest totally disappears, and
the grey back becomes bro-wn, and this is rauch the pluraage
of the young birds in the spring. The beak is whitish in
vrinter, vrith brown back ; the throat and neck in front are
pure silvery white at aU seasons. A summer migrant to the
north. This species is common in all the south and midland dis
tricts, but it is not known exactly how far north it goes, cer
tainly not so far as the next.
287. P. RuBEicoLLis, Lath. Gra Strupig Dopping. The Red
necked Grebe. D. F.
Beak from the gape about 2 in. ; black ; yellow at the
root ; throat in the old bird ash grey at aU seasons ; the
first fourteen -vring feathers brown, the fifteenth brown,
vrith a white spot ; the rest white.
The feraale is sraaUer than the raale, the headless glossy,
the beak thinner, and the white eye streak not so plain. The
male has no ruff as in the last, but on the back of the head
there is a sraaU bushy dirided crest, not forming pointed
horns ; sides of the cheeks grey ; breast red ; under parts
white ; upper parts deep black-grey ; a white spot on the
vring. In the vrinter the crest totally disappears ; bUl grey-
brown, -vrith yellow base; legs and toes outwardly brown,
inwardly pale yellow ; head above, and on the sides, as well
as aU the upper parts of the body, black-brown, vrith broad
ash grey edges ; front of the neck brown-grey in the middle
(in the crested grebe it is pure white), vrith a red-brown
scarcely perceptible spot on each side ; under parts silvery
white. Young : sides of the head white, longitudinally streaked
vrith brown; throat white ; neck in front red-brown; breast
and belly dirty white ; otherwise like the adult in winter.
Not rare in the south of the country, and I have received
the nest and eggs frora Lulea Lapland. Is said to be only

430 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
seen in Finland in spring, and on the south-west coast of
Sweden only in winter.
As weU as the last, breeds in Denmark. I never got
this nest on the Wener, where the last breeds comraonly.
288. P. Coenutus, Lath; P. Aegticus, Boie (female in
auturan). Svarthufvad Dopping. The Sclavonian
Grebe. The Eared Grebe. D. F.
Beak sraall, black, vrith pale tip, equally convex on
both mandibles ; length from the forehead 1 in., high
3f 1. ; breadth 2f 1. ; length 14 in. ; tarsus 1 in. 7 1. ;
outer toe 2 in. 4 1.
A good deal of confusion has existed respecting the iden
tity of this Sclavonian grebe. It is now, I believe, pretty
clearly decided that we have but five good species of grebe
in Europe, all of which are included in the Swedish fauna.
Summer dress : head black ; front of the throat red-
brown ; a rusty band of long bushy feathers over, and at the
back of the eyes ; a bushy cravat of long black feathers
underneath it ; all the upper parts black ; the under parts
atlas white ; sides tinged with red.
Autumn : head sraooth, with no ears or cravat ; and,
Uke aU the upper parts of the body, blackish brown ; under
parts white; throat and cheeks whitish; a streak at the
back of the eye, and the front of the neck rusty brown.
The twelve first primaries in the adult bird are at aU
seasons grey-brown ; the thirteenth with a brown spot on
the end, the rest pure white ; the inner ones at the tip and
on the outer fan black-brown. In the young bird the twelve
first primaries are altogether bro-wn ; the thirteenth with a
grey-brown spot on the end, the rest white.
The young bird in vrinter has the head and upper parts
black ; throat and cheeks white ; neck in front grey ; under
parts white ; sides black and white. Is sparingly distributed
over the whole country from Gothenburg up to East Fin
land, and far up into Norway.
289. P. NiGEOCOLLis, Br. Svart Halsad Dopping. The
Black-necked Grebe (Gould). D,

GEEBES-DIVEES. 431
Beak thinner, but about as long as in the last, and
convex on the under mandible, on which account it
appears to be rather turned up ; colour all black, as
high at the root as it is broad ; length about 12 in. ;
tarsus 1 in. 6 1. ; outer toe 2 in. 4 1.
Sumraer : head and throat black, -\rithout any cravat ; a
yeUow streak of long sraall pointed feathers at the back of
the eye ; upper parts of the body black ; under parts white,
vrith a rusty tint on the sides ; breast and sides finely spotted
with black. The first eleven wing feathers are always grey-
brown, the foUo-vring pure white, the inner ones on the tip,
andin the outer fan black-brown.
Winter: head above dark brown, smooth; throat and
cheeks white. May then best be distinguished frora the last
by the shape of the beak. The young have the head and
back dark brown. Seeras to be very rare in Scandinaria.
290. P. MiNOB, Lath. Sraa Dopping. The Dabchick. D.
Beak short, from the forehead 6 1., 3 1. high at the
root, and 2 1. broad, black ; gape of the mouth whitish ;
no bushy feathers at any season on the head, and no
white feathers on the wing ; length about 9 in. ; tarsus
1 m. 2 1.
Sumraer : top of the head and back black ; front and
sides of the neck brown-red; lower breast silvery grey;
sides of the body -with black-grey spots, soraetimes -with a
rusty tinge ; under parts shiny white ; eye reddish.
Winter : head and upper parts dark greyish black ; sides
of the head and front of the neck rusty grey. Is met vrith
here and there in the south and raiddle of the country.
Gen. Oolymbus, L.
Beak long, sharp, straight; nostrils, small, basal; head
large ; no bare spots near the eyes ; legs and feet large ;
toes webbed, not fringed, as in the grebes ; wings sraall ;
first and second feathers longest; taU short, rounded;
eighteen to twenty feathers.
The sexes are alike in pluraage, but the raale is the
largest; lay two large oblong eggs by the side of the water.

433 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
green-brown, spotted with black, and very similar in the
different species except in size.
291. CoLYMBUs GLACIALIS, L. Is Lom. The Northern
Diver. D. F.
Beak straight, 3 in. long from forehead ; convex, alike
on both mandibles; suture of the beak quite straight;
length of raale about 2 ft. 9 in. ; beak from gape 4 in.
3 1. ; height over nostrils 1 in. ; tarsus 3 in. 3 1. ; outer
toe 4 in. 6 1.; tail 2 in. 5 1.; carpus 15 in.
Suramer : beak black, paler at the tip ; legs, outwardly
dark brown, inwardly whitish ; head and neck black, with
a green and purple tint ; two patches of white and black
bars, on the sides of the neck ; back, shoulders, wings, and
all the upper parts, glossy black, strewed vrith white spots,
.those on the shoulders large and square, on the wing coverts
and hinder parts, small, fewer, and round; breast and
belly pure white.
The female is smaUer.
In winter and when young — in which plumage it is always
obtained in Southern seas, and called the iraber : head,
back of neck, and aU the upper parts, grey-brown, vrith
broad ash-blue edges to the feathers on the back and
shoulders ; throat, cheeks, neck in front, and all the lower
parts, white, but in the younger birds, spotted vrith grey
in front of the neck ; beak is also paler.
Is only an occasional winter risitant to these coasts, and
I believe was never kno-wn to breed in Scandinavia.
292. C. Aegticus, L. Stor Lom. The Black-throated
Diver. D. F.
Beak above rather more convex than below; the
beak suture, rather curved; beak from forehead
2 in. f 1. ; carpus 13f in. ; length of the male about
2 ft. 4 in. ; beak frora gape 4 in. ; tarsus 3f ia. ;
taU 2i in.
Suraraer : beak black ; head and back of neck ash grey ;
throat and neck in front, riolet black ; above the top of the
throat, in front, is a transverse row of smaU white spots ;

EED-THEOATED DIVER. 433
on the side of the neck a simUar band; back, shoulders,
wings, and upper parts, pure black ; on the shoulders a
large oblong patch, with twelve to fourteen transverse rows
of white square spots ; some smaUer white spots on the
wing coverts ; breast and under parts pure white.
The young and old in winter resemble the young of the
last, and can scarcely be distinguished, except by the size
and form of the beak.
Breeds comraonly all over Scandinaria, from the north
of Scania to far up into Lapland and Finland, but princi
pally in the interior of the land. Somraerfeldt mentions that
every winter the black-throated divers are seen off the
north coast in Waranger Fjord. Are met with on the
Bohus land coast all through the year.
293. C. Septenteionalis, L. Sma Lom. The Red-throated
Diver. D. F.
Beak 2 in. long from the forehead ; upper mandibles
rather concave; edges of the mandibles round, and
bent inwards ; carpus 12 in. ; nostrils dirided by a
skin across the middle ; length of the raale about 2 ft. ;
tail 2 in. 1 1. ; tarsus 2 in. 6 1.
Summer : sides of the head and throat ash grey ; an
oblong red-brown band in front of the neck ; body colour
above glossy brown ; in the old birds without a spot,
but in the younger birds with sraall white streaks and
spots on the -wing coverts and back; under parts pure
white. Female smallest.
Young and old in winter : head and back of neck ash grey,
finely spotted with black ; aU the upper parts black-grey,
strewed obUquely with sraall white spots and streaks parallel
vrith the edges of the feathers ; cheeks, th roat, front of the
neck, and all the under parts, white ; neck in front vrith
fine grey-brown spots; cheeks and sides of the neck
yellovrish ; beak whitish, with a brown top.
The old bird, in the transition from suraraer to winter :
back and shoulders uniform black-brown; head and neck
28

434 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
ash grey ; a long red-brown spot on the front of the throat ;
here and there speckled with white.
The black-throated diver is difficult to distinguish in this
dress from the red-throated, but iu the former the head and
back of the neck is blue-grey unspotted, the upper plumage
has a more blue-grey tinge, and there is a broad brown
band stretching down frora the rurap to the thighs, more
over the size of the birds, and the shape of the beaks, wUl
serve as distinguishing marks.
The red-throated diver is much the most coramon in
Lapland during the suraraer, but not nearly so as the
black-throated in the midland districts.
Both these divers are said to cover up their eggs when
they leave the nest, Uke the grebes. I do not deny that
it raay sometimes be so, but it is not always the case,
for in all the nests that I have taken, I have found the
eggs bare. AlcidcB.
With only three toes ; breed by the sea coast.
Gen. Uria, Briss.
Beak sharp and straight, as broad as high at the root ;
upper raandible convex, with a smaU hooked point ; nostrils
basal, covered by the feather ridge, which extends out
on the beak ; legs short ; no hind toe ; front toes webbed ;
tail short ; wings short ; first feather longest.
294. Ueia Teoilb, Tera. SUI Grisla. The GuiUeraot. D. F.
Secondaries white at the points, which forms a white
stripe across the black wing ; length 1 ft. 6 in ; carpus
7f in. ; beak from gape 2 in 5 1. long, at the middle
If 1. broad, and 3f 1. high ; tarsus 1 in. 4 1. ; eye small,
brown; beak and toes pale brown ; taU twelve feathers;
shafts of the outer priraaries white.
Sumraer : head and neck black, tinged with soot bro-wn;
back and wings, as well as all the upper parts, except the white
streak on the wing, black, tinged with grey; aU the under
parts pure white.

GUILLEMOTS. 435
Winter : all the upper parts tinged with ash grey ;
under parts white.
The young differ from the old in winter dress by
the flanks being streaked with white ; the throat and front
of the neck finely black and speckled white.
Var. A. — 1 . Uria Lachrymans. The ringed guiUeraot. A
white ring round the eye, and one of the same colour at the
back of the eye.
2. A white streak at the back of the eye, but no
white ring. B. — Uria Intermedia.
Beak high and long ; from the nostrUs to the tip as
long as tarsus ; beak as high as the length of the second
joint of the middle toe ; shafts of the primaries white-grey.
Length about 1 in. 5 1. ; beak from the gape 2 in. 5 1., in
the raiddle 2 1. broad, 4^1. high; tarsus 1 in. 41. Is met
with in the Baltic. C. — Uria Brunnichii, Sab.
Beak high, compressed from the gape, 2 in. 2 1. long,
in the middle 2 1. broad, 4f 1. high, or equal to the middle
toes' second joint ; the shafts of the primaries brown ;
scarcely so large as the comraon guillemot.
The great difference between this and the common
guiUeraot is in the shape of the beak.
NUsson does not raake a species of either the ringed
guiUeraot or Brunnich's. Bree makes the ringed guiUeraot
only a variety of the common, but seems to allow Brunnich's
to be a good species. KjarbolUng makes all three good
species. The common guiUemot in one form or other is met
vrith on aU these coasts, right up to the North Cape, but
I do not think Brunnich's guillemot ever breeds in Scan
dinaria,
295, U. Geylle, L, Tobis Grisla. The Black GuiUemot.
D.F.

436 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The whole body colour black in the summer, with
a large white spot on the wing ; black beak ; mouth
and feet red, in the young yellow-red. In the winter
the upper parts are grey-black; under parts white;
but the shorter beak and the large white patch on
the wings will distinguish this species at all seasons.
Length 13 in.; tail 2 in. 11.; beak over nostrils
1 in. 3 1. long ; 3i 1. high ; 1 1. broad.
Is common in the South and goes up far vrithin the
Polar circle. Is more of a coast bird than the last.
Gen. Mergulus, Ray.
Beak very short, convex at top ; at the root of an equal
breadth and height ; nostrils basal, only half covered ; first
wing feather longest.
296. Meegulus alle, Ray. Alke kung. The Little Auk.
D.F.
Black and white ; some white streaks on the shoul
ders, and a white streak over the vring ; -vrinter, a small
white spot over the eye, and a white ring round the
neck ; -vrings equal with the tail, which is 1 in. 2 1.
long, with twelve feathers. Length 8f in. ; beak from
gape 1 in.
Never breeds in Scandinavia ; only accidentally seen off
these coasts, principally in winter.
Gen. Mormon, IU.
Beak shorter than the head, compressed at the sides, and
very high ; upper and under mandibles convex ahke ; both
mandibles transversely furrowed ; bare cere round the eye ;
wings sraall, first and second feathers longest ; sexes alike.
297. MoEMON EEATEECULA, Tem. Lunne fogel. The Puf&n.
D.F.
Black above ; white underneath ; a black ring round
the neck ; sides of the head white-grey ; three furrows,
at least, across the beak, in front of the nostrils, in the
adult bird ; tail sixteen feathers, even. Length 14 in. j

GEEAT AUK. 437
beak from the forehead 2 in., and at the root exactly as
high as it is broad; grey-blue, vrith red tip. In the
young bird the beak is only half as high as it is long,
and smooth at the sides.
Is principaUy confined to the Scandinarian Polar seas,
although occasionaUy a pair breed off the south-west coasts.
They are rare, however, except in the far north.
Gen. Alca, L.
Beak feather clad on its inner half; the outer half high,
compressed, and transversely furrowed; upper mandible
hooked and convex ; under mandible vrith an angular pro
jection near the tip ; nostrils medial, covered ; first primary
longest; secondaries very short.
298. Alca toeda, L. Tordmule. The Razor BiU. D. F.
Black above ; below white ; vrings forraed weU for
ffight, and, when closed, reach over the taU root ; tail
sharp, twelve feathers. Length 1 ft. 7 in. ; head and
beak 4 in. ; beak from gape 2f in. long, and about 1 in.
high; eyes smaU, brown ; beak and legs black. In the
suramer there is a small white streak in front of the eye,
which is not observed in winter, and the front of the
neck to the middle is black, but white in the winter ;
the white spot on the side of the neck, and the white
transverse streaks across the beak, are apparent at aU
seasons.
Is met with in the Cattegat and the Baltic, but more
commonly in the Polar seas.
299. A. Impbnnis, L. Garfogel. The Great Auk. D. F.
As large as a tame goose in the body. Length 2 ft.
10 in. ; tail 3 in. ; beak to the forehead 3 in. 5 1. long,
1 in. 6 1. high, with round edges above and below, and
eight white transverse furrows on the upper mandible,
ten on the under ; tarsus 2 in. 2 1. In the suramer the
throat and aU the upper parts are black ; a large oblong
white spot between the eye and gape; secondaries

438 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
edged vrith white ; under parts white. In winter the
cheeks, throat, and front sides of the neck, white.
I do not beUeve this bird is extinct, although not one
has been seen, nor an egg taken, for several years. Never
bred on any Scandinarian coast. The value of this bird and
egg is as weU known in the North as in England. But
about ten years ago a couple of eggs were sold in Denmark
for .50 doUars, a little over £5.
It will be seen by the foregoing list that 299 species of
birds are included in the Scandinavian fauna, and out of
these about 230 are indigenous, or breed in the land;
whereas, out of the 357 British species, scarcely 180 breed
in Great Britain ; out of 299 Scandinavian species, 277 are
also met -srith in Britain. So that this list will be very
useful to the British as well as the - Scandinarian coUector,
as giring him concise descriptions of the greater part of the
birds met with in Great Britain.
Dr. Bree, in his new list of the European birds, gives us
553 species. Of these —
4 are doubtful as to authority of occurrence or species.
67 of undoubted, though of more or less rare, occurrence.
482 may fairly be considered as belonging to the Euro-
 pean ari fauna.
' 553 total.

BIRDS MET WITH IN SPITZBERGEN AND
GREENLAND.
In order to render this work as complete as possible, and
a useful guide to the collector and naturalist, I add a list of
all the birds at the present day met with both in Spitzbergen
and Greenland.
The Ust of the birds of Spitzbergen is by Mahngren, who
visited that island in 1862 with, the Swedish expedition.

BIEDS OE SPITZBEEGEN. 439
The list of the birds of Greenland is by Dr. J. Reinhardt,
of Copenhagen, 1860.

THE AVI FAUNA OE SPITZBEEGEN.
Birds which are indigenous to, or yearly breed on Spitzbergen.
1. The Snow Bunting. Is the only song bird on Spitzber
gen. Just as I always fancied in Lapland, Malmgren says that
the snow bunting builds its nest generally under a large fiat
stone ; and as I have seen old feraales of both this and the
shore lark come out of such places, I am confident both breed
in the sarae manner, doubtless to guard their nest from the
Arctic fox.
2. The Ptarraigan. L. Alpiina, var. hyperborea. He
mentions seeing them in full vrinter dress on June 4th, and
strong flying young on August 22nd. Fancies it is diffe
rent frora the Scandinavian ptarraigan, but cannot say how
far it is identical with the Greenland bird {L. Beinhardti) . I
beUeve, however, most naturalists consider we have only one
true type of ptarraigan, subject to sorae cliraatic changes.
3. The Rmg Dotterel.
4. The Purple Sandpiper. Very coramon.
5. The Grey Phalarope. Not rare.
6. The Arctic Tern. Very common.
7. The Ivory Gull. Is coraraon on the coasts, but always
in the vicinity of the drift ice. Never sits on the water Uke
the other gulls, but always on the edge of the drift. On the
7th June, 1861, he discovered, on the north coast of Mur-
chison's Bay, 80° north, a quantity of ivory guUs which had
taken up their residence on the side of a chalky cliff sorae
hundred feet high, in company with kittiwakes and glaucous
guUs. The last occupied the higher zone of the rock. The
ivory gulls, on the contrary, occupied the ledges and clefts
frora flfty to one hundred feet high. He could distinctly see
the old birds sitting on their nests, which, however, he could
not reach. On the 30th July he went again, and, by the
help of two men and ropes, managed to reach two nests,
each of which contained one egg. The nest was carelessly

440 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
built in a hole in the earth, of dry moss, grass, etc., and
here and there a feather. The eggs were " hard sat on,"
but strange to say, he does not describe them. Shot both
females at nest, and they, as well as the eggs, are preserved
in the Stockholra Museum.
8. The Kittiwake. Very comraon. Always breeds in
corapany with the ivory and the glaucous gulls, the ivory
guUs taking the lowest position on the rock, the kittiwakes
the middle, and the glaucous gulls the uppermost.
9. The Glaucous Gull. Comraon along all the coasts.
10. Richardson's Skua. Lestris parasitica, "SUss. Tole
rably coraraon. They often follow the kittiwakes, but never
the glaucous or the ivory gulls.
11. The Fulmar Petrel. Very common on the north
coast of Spitzbergen.
12. The Brent Goose. Comraon on aU the coasts. Does
not appear to breed on the islands off the north coast, but
on the fast land. Took a nest in Trenzenberg Bay, vrith
four eggs, in the end of June. By the way, I fancy it was
one of these very eggs which I saw in a collection at Gefle
in 1862 ; and on my remarking what a dilapidated condition
it was in, I was told that it was brought down from Spitz
bergen with a lot more eggs, in a barrel, packed in salt !
Rather a novel mode this of transporting valuable eggs.
13. TheBernicle. Not seen by Malmgren, but, accord
ing to Torell, is without doubt raet with there. The prin
cipal breeding place of this goose appears to be North
Russia, east of the White Sea.
14. The Bean Goose. Appears to be rare on Spitz
bergen. 15. The Long-tailed Duck. Is sparingly distributed
along the coasts, and breeds in small corapanies, always by
the side of fresh water ; and this I found invariably the case
in Lapland. 16. The Eider Duck. Very common.
17. The King Eider. Certainly does not breed on these
coasts north of 79° 5 ', for these were well explored by the
expedition, and not a bird seen. He does not deny that it

BIEDS OF SPITZBEEGEN. 441
may be found on the south-west coast, but fancies that it is
rare even there.
18. The Red- throated Diver. Breeds commonly up to
80° 45 ' north lat. Singular that the black-throated diver is
not known north of Scandinaria.
19. The Black Guillemot. Is common on aU these coasts,
but nevertheless not nearly so much so as Brunnich's guiUe
mot. He notices respecting Uria glacialis, Brehm., which
was also very common, that it is certainly no distinct species,
but only the black guUleraot in its summer dress after the
first vrinter. After the second winter it attains its full
plumage, and is then able to breed. The full-grown black
guUlemot from Spitzbergen has a rather smaller beak than
the Scandinarian bird, but is not a distinct species.
20. Brunnich's GuUlemot. Is the commonest of all the
birds on Spitzbergen, and is the only forra of common guiUe
mot which is seen there.
21. The Little Auk. Very common on these coasts.
Are exceUent eating; fried "rot ges" (their Spitzber
gen name, from their peculiar cry, " Rott-tet-tet-tet ") and
dried reindeer flesh are two of the delicacies of the island.
22. The Puffin. Is spread over the whole coast, but not
common on the north coast.
Birds which only occasionally visit Spitzbergen, but do not
breed there.
1. Falco Gyrfalco, 'Nilss. Seems to be very rarely seen
there. 2. The Snowy Owl. One exaraple was shot on the 10th
July, 1861, between Verlegen Hook and Shoal Point, by a
walrus hunter, at 80° 10' north lat.; and this is the
only tirae it has been shot on Spitzbergen, and at so
high a latitude. There is little to terapt birds of prey on
Spitzbergen in the winter, where there are no leraraing, as
on Melville Island, Nova Zerabla, Tairayr Land, etc., and
where the ptarmigan are by no means plentiful.
3. The Dotterel. Keilhan mentions, in 1827, that he
found a dead dotterel here on the coast. This must have

442 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
been a solitary indiridual, which by some chance had flown
there and died of hunger, for not a single specimen has ever
been seen since, nor is it probable that a bird which lives on
insects {coleoptera), and their larvse, could find nourishment
for itself and family in a land where only twelve to fifteen
sraall and rare insects are raet with, and not one of these
are coleo'ptera.
4. That the Grey Lag Goose breeds on Spitzbergen, as
stated by Torell, raust be a mistake, because this species
does not belong to the Arctic fauna. In Sweden and Fin
land it does not go over the Polar circle. (How is it, then,
that, according to Somraerfeldt, the grey lag geese are seen
on the coast of North-east Finland, in the spring, on their
way to their breeding places on Tamsoe, in West Finmark ?)
A seal shooter told him that, two years before, he shot a
swan in a trask near Stor Fjord. This was probably a
Bewick's swan, which has a higher northem range than the
coraraon wild swan.
5. The Poraarine Skua. Captain Ross raentions that he
saw a poraarine skua fiy by the boat on this coast, in
82° north lat. But this species has never been seen here by
any one since. It breeds in Prince Regent's Inlet and in
Taimyr Land. More frequent in North Greenland and the
north of Scandinaria, but rare on Iceland and the Faroes.
Birds which should be expunged from the fauna of Spitz
bergen, in which they have been placed through mistaken
observations. 1. Fringilla Linaria, Scoresby. Without doubt the bird
which Scoresby took for this species must be some other
one, because it is against all nature to suppose that F.
Linaria should live on Spitzbergen, where it could not find
nourishment for a single day. It was raost probably nothing
else than the young of the snow bunting.
2. Common Sandpiper. Must have been another mis
take of Scoresby's.
3. Sabine's GuU. | Waygat Straits, where these birds
4. Ross's Gull. ; are reported to have been seen, was

BIEDS OF SPITZBERGEN. . 443
weU explored by the Swedish Expedition in 1861, and if
either had been there they must have been noticed. Sabine's
gull was first discovered by Ed. Sabine breeding vrith the
Arctic tern, on three low islands in.the north end of Baffin's
Bay, twenty EngUsh miles frora the west coast of Greenland,
in 75° 5' north lat.
The two first examples of Ross's guU were found off the
coast of MelriUe's Peninsula, 69f° north lat., but they
have never been observed further north than this. Is alto
gether a stranger to Greenland, North Europe, and Asia.
5. The Great Black-backed Gull. KeUhan must have
mistaken individuals of the glaucous for this guU, which is
not a high Arctic bird.
6. The Great Northern Diver. Not a single naturalist,
except Phipps, who journeyed towards the North Pole in
1773, has ever seen any other diver there except the red-
throated. 7. The Razor BUl. Another mistake of Parry's.
Prof. SundevaU's Ust of the birds which he saw on Spitz-^
bergen in 1838, agrees -vrith the foregoing.
The ornithologist -will see that Spitzbergen presents but
a meagre bill of fare, and the oologist wUl scarcely find there
half a dozen birds breeding whose eggs he would care tq
take. The white fox and the reindeer appear to be the only
animals that Uve on this barren island. The Polar bear
occasionaUy floats on his drift ice-rafts to these vrild shores,
and the principal animal Ufe appears to be in the seas which
surround it, which swarm vrith walrus and seals of every
species. Ninety-three species of phanerogamous plants are met
vrith on Spitzbergen, of which eighty-one are known in
Greenland, and sixty -mne in the north of Scandinaria.

444 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.

LIST OF THB BIEDS OF GEEENLAND, FEOM EEINHAEDT.
Greenland comprises two colonies, of which South Green
land is dirided into six settlements — Julianashaab, Prederik-
shaab, Fiskerrnser, Godthaab, Sukkertoppen, and Holsteins-
burg. North Greenland into seven settlements — Godhavn,
Egedesminde, Christianshaab, Jacobshavn, Ritenbek, Ome-
nak, and Uppemirik.
Birds which regula/rly breed in Greenland.
1. The "White-taUed Eagle.
2. The Greenland Falcon. He notices two forms — F.
Islandicus, Hanck, and F. Greenlandicus, Hanck — one as
common as the other everywhere.
3. The Peregrine. Some naturalists have supposed that
the Greenland peregrine differs from the European bird, and
have given the Greenland form the name of F. Anatum. He
thinks, however, that there is no difference.
4. The Snowy Owl. Very common. In the summer
more numerous in the north, than in the south.
5. The Wheatear.
6. The Rock Pipit.
7. The Raven. HolboU considers the Greenland raven
to form a particular race — Corvus Corax Littoralis.
Reinhardt says he cannot see any difference between the
Greenland and comraon European bird.
8. The Mealy Redpole. Coramon and migratory.
9. HolboU's Redpole. Constantly resident.
10. The White-crowned Bunting. Emberiza leucophrys,
Wilson. An Araerican species. Not numerous, but cer
tainly a breeding species.
11. The Snow Bunting. | ^
12. Lapland Bunting, j
13. The Ptarmigan. L. Beinhardti, Brehm. Very
questionable whether the Greenland form really differs from
the common European ptarmigan.
14. The Ring Dotterel.
15. The Turnstone.

BIEDS OE GEEENLAND. 413
16. The Knot.
17. The Purple Sandpiper.
18. Schinz's Sandpiper.
19. The Sanderling. Scarce, but breeds on Disco Island.
20. The Red Phalarope.
21. The Grey Phalarope.
22. The White-fronted Goose.
23. The Brent Goose.
24. The Bemicle. A doubtful breeder.
25. The Wild Swan. Formerly bred in many places
near Godthaab, but was long ago exterminated by persecu
tion during the breeding season. It is now apparently re
appearing. 26. The Common WUd Duck.
27. Barrow's Iceland Duck.
28. The Harlequin Duck.
29. The Long-taUed Duck.
30. The Eider.
31. The King Eider.
32. The Merganser.
33. The Northem Diver.
34. The Red-throated Diver.
35. The Razor BiU.
36. The Puffin.
37. Brunnich's Guillemot.
38. The Coraraon GuiUemot. The Uria hringvia is, he
adds, only a variety of the common guillemot, and very rare
in Greenland. 39. The Black GuiUemot.
40. The Little Auk.
41. The Greater Shearwater.
42. Leach's Petrel.
43. The Fulmar Petrel.
44. The Pomarine Skua.
45. Richardson's Skua.
46. Buffon's Skua.
47. The Great Black-backed GuU.
48. The Glaucous GuU.
49. The Iceland GuU.

446 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
60. The Kittiwake.
51. The Ivory Gull.
52. Sabine's Gull. Very rare in the Danish settlements.
Breeds only to the north of Uppernivik.
53. The Arctic Tem.
54. The Cormorant.
Birds which a/re only accidental visitors to Greenland, or
domesticated.
1. The Short-eared Owl. Scarce.
2. The Araerican Swallow. H. Rufa, Bp. Only two
specimens have ever been obtained. Distinguished from
the EngUsh SwaUow by the chestnut belly and vent.
3. The Marsh Wren, American. T. Palustris, NUss.
One only specimen has been obtained, and that was in 1823,
at Godthaab. 4. The Ruby-crowned Wren, Am. Regulus calendula, L.
5. The Yellow-ruraped Warbler, Am.. Motacilla coro-
nata, L.
6. The Black-throated Green Warbler, Am. if. Virens,
Gm.
7. The Black Pole Warbler, Am. Silvicola striata, S-wain.
8. The Hemlock Warbler, Am. 8. parus, Wils.
9. The Blue Yellow-backed Warbler, Am. 8. Ameri
cana, Swain.
10. The Nashville Warbler, Am. 8. Rubricapilla, WUs.
11. The Mourning Warbler, Am. 8. Philadelphia,
WUs. 12. The White Wagtail. Has been obtained twice in
Greenland. 13. The Meadow Pipit. One single specimen has been
obtained in the country.
14. The Red-wing. Two specimens have been shot here.
15. The Hermit Thrush, Am. Turdus minor, Gm. One
specimen. 16. The Small Green-crested Fly-catcher, Am.
Tyrannula pusilla, L.
17. Tyr annus cooperi, Nutt. (Am.) Accidental,

BIEDS OF GEEENLAND. 447
18. The Red-eyed Fly-catcher. Viriosylva olivacea,
B.P. (Ara.)
19. The Starling. Only one specimen, a female, has
ever been sent from Greenland.
20. The Red-winged StarUng. Agelaius phceniceus,
Veill. One female has been obtained.
21. The White-vringed CrossbiU. Very accidental.
22. The Shore Lark. One single speciraen, probably an
American bird, was shot at Godthaab in 1835.
23. The YeUow-belUed Woodpecker, Am. Picus va/rius,Jj.
24. The Gold-winged Woodpecker, Am. P. Auratus,
NUss. 25. The Domestic Cock.
26. The Grey Plover. Occurs in very limited numbers.
27. The Peevrit. Two specimens have been accidentally
obtained. 28. The American Golden Plover. Charadrius virgini-
cus, Bork. It is a raost exact observation of the late Prince
Bonaparte, that the golden plover found in Greenland is the
American species, and not the European golden plover, for
which it has been mistaken by nearly aU former writers. I
have now before me two specimens, sent by HolboU himself
to the Royal Museum, under the name of Charadrius plu-
ralis, and both prove to be the Virginian plover, vrith grey
axiUaries. 29. The Oyster-catcher. Has seen three skins from
Greenland. 30. The Common Heron. A specimen was found dead
in 1856 near NerotaUk.
31. The Whimbrel. Occasional.
32. Numenius Hudsonicus, hath. Four specimens appear
to have been obtained in Greenland.
33. The Esquimaux Curlew. Two specimens have been
shot here.
34. The Comraon Godwit. Very rare.
35. The DunUn. Probably breeds here.
36. The Yellow-shanked Sandpiper, Am. One single
specimen is on record.

448 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
37. Tringa pectoralis, Bp. Three examples are on
record. Am.
38. The Red-breasted Snipe, Am. Only one specimen
is recorded. 39. The Common Snipe. Has been so often observed in
Greenland that it probably breeds there.
40. The Land Rail. One exaraple.
41. The Spotted Crake. Two exaraples.
42. The American Rail. One example in 1822.
43. The American Coot. Legs grey; beak red, tipped
with white. Two specimens on record.
44. The Coraraon Domestic Goose.
45. Anser hyperboreus. Pall. Only young birds have
been obtained.
46. The Pintail. Accidental, but not very rare.
47. The Green-vringed Teal, Ara. Four specimens have
been sent to Copenhagen within the last twelve years.
48. The Teal. Rare.
49. The Widgeon. As rare as the last.
50. The Scaup. Very rare. He adds that he considered
two males and one feraale, which were sent frora NerotaUk
in 1859, to be the flrst ever obtained here, until he learnt
from the " Ibis " that Dr. Walker had abeady procured it
during his short stay ar Godha-vn.
51. The Crested Duck. On the authority of Mr. Walker,
was obtained at Godhavn in 1857, during the stay of the
" Fox " at that place. The capture of this duck in North
Greenland must be considered as very extraordinary, for it
does not inhabit North America, and Iceland even is not
included in its northern European range.
52. The Buffel-headed Duck. One only example on
record. 53. The Surf Scoter. Only a very few specimens ob
tained. 54. The Sclavonian Grebe, Gm. Only a few birds, and
these young, obtained in the south of Greenland.
55. Podiceps holbcRllU, Rhdt. Three specimens are on
record of this new species.

BIEDS OF GEEENLAND. ; 449
56. The Great Auk. Nearly extinct; but even formerly
only seemed to risit Greenland in the winter, and in Umited
number's, chiefly young birds.
57. Fratercula glacialis, Leach.
68. Fratercula cw"rata, PaU. Only one specimen on
record. 59. Manx's Shearwater.
60. The Common Skua.
61. Larus chaleopterus, Licht. Probably nothing more
than a variety of the Iceland guU.
62. The Herring Gull. Quite accidental, and an ex
tremely rare bird in Greenland.
63. Larus affinis, Rhdt. New species ; unique. Ap
pears to be closely alUed to the hening gull.
64. Bhodostethia rosea, Macgill.
65. The Gannet. Accidental and rare.
66. Pagophilabrachytarsa, 'Kol'b. A new gull discovered
by HolboU, of which, unfortunately, no coUection seems to
possess an authentic or type speciraen.
As might be expected from its geographical position,
the North American types preponderate in the avi fauna
of Greenland. "When, from the 118 species hitherto
observed there, we deduct 63 which occur throughout the
whole Polar zone, and accordingly raust be considered
not to bear on this question (at least, as far as they are con
stantly resident in Greenland), of the remaining 53, there
are 35 North American species, 19 European, and a single
one (the ptarmigan) possibly pecuUar to Greenland. A stUl
more marked North American feature of the fauna results
from an observation of HolboU's, that Greenland receives
only four of its regular birds of passage from Europe (the
peregrine, the wheatear, the whimbrel, and the wild swan) ;
and should even this nuraber prove to be too smaU, and
some others — for instance, the common snipe and the white-
fronted goose — be added, there vrill stiU be a great prepon
derance of such birds migrating to Greenland from North
America. But, on the other hand, Greenland is marked as
29

450 TEN YEAES IN S"WEDEN.
being the most westerly, though regular, boundary of some
strictly European species, not only of the bbds of passage
abeady mentioned, but also of others, such as Aquilla
albicella. I may add that any naturaUst vrishing to risit Greenland
will perhaps flnd his easiest route by Copenhagen, from
which place sailing vessels (large and well appointed ships),
carrying the mails, start for Greenland as soon as the sea is
open, calling at all the coast settlements, and continuing to
run to and from Greenland throughout the summer. I am not
sure whether a steamer does not now run from that place,
buti fancy so. All information, however, can be procured
of the British Consul in Copenhagen. I question much
whether a mere trip would pay the coUector ; but doubtless,
if a man were to spend one -vrinter and two summers in
the country, he would do much. To my fancy, Lap
land, and North-east Finmark, and Russia possess greater
attractions to the British ornithologist at the present time
than any other European countries.

CLASS III.— EEPTILIA.

OEDEE 1.— GHELONIA. (Tortoises.)
Dorsum large, depressed; heart-shaped; covered with
strong horny plates ; feet depressed like fins.
Emys. Fresh Water Tortoises.
Gen. Emys. Fresh Water Tortoises.
Dorsum low, flat; five plates on the back; twenty-five
along the sides ; shield on the breast oval, consisting of five
plates ; five toes on each foot, of which aU the front ones,
and four behind, are fumished with pointed claws ; cheeks
horny; taU short, scaled.
1. Emys Lutaeia, Bon. Karr Skolpadda.
Length, 6 to 7 in, ; breadth, 5 in, ; colour blackish
brown.
Is met -with no longer ia Scandinaria at the present day,
and although fossU remains are occasionaUy dug up in the
turf mosses of the South, has no more right to be included
in the present fauna, than the now extinct Ursus Spelceus
or Bos Urus. OEDEE 2,— SAUEIA, (Lizards.)
Consists of many groups or sub-orders ; of these the
Scandinarian fauna owns only one.
Sub-order Sauri Squamati.
Body covered vrith scales; head above, with plates;
mouth smaU, fumished vrith teeth; ears either apparent

452 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
or covered. This sub-order can be dirided into two famUies,
Sauri Proprii and Ophiosauri.
Fam. 1. — Sauei Peopeii.
Body not so slender as in the Ophiosau/ri; fumished
with four feet, each of which has five toes, armed with
claws. Ears apparent. Gen. Lacerta, L.
Head covered vrith plates ; upper part of the body with
scales ; underneath with transverse four-cornered plates,
in six or eight broad rows; two rows of teeth on the
palate ; eyelids present ; tongue warty.
2. Laceeta Agilis, L. Sand Odla. The Sand Lizard.
This is the largest of aU the Scandinarian Uzards ; at
tains a length of 10 in., of which the head vrill be about
6 1. ; neck 5 1. ; body 2 in. 3 1. ; taU 5 in. ; colour grey-
brown, vrith a brown band along the back; covered vrith
blackish and white_figures and spots ; palate vrith two
rows of teeth.
I cannot agree -with Professor Bell when he says that
Linnaeus clearly meant the present species to be the type
of Lacerta Agilis in Sweden. Certainly Linne, in his
" Fauna Suecica," notices two species, the one the Lacerta
vulgaris or vivipara, Ray., and under the L. Agilis he gives us
three forras, and it is certain that his variety 7 which he
calls "Lacerta dorso punctis albis duplici serie," belongs
to the Lacerta vivipara, because he distinctly says, "Habitat
ad templum lockraock, Luleusis, Lapland." Now it is quite
clear that the true sand Uzard was never met vrith so far
north, not even so far up as Upsala (as Linnteus says) . It
is, in fact, in my opinion, rare even in the south, for when
I was coUecting in Scania, I rarely obtained a specimen,
whereas on the opposite coast of Denmark, around Helsingor,
it was extremely common on all the low sandy grassy
banks, and I could obtain any number of specimens in
a day. It is distributed over the middle and south of
Sweden generally, I believe, but is nowhere very common.

EEPTILES. 453
whereas I have never been in any part of Sweden, from
Scania up to Quickiock, Lapland, where I did not meet
vrith the Uttle ririparous Uzard, and Nilsson corroborates
this statement.
This species may always be distinguished from the next
by the thicker form, the shorter and thicker taU, the teeth
on the palate, and the much more handsorae appearance.
I never saw the coraraon lizard here spotted vrith white in
the same manner as the sand lizard.
3. L. ViviPAEA, Jacq. Skogs Odla. The Viriparous Lizard.
Usual length about 6 in. (head and body 2 to 4 in.) ;
colour varies much; usuaUy brown with a dark Une
down the back ; the under parts whitish ; no teeth ou
the palate.
Coramon all over Sweden, from the very south up to at
least Quickiock, Lapland. Fam. 2. — Ophiosauei.
With the general characters of the true lizards, the
members of this famUy unite the following : the body is
elongated, snake-like ; above and below covered with smooth
scales ; not carinated as in the lizards, and with either very
short or no feet.
Our European blind or slow worm, is, in fact, a famiUar
representative of the great family of skinks. No external
traces of Umbs can be found, but imder the skin, rudiments
of legs may be discovered. Gen. Anguis, L.
Body cylindrical ; covered with small smooth scales.
4. Anguis Feagilis, L. Armsla. The Blind Worm.
Brown-grey above ; steel blue below ; usually a small
black streak along each side of the back, and sometiraes
a simUar one along the middle of the back; scales
roundish, flat; taU blunt, and easUy broken, as in
the lizard.

454 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Like the ririparous lizard, it brings forth Uring young.
The largest specimen I ever saw in Sweden was 14 in., of
which the taU was 7f in. I think, vrith Professor BeU,
that the length of the taU in many reptiles is dependent
upon the sex. I have observed that in the female it is
generaUy longer than in the male.
The slow worm is found pretty generaUy dispersed
over most parts of the Scandinarian continent. NUsson
says that he has received a specimen from Lulea Lapland.
It must, however, be extreraely rare so far north. I could
never hear of one; in fact the only reptUes I met vrith
there, with the exception of the common frog, were the
viriparous Uzard, and one specimen of the common riper.

OEDEE 3.— OPHIDIA. (Snaies).
Body long, rounded, vrithout even the rudiments of
feet; covered with scales and plates; no eye-Uds; unlike
the last two orders, the ophidia have the power of greatly
stretching the swaUow and throat by means of the pecu
liar formation of the under maxUlary bones.
1. Seepentes Innocui. Harmless Snakes.
Two rows of solid teeth, of an equal size, along each side
in the jaw both above and below, and no poison fangs. The
head is covered with broad plates.
Gen. Coluber, L.
Head covered -vrith broad plates; eye vrith a round
pupU ; tail on the under side covered -with divided shields,
and occupies at least one-sixth of the whole body.
5. CoLUBBE Nateix, L. Snok. The Ringed Snake.
Above black or ohve grey, bestrewed vrith black
spots; below blueish black; a white or yeUow band
on the top of the side of the neck ; scales of the back,
lancet shaped, with a smaU raised keel along the

EEPTILES. 4,55
middle of each ;' three smaU plates behind the eye;
usual length 4 ft.
The comraon Swedish snake differs so much in appear
ance from Professor Bell's fine engraring of the British ring
snake that both myself and other Swedish naturalists have
almost doubted whether they are identical. Our snake
is generaUy Ughter in colour, and the spots in one row
along the sides.
Is common in aU parts of Sweden and Norway, but
it is hardly correctly ascertained how far north they go. I
fancy scarcely up to Lapland.
ADdominal plates 170. Sub-caudal plates, 60 to 65
pairs.6. C. LiEvis, Schleg. Slatt Snok. The Smooth Snake.
It has always been a matter of surprise to me that
this species, which is not uncomraon in Sweden, and
very common in many parts of the continent, should
have BO long been overlooked in England, for it is
only just lately that it has been added to the British
fauna. It may at once be distinguished from the common snake by
the total absence of the yeUow " cravat," by its duUer colour,
and by the smooth sleek appearance of the whole body ; for
the scales, instead of being carinated as in the common
snake, are perfectly smooth and poUshed, vrithout the least
sign of a keel. General colour: brown, with rows of
blackish spots along the back, a band over the neck, and
a streak at the back of the eye of the same colour ; reddish
b:own on the sides ; under parts cinnamon red and yellow
mxed, vrith or without spots, or steel grey speckled vrith
ysUow along the sides ; iris red-yeUow ; mouth and tongue
red; abdominal plates and scuta much as in the cora-
non snake, both in shape and numbers; usual length
about 2 ft.
Is nowhere so common in Sweden as the lastj but still
n)t so rare as has been supposed. Has been taken fre-

456 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
quently in the south of Sweden, and in the middle as far
up as Upsala ; not rare near Christiania in Norway.
The habits of this snake are different from those of the
common snake, and they are never found in moist situations,
always on high, dry, stony tracts, covered with bushes and
heath. Specimens have been taken even on the top of the
Dovre Fell. They can climb weU. One kept in confinement
here for five months eat nothing but a single snail, and
would not look at a frog ; it drank a great deal of water.
They are easily tamed, and NUsson raentions sorae interest
ing facts in the economy of the before-mentioned sfiake.
It soon became tame, and never after was heard tohiss ;
on the ground it could not go along so easUy as the co}nmon
snake, but was very fond of creeping up book-cases, ifurni-
ture, and the like. It was more lively than the common
snake, but not so pliant, although much raore so tljan the
slow worm. Its manners in confinement lead one t^ guess
that it was much used to Uve in trees ; and Bechst^n even
raentions having found the castings of a skin of one cf these
snakes hanging in a small fir tree.
It is now clearly proved, according to Schlegel's a3C0imt,
that this snake brings forth living young, thus shewing a
sort of affinity to the slow worm. About the end of i
is the usual breeding season here.
2.- Seepentes Venenosi. Venomous Snakes. 1
One row of small solid teeth in the palatine bone
on each side, but no teeth in the upper maxiUary bones,
except the two isolated poison fangs ; head covered wiih
small plates and scales ; tail not raore than one-eighth cr
one-ninth of the whole length of the body. 1 .
Gen. Vipera, Daud. !
Head covered vrith plates (of which one large one is if
the middle, with several smaller ones symmetrically arrangel
around it) or even with scales alone ; eye vrith a verticaU?
oblong pupU ; taU short.

EEPTILES, 457
7, ViPEEA Beeus, L. VanUg Huggorm, The Common
Viper. The Adder.
Nilsson gives us the foUowing synonymes : Coluber
Berus, L., " Faun Suec. ;" Vipera Berus, Daud., BeU,
" British Reptiles," p. 68.
To this belongs la petite vipere {0. Chersea), Cuv.;
Regne. An. (his C. berus belongs to the 0. aspis, L.,
which is not Swedish) .

Pelia Chersea, Bp. Asping Svensk.
Black variety, C. prester, L. ; black riper. Bell ; Svart
huggorm (Svensk.), Smaland "bosse."
That the common riper is subject to great variation in
colour I wUl not deny, for I have frequently myself kUled
in Sweden, all the varieties mentioned by Bell — the brown,
red, and black ; and as far as my examination would lead
me to beUeve, they were all the comraon riper in dif
ferent states of colouring, but that Linux's C. prester, is
nothing more than a black variety of the comraon riper
I do not believe ; in fact, I think we have in Sweden two
very distinct species of the black riper, and although
LinuEeus seemed to be aware of the fact, no other Swedish
naturalist except Magister Hardin of Carlstad appears to
be so. During a little excursion with that gentleman in 1861,
over the North Wermland feUs, we killed a black riper bask
ing in a small wood by the side of " Hagg Fell," Ostmark,
which we preserved in spirits, and brought home. When
we examined it afterwards, it exactly taUied with Linn6's
description of the 0. prester : abdominal plates 153 ; taU
scuta 32, In describing this coluber prester in hia "Fauna
Suecica," Linne says : "Vipera anghca Nigricans, Smolandis
bosse ; habitat in sylris rarior. Corpus atrum." In his de
scription of 0. berus, in the same work he says : " Vipera
anglica fusca, Sw., Huggorm. Corpus cinereum dorso Unea
undulata nigricante conspicua; habitat in Suecica frequens."
Abdominal plates 146 ; scuta 39.

458 TEN TEAES IN SWEDEN.
Now it is erident that in his time as weU as at the
present day, this 0. prester was rarer than the 0. berus.
The Swedish name was different, and he well described the
differences of colour, for in this 0. prester which we kUled,
the black colour was much deeper and duller than in any black
riper I had ever before seen (and whUe Uring at TroUiattan,
south of this, I often used to kill the black riper, but
always on wet mosses, never, as in this case, on high
ground), and the black Une on the back, which Linne gives
as a characteristic of the C. befus, was not perceptible in this
specimen. Now, vrithout placing too much reUance on the number
of the squamous plates as a mark of distinction — for, hke
the fin rays of a fish, they may be Uable to variation — I fancy
an accurate and careful examination of the plates of the
backs of the heads of these two vipers, might be of some
value in determining a distinct species, they are so very dif
ferently shaped and placed. In 0. prester the three large
plates are much broader than in C. berus, and they are
placed side by side in a straight direction. There are no
other plates behind them — the scales do not appear so
sharp as in G. berus, but broader and rounder, coming
close up to them — whereas, in 0. berus, the three large
middle plates are placed in a slanting direction (at least only
the middle one is straight), and there are two more (smaller
ones) behind them, in aU making five.
Perhaps, after all, the size and position of these head-
plates may be subject to variation, but there is so marked a
difference in the appearance of the back of the head of this
riper which we kUled, and the head of a common black viper,
with which we compared it, that if I could only prove, by an
examination of some more specimens that this was constant,
I should not hesitate to decide that Linux's 0. prester, was a
good and distinct species, and one which, since his time, has
been totally overlooked.
The -riper may always be known by the flat head covered
with smaU plates and scales, by the short tail, which occu
pies only one-ninth the length of the body, and a much less

EEPTILES. 459
number of abdominal and sub-caudal plates, always thirty of
the former and twenty of the latter less than in the ringed
snake. It is difficult to determine the exact number of these,
but, according to Lenz, the raale viper has 139 by 36 to
145 by 41, and the female from 130 by 28 to 150 by 33.
The colour varies much, according to age and sex, but the
back is always darker than the rest of the body, usuaUy
dirty yellower oUve brown, vrith spots along each side ; belly
steel blue, soraetimes with a yellowish tinge. It seems
curious, but I have observed that the black variety is very
local, and where one is found, others are always in the neigh
bourhood ; usual length two feet, rarely more. Is met with
in aU parts of Scandiuaria, as far up as South Lapland, and,
according to NUsson, its most northerly range is between
66° and 67° north lat. I kiUed a female specimen up at
Quickiock, Lulea Lapland, and I kUled a magnificent speci
men in May, 1864, in South Werraland. They usuaUy pair
here in May, and the female brings forth her Uring young
in August. Nilsson says that they can pair in the third or
fourth year, but they are not fuU grown till the sixth or
seventh. Respecting the incredible story of the old viper swaUow
ing her young when disturbed, I can only say that such a
thing was never vritnessed either by rayseff or any other raan
vrith whom I have spoken, nor did any one here ever hear
of such a thiag tUl I mentioned it.

AMPHIBIA.
Body naked, covered only with a clammy skin. "When
young they breathe through gUls. Can live on land as well
as in water. OEDEE 4,— BATEACHH.
Body naked, with four feet, which have no claws. Like
the snakes, they change theb skins, but piece by piece, in
the water. "When young, they breathe through gUls, after-

460 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
wards by lungs. During the breeding season they aU live
in the water, but at other times principally on land.
NUsson remarks : — " It is singular that each of the three
foregoing orders find types in the batrachia — thus the tor
toises are represented by the toads, the lizards by the newts,
and the snakes by the cseciUse.
Tailless Amphibia.
Body broad and short ; no signs of a taU when full
grown ; four toes on the anterior extremities ; five on the
hinder ; skin smooth or tuberculated.
Fam. 1. — Ranida. Frogs.
Teeth in the upper jaw and on the vomer ; hinder legs
much longer than the fore legs, on which account they hop
readily. Land Frogs.
Gen. Hyla, Laur.
Readily distinguished by a disk or cushion at the ex
tremity of the toes, which enables them to adhere to the
leaves of trees and other smooth substances. The males
have a vocal bladder on each side of the neck ; hinder toes
half webbed ; body smooth above.
8. Hyla vieidis, Laur. Lof Groda.
Colour green above, white under, vrith a yellow and
black streak through the eyes and along the sides of
the body.
This is the smallest and handsomest of all the frogs,
measuring rarely over an inch and a half. Is rare in Sweden,
and confined'to the shrubby plantations of South and East
Scania. Water Frogs.
Gen. Rana, L.
Hind toes whoUy webbed ; toes round, with no disk nor
cushion.

EEPTILES. 461
9. Rana tempoeania. VanUg Groda. The Common
Frog.
Subject to much the same variations in colour as the
British frogs ; usual length here 8 in. 2 1., of which the
body to the anus is 3 in. 2 1. ; front legs 1 in. 7 1. ; hind
legs 5 in. '4 1.
Is certainly the commonest of aU the Scandinavian rep
tiles, and goes furthest north, for they are met vrith in all
parts, from the very south to far up in Tornea Lapmark.
Is common even up at Hammerfest and Tromsoe, and on the
Norwegian feUs ; goes higher than the limits of tree vegeta
tion. Three species of frog are included in the Scandinavian
fauna, and one of them, Rana arvalis, NUss., is in all proba
biUty nothing more than a local variety of the common frog.
Clermont does not notice it in his " Quadrupeds and Reptiles
of Europe." o
10. R. Aevalis, NUss. Aker Groda.
Colour above marbled vrith black, and three longi
tudinal pale bands ; more pointed than in the common
frog ; a black spot through the tract of the ear, and a
black streak through the nostrils; size about that of
the comraon frog.
The principal differences, according to Nilsson, Ue in the
osteology of the two species. In R. .Arvalis, if a cross
hne is dra-wn across the head from the front edge of the
eyes, the distance from that. to the point of the nose, vrill be
the same or even longer than that between the edges of the
eyeUds in front, and one and a half times as long as the
distance between the nostrils.
In the R. Temporania, this is quite different. In the
latter the long toe on the hind foot has two joints protrud
ing from the web; in the R. Arvalis always two and a half
or three. Has been taken in many places in Sweden as far up as
Upsala. In the summer is principaUy found in grass fields
and among potatoes.

463 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
11. R. EscuLENTA (Schinz nee Lin.) AtUg Groda.
Colour greenish, vrith black spots, and a long yeUow
streak down the back ; only one joint of the long hind
toe protrudes beyond the web ; length of the head and
body 3 in., of the fore legs If in. ; hind legs 4f in.
I question whether this species was known to Linne as
Swedish. It is certain that the B. Esculenta, described in his
"Fauna Suecica" as found in Smaland, is nothing more than
R. Temporania. It is very rare in Sweden, and confined only
to two or three places in the south. Appears to have been
identified some thirty-five years ago by Professor Retzius.
Gen. Bombinator, Merr.
Tympanum of the ear hidden; tongue grown to the
mouth throughout the whole of its under side ; body covered
vrith warts ; hind toes joined together with a whole web to
their very ends. Appear to form a link between the frogs
and the, toads, and Uve principally in water.
12. BoMBiNATOE IGNEUS, Merr. Klock Groda.
Grey-brown above, or dirty oUve green ; below red
dish yellow, -with blue spots. Is the least of aU the
frogs here, rarely exceeding If in. in length ; hind legs
about 2 in.
This curious Uttle frog appears to have been introduced
into Denmark about the same time as the carp, by one Peder
Oxe, and to this day, in some places in Scania, they go by
the narae of Peder Oxe's frog. Their note in the pairing
season strongly reserables the ringing of bells. As this sound
proceeds frora the depth of the water, it appears to come
from a long distance, although the frog may be within a few
fathoms. Linne, in his " Journey through Skane," remarks
that the "korn grodoma" croaked in the afternoon as if we
heard large bells ringing at a distance of half a mUe (Swed
ish), although they were close to us in the pools. They
seeraed to be unusually vociferous, and I could well fancy
that I listened to many church-beUs aU ringing together on
a Sunday. I wonder that no one acclimatizes them, in

EEPTILES. 463
order to hear nature's harmony in a concert of frogs."
In the autumn they are often seen on land, and their motions
are as Uvely as those of the common frog.
Gen. Pelobates, Wagl.
Tympanum hidden ; tongue only grown fast on the front
half; body covered vrith warts above, below smooth ; hind
toes wholly webbed; under the root of the innermost toe a
large compressed grisly knob.
13. Pelobates euscus, Wagl. Lok Groda.
Irregularly spotted vrith brown and grey ; a streak
of the latter colour down the back ; usual length 2 in.
4 1. ; hind leg 3 in. ; fore leg 1 in. 4 1.
Might easUy be confounded vrith Bufo variabilis, for
both are of the same colour, but in P. fuscus the pale
grey colour forms bregular longitudinal bands in the green-
brown colour, and one of these bands stretches over the
anus and hinder part of the back. The front part of the
back is covered vrith bregular large spots, the hinder part
vrith smaU. Female always larger than the raale.
Is confined to the south of Sweden, but probably more
vridely spread there than has hitherto been supposed.
This frog differs from aU the others in emitting a
strong smeU of white onions, especially when irritated,
whence its Swedish name of 16k, or onion frog.
The foUovring anecdote, by Professor Wahlgren, might
be read vrith advantage by those marvel-mongers who are so
fond of retaUing anecdotes of Uve toads being found im
bedded in stone, etc. : — " As a proof how easily those who
are but Uttle acquainted vrith zoology may regard as a
miracle that which proceeds from very natural causes, I will
just name that, in digging for the gas works in Helsingborg,
in July, last year, at a depth of sixteen to eighteen feet,
first a common toad was found, and the next day two bufo
calamita and one pelobates fuscus, all Uving. AU fancied
that these animals had lain there buried time out of mind.
The lucky finder described the cbcumstance in the news
papers as something like a miracle, vrith the addition that

464 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN,
the animals had neither mouths or eyes. The last found
example came into my possession; it was weU fed and
Uvely, and had its stomach filled with fragments oiha/rpulus
ruflcorni's, etc. It was clear that these animals, during
theb nightly wanderings, had fallen into the deep pit, and
at daybreak had buried theraselves in the loose sand at the
bottom, where they were found by the workmen. It appears
to me very probable that many such wonderful histories
could be explained, if they were only investigated by any
one versed in natural history."
I quite agree with the Professor, and vrithout altogether
denying that the frog or the toad are able to exist for a
length of time in situations which would be speedy graves
to the higher organized animals, I must say, that if any
one who rushes into print vrith anecdotes of this or the like
kind, would only give himself the trouble to investigate a
few of the facts connected with the main incident which he
regards as so marvellous, and state them as weU, the study
of natural history would be shorn of half its mysteries,
Fam, 2, — BuP0NiD.a!. Toads.
No teeth in either of the jaws ; hind legs a very Uttle
longer than the fore ones, so that they creep instead of
hopping. Gen. Bufo, Laur.
Body above strewed vrith warty excrescences ; tympanum
visible ; the web on the hinder toes indented at the edges ;
tongue free on the hinder portion ; no teeth.
14. BuEO VULGAEIS, Laur. VanUg Padda, The Common
Toad,
Body thickly covered vrith warts; colour dark or
greyish brown, with irregular black spots ; hinder
toes half webbed. Is the largest of all the Swedish
batrachioe, frequently 3f in. long and 2f in. broad.
The common toad differs at a glance from the Bufo cala
mita, on account of its raore than half webbed feet ; from B.
variabilis, on account of its more risible tympanum, and

EEPTILES. 465
from both on account of its oblong rather crooked ear
swelling. Is found in many places both in Sweden and Nor
way, but it is not clearly ascertained how far north it
goes. I never saw one in Lapland, although frogs were
plentiful. 15. B. Vaeiabilis, Merr. Gronflackig Padda.
Body covered with warts ; ear-knob large, flat, ob
long; tympanura very apparent; hinder toes half
webbed ; flfth much shorter than the bottom joint of
the first ; in the common toad it is of an equal length ;
colour above green, with white streaks ; below white,
vrith irregular spots on the breast; length about
3 in.
Is met -with in the south of Sweden ; in raany places as
common as the last.
Bibron has decided that this is nothing more than a
variety in colour of the natter jack {B. Calamita), and I think
so myself.
16. B. Calamita, Laur. Stink Padda. The Natter Jack.
Body ohve green above, covered with warts ; a smooth
yellow streak along the middle of the back to the anal
opening; length to anus 2f in., to the point of the
longest toe 5 in.
Nilsson remarks that there is a great reserablance be
tween this and the last , but in the natter jack the hand
inwardly is rough with warts thickly placed together ; points
of the toes hard and brown ; first like fourth, thbd a little
longer, second longest. In B. variabilis the warts on the
hand are neither so close together nor so high ; the tips
of the toes of the sarae colour as the toes ; thbd like the
fourth, and shortish, second longest.
These certainly, if constant, would seera to constitute
specffic differences, but I think they are too slight to be
relied upon. Is met with in many tracts in the south of
Sweden. 30

466 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Ueodela. — Amphibia with Tails.
Body elongated, nearly round ; reserable the Uzards in
shape, but their skin is naked, vrithout either scales or
plates ; they have teeth in both jaws, and two rows on the
vomer. Fam. 3. — Teiton, Laur. Newts.
Tail (at least on the outer extremity) compressed at the
sides ; no porous swelling behind ; the eyes as in the last.
The raale has, during the breeding season, a fin-Uke crest on
the back and taU, and a flap of skin on the upper lip ; front
toes four, back toes five.
17. Teiton ceistatus, Laur. Storre Vatten Odla. The
Coraraon Warty Newt.
Skin granulated ; colour above greenish black, covered
with raore or less distinct black spots ; breast and beUy
bright orange yellow, vrith large round black spots;
sides strewed with white spots ; the lateral comb in
the raale broken over the loins, and deeply serrated.
The female during the breeding season has a very slight
dorsal ridge ; length 5 in. 4 1., of which the tail is
2 m. 1 1.
Is not uncommon certainly in the middle and south of
Sweden. I cannot say how far north it goes, but I never
met vrith a newt of any kind in Lapland.
1 8. T. Alpesteis, Laur. Brunn Odla.
Skin granulated ; colour above slate ; below reddish
yellow, with a row of black spots along each side of the
belly ; usual length 4f in.
Has as yet only been raet with in one place in Scandi
navia. Not far frora Landekrona, in the south.
I have heard it doubted whether this is anything more
than a variety of the last. Bonaparte, Bibron, Dumerel,
and Schinz consider it a good and distinct species, but I
believe Swedish naturalists are now decided that it is not so.
19. T. PuNCTATUs, Cuv. Mindre Vatten Odla. Common
Smooth Newt.

EEPTILES. 467
Skin smooth; above pale bro-wn or dark; below
whitish or yeUowish red, bestrewed vrith round black
spots; and on the sides of the head streaked. The
comb in the male unbroken, and the hind toe edged
-vrith a web. Length 3 in. 4 1., of which the tail is 1 in. 5 1.
Is quite as comraon in the middle and south of Sweden
as the comraon warty newt.
Nilsson remarks that Professor BeU, in his handsome work
on the British reptUes, has described two distinct species
of newts vrith smooth skins, which he characterizes by the
upper Up being straight in the one, and -with a skin hanging
over the under Up in the other. In the former the hind toes
are round, in the latter edged with a short web. I may here
remark that in our T. Pmictatus the upper Up is furnished
vrith such a skin lap in the breeding season, when the back
is ornamented vrith a high serrated comb, and the hind toe
edged vrith a skin. All these skin laps disappear frora the
back, the upper lip, and the hind toe, after the breeding
season is over. I have specimens in which the Up skin is
present on one side and wanting on the other. It is certain,
therefore, that if BeU's two species are distinct, sorae
other specific distinction raust be found. The sarae remark
may perhaps hold good respecting T. Cristatus and T.
Brebonii. There is so Uttle difference between the reptUes of Scan
dinaria, Denmark, and Finland, that one Ust may almost
suffice for the three countries. The principal difference Ues
in the number of individuals of the different species foundin
either country.

CLASS IV.— PISCES.

[Note. — In the foUovring list of the fish found in the
waters of Scandinaria, Denmark, and Finland, the arrange
ment, ray formulse, and colour, is strictly after Nilsson.J
I.— OSTEROPTERTGII. Skeleton bony.
AOANTHOPTEEYGII.
All the fin rays single, vrithout joints. The first portion
of the dorsal fin, or the whole, when two are present, vrith
spinous rays ; and also the anals and the ventrals, with one
or more of the anterior rays spiny. The rays on the first
dorsal whole, single, generally sharp.
Fam. 1. — Peecidje.
Cheeks soft; margins of the opercle and preopercle
(generally both) serrated, or armed with spines ; jaws and
vomer with teeth. The anterior rays of the anal fin spiny,
and generally one spine in each ventral.
1. Ventrals under the Pectorals, a. Two dorsals.
Gen. Perca, L.
Body oblong; back arched; scales large and hard;
opercle arraed vrith a single spine ; preopercle dentate ;
opercle vrithout scales ; tongue without teeth.
1. Pbeca eluvlatilis, L. Abborre. The Perch. D. F.
Coramon in aU the Scandinavian waters, at least as
far up as 69° north lat. Varies rauch in colour, depen
dent on the water ; but the five dusky transverse bands

PISHES. 469
on the sides, and the black spot on the dorsal, always
present. Attains a large size here, a perch of 6 lb.
not being uncoraraon ; spawns in May ; frequents brack
ish as weU as fresh waters.
Mn iJay Formula.
D. 15—1,14; p. 14; V. 1,5; A. 2,8; C. 17.*
The fin ray formula in all fish is subject to much variation,
and can never be closely rehed upon as a mark of distinction.
Gen. Labrax, Cuv.
Opercle scaled, vrith two spines ; teeth on the tongue ;
sea-fish.2. P. Labeax, Cuv. Hafs Abborre. The Basse. D.
Sides silvery, without trans-verse bands ; no spot on
the dorsal ; body longer, and back not so high, as in
the perch. The largest example recorded to have been
taken in these seas was 131 in. long, and weighed If lb.
Theb usual size in more southern seas is 18 in., but
they often reach 2 ft. and over. D. 9 — 1,12; P. 16;
B.1,5; A. 3,11; C. 17.
Is a very rare fish in these seas, and has hitherto only
been accidentally taken off the southern coast of Norway,
and once in the Sound. Gen. Lucioperca, Cuv.
Body elongated, raore reserabUng the pike than the
perch ; opercle vrithout spines ; preopercle serrated ; teeth on
the voraer ; sides silvery white, with dark spots or trans
verse bands. Fresh waters.
3. LUCIOPBECA SANDEA, CuV. GoS. D. P.
Colour greenish brown ; sides silvery ; sides of the
back raarked vrith ten to twelve transverse bands.
Common in many of the Swedish fresh waters, which are
* The formula for the fins of fish are explained thus : — D. means dorsal
fin; P., pectoral; V., ventral; A., anal; C, caudal; Br., the small fin, or
fins sometimes attached to the bones of the operculum, or gUl cover. The
numbers express the rays, spinous or soft, thus — 15, means 15 hard rays ;
15,4, means 15 hard and 4 soft rays ; V. 3,5, means ventral, 3 hard and 5
soft raye.

470 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
deep and clear up to 66° north lat., but is not known in
Norway. A ravenous fish; takes a bait freely, but
must be fished for deep ; attains a large size ; 11 to
12 lb. not uncomraon; said occasionaUy to reach 20 lb.
The flesh is white, firm, and excellent eating; but
should be cooked dbectly the fish is taken from the
water. Spawns in May ; the roe is very smaU, and, as
well as the young fish, extremely difficult to transport.
D. 15—2,22 ; P. 15 ; V. 1,6 ; A. 2,12 ; C. 17.
b. One single dorsal fin.
Gen. Acerina, Cuv.
SmaU fresh- water fish, resembUng a young perch ; head
naked, deeply pitted vrith small holes ; colour olivaceous,
spotted all over with rainute black dots on the body and fins.
4. AcBEiNA VULGAEIS, Cuv. Gors. The Ruffe. D. P.
Is coramon in raost Scandinavian waters, up to vrithin
the Polar circle ; but rare in the south. I have seen
speciraens 7 to 8 in. Spawns in May. D. 16,12; P. 13;
V. 1,5; A. 2,5; C. 17.
Gen. Polyprion, Cuv.
Sea-fish, resembUng gigantic overgrown perches; head
rough and spinous ; a spiny ridge traverses the opercle ;
eleven spiny rays in the dorsal ; preopercle vrith teeth and
spines on the margin.
5. PoLYPEiON CBENiuM, Cuv. and Val. The Stone Bass.
Form of body Uke the tench; scales covering the
body and head, small, hardy, and rough.
The largest of the family in southern seas ; said to attain
a length of six feet, and a weight of 100 lb. Has only once
been taken on any Scandinarian coast, off Bergen, in Nor
way, in July, 1843. This specimen was 19 in. long; colour
when just taken, blue-grey above, sUvery white underneath;
tail edged -vrith white; sides and belly sUvery white; fins
blackish blue ; iris silvery. Br. 7 ; D. 11,12 ; P. 17 ; V. 1,5 ;
A. 3,9; C.17.

FISHES. 471
Gen. Beryx, Cuv.
Body high and short, nearly rhoraboidical ; head occu
pying one-fourth of the length, arraed with spines; eyes
extremely large ; dorsal short, nearly hidden ; scales large,
hard, serrated ; gape very wide.
6. Beetx boeealis, Dum. and Kor.
The only known exaraple of this fish was taken off
Bergen in May, 1839, and is preserved in the museura there.
Nilsson gives us the specific characters : — " Head in
front arraed vrith six spines, of which two are on the side of
the neck, two on the top of the nose, and two on its sides ;
colour deep red on the back, sides, and beUy, shifting to a
bright sUvery hue, vrith a reddish tinge." Fins bright red.
This specimen was 12 in. long, 4 in. high. Br. 8. ; D. 4,18 ;
P. 16; V. 1,10; A. 4,27; G.S,+ 20 + 4.
Nothing appears to be known of the habits of this rare
fish. 2. Ventrals before the Pectorals.
Gen. Trachinus, L.
Body long and straight, the height one-sixth of the
length ; two dorsals, first short and high, vrith spiny rays,
the hinder as weU as the anal very long ; two short spines in
front of the eyes ; scales sraall and sraooth, running down
the sides in obUque Unes ; sea fish ; head not mailed.
7. Teachinus deaco, Cuv. VanUg (the Common), Fjarsing.
The Great Weaver. D.
Colour very handsome in the living fish ; eye sUver
white ; sides of the head azure blue, with crooked yel
low bands ; a black spot on the first dorsal, the second
white and green ; sides brown-grey, with blue, white,
and yeUow streaks ; anal fin rose-red ; taU grey-brown,
with grey spots. Br. 6; D. 6—30; P. 15; V. 1,5;
A. 1,30.
Tolerably common on aU the western Scandinavian coasts,
and also in the south of Norway, but it is not known how far
north they go. Specimens of from 12 to 15 tn. are not un
common.

472 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
The spines of this fish are certainly poisonous, and a
wound from one is attended with unpleasant effects. As
olive oil is applied to a snake bite, so the fishermen on these
coasts look upon the oil from the Uver of the northern chi-
raaera as an infalhble remedy against the sting of the weaver.
Couch's figure of the greater weaver does not represent
the fish half so handsome as I have seen it on these coasts.
The little weaver {T. Vipera, Cuv.), which may always be
known by its smaller size, and the shorter hinder dorsal and
anal fins, with only about twenty-four rays in each, has not
as yet been identified in these seas.
3. Ventrals beneath the Pectorals.
Gen. Mullus, L.
Body thick ; head large, vrith a sloping forehead ; two
long appendages under chin; mouth sraall; opercle and
preopercle, smooth on the margin ; head maUed.
8. Mullus suemuletus, L. Gulstrimmig Mullus. The Sur
mullet. D.
Is only occasionally taken off the southem coast; never
higher than Christiania, and rarely exceeds 8 in. in length ;
body colour red, with three longitudinal yeUow stripes along
the sides ; forehead sloping, not vertical. D. 8 — -1,8 ;
A. 1,7; P. 17; V. 1,5; C. 16.
Fam. 2. — Scoepcenoidbi.
Head arraed with plates of raail ; no barbules under the
chin ; otherwise, this faraily much reserables the last.
Gen. Trigla, L.
Body long, covered -with very small scales ; head large ;
forehead sloping; two dorsals, the first very high and
pointed. But the best distinguishing mark of this genus are
the three long finger-Uke detached rays in front of the long
pectorals. 9. Teigla guenaedus, BI. VanUg Gnoding, The Grey
Gurnard. D.

FISHES. 473
Is the commonest of all the gurnards on these coasts,
more especiaUy in the Cattegat Sound and South Baltic
and on the west coast of Norway. Goes far up within
the Polar circle ; yet, strange to say, not a single
species of gurnard is met vrith on the coasts of Finland.
This gurnard may be known frora any other by the grey
colour of the back, covered -vrith smaU yeUow spots ; sides
below the sharp lateral line pink and yellow ; the fin rays
in the pectorals shorter than the head, and do not reach back
to the anus ; usual length 12 to 14 in. D. 8—19 ; P. 3,10 ;
V. 1,6; A. 19; C. 13.
10. T. Blochii, Yarr. Gnoding Med Ryggen Flack.
Bloch's Gurnard. D.
Whatever obscurity raay rest on the identity of Bloch's
fish, the Swedish species, as described by Nilsson, agrees
with YarreU's description of Bloch's Gurnard, and one
of his distinguishing raarks is the dark spot between
the third and sixth rays of the first dorsal. This spot
must not, however, be reUed upon as a safe or constant
mark of distinction, and is not even noticed by Couch in
his description of Bloch's gurnard.
NUsson dees not appear quite satisfied that this is a good
species, but fancies that it may be the young of the last. It
may, however, be always distinguished from the adult grey
gurnard, which it closely resembles, by the first three spines
in the foremost dorsal being quite sraooth, and frora the
British red gurnard, which it resembles in colour, by the
serrated lateral line.
Nilsson does not tell us the comparative length of the
first ray in the foremost dorsal ; he only says, in describing
his specimen, which was 8 in. long, that the length of the
head to the point of the opercular spine was as 3f in the
whole length of the fish, and the greatest height occu
pied about f in the length to the tail root. The longest
ray in the first dorsal is rather more than f of the body
height. This description hardly seems to agree with Couch's
figure of the British Bloch's gurnard.

474 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Is not so very rare on the south-western coast of Sweden,
but seldom exceeds 8 in. in length.
II. T. HiEUNDO, BI. Stor Fenad (large-finned) Gnoding.
The Sappherine Gurnard. D.
May always be known by the soft lateral line, and
the immense broad pectorals, reaching back beyond
the vent, which on sorae of these coasts have obtained
for it the narae of the "flygflsk," or flying flsh. Is
sometimes taken here as long as two feet. Colour
varies, dull brown to red, streaked -vrith yellow; pec
torals edged vrith blue. I may here remark that I fancy
many of the different fish in these waters are not so
highly coloured as their representatives in more south
em seas. D. 8—16; P. 3,11 ; V. 1,6 ; A. 16; C. 12.
Cannot be caUed common in any of the Scandinarian
seas, but most so in the Cattegat and Sound. Spa-wnsinthe
end of July. Gen. Cottus, L.
SmaU, duU coloured fish, Uving on the bottom ; head
soft, not mailed, more or less arraed; body naked; two
dorsals.
12. Cottus Gobio, L. Stensimpa. The River Bullhead. P.
Opercle smooth; preopercle armed vrith a single
spine. Coraraon throughout Scandina-ria, as weU in
brackish as fresh water. Appears to go far north, for
it is met vrith both in the bays of Finland and Lulea
Lapland ; but, strange to say, does not appear to be
known either in the south of Sweden or Denmark. Are
said to Uve in monogamy, and spawn in the spring.
Usual length 4 to 5 in. ; colour varies, brown-green,
mottled with dark brown. D. 7—18 ; A. 14 ; V. 1,4 ;
P. 14; C.ll.
13. C. PcECiLOPUS, Heck. Stensimpa Med Flackiga Buk
Fenor (-vrith spotted pectorals) .
This species in size, colour, number of fin rays, and

FISHES. 475
appearance, much resembles the last, from which, how
ever, it differs in haring two spines on the preopercle,
and a transverse band of dark spots on the ventrals.
Is occasionally taken in brackish water off the Stock
holm coast, and Widigren includes it in his Ust of fish met
vrith in Laggat Trask (fresh water), near Quickiock, Lulea
Lapland, but it has never been identffied in the south of
Norway or Sweden.
14. C. ScoEPius, L. Rot Simpa. The Father Lasher.
D. F.
The largest of all the bull-heads. Met vrith only
in salt water; frequently attains the length of one
foot ; two erect spines before the eyes ; preopercle with
three spines, the longest of which does not reach the
point of the longest spine in the opercle ; colour green ;
lateral Une soft. D. 10—14; P. 15; V. 1,4; A. 11.
Is common on aU the Scandinarian coasts, and found
not only in the Bothnia, but even in the Polar Ocean, from
Waranger Fjord to the White Sea. Spawns here in the end
of autumn; and, from the cbcumstance of one's seeing scarcely
one male to ten females, in the shoals that come on to the
coasts at this time, Ekstrora fancies that the roe is fructified
before the female deposits it.
15. C. BuBALis, Euph. Dverg Simpa. The Four-spined
Father Lasher. D. F.
Much resembles the last, -vrith which it tUl lately has
been confounded. According to Nilsson, however, it
is much smaUer, as he says he has never here seen a
specimen exceeding 6f in. in length. The colour is
more brUUant than in the father lasher. It has, raore
over, three great spines before the eyes and four on the
preopercle, the longest of which reaches as far back as
the longest spine in the opercle. There is also some
difference in the fin ray formula. D. 7 — 12 ; P. 14 ;
V. 1,3 ; A. 9.
Is met vrith in all the Scandinavian seas, from the Sound
to far up on the coast of Norway, but is not included in

476 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Widigren's list of fish in Lulea Lapland. Said to spawn
late in Noveraber or Deceraber, but the season is probably
regulated by the age of the fish.
16. C. Teicuspis, Reinh. Tagg Grenig Sirapa. F.
Reserables the father lasher rauch in shape and colour,
but is smaller ; the head shorter ; the body more elon
gated ; preopercle with four spines, the longest of which
has two points. The lateral line is soft, and there is a
difference in the fin ray forraula. No teeth on the
vomer. Length 8 in. to 9 in. D. 11—16; P. 18;
V. 1,3; A. 18.
Speciraens of a cottus exactly agreeing vrith the C. tricus-
pis, Reinh., have been taken by LUjeborg near the North
Cape, and the Finnish speciraens are mentioned by Malm
gren as coming frora the shores of the White Sea.
17. C. QuADEicoENis, Cuv. Horn Simpa. The Four-horned
Cottus. F.
In appearance more resembles the last than any other
of the faraily, for it is more slender and elongated than
the father lasher ; but it raay easily be distinguished from
either by the four large tubercles on the top of the head
and the rough warts on the sides of the body. D. 8 —
14; P. 17; V. 1,3; A. 14; C. 11.
Is principally confined to the middle and north of the
Baltic, and as far as Lulea Lapland, where they go far
up into rivers. Attains a length of 8 in. Is also met vrith
in Lake Ladoga, Finland. There is a smaller variety, rarely
more than 6 in., met -vrith in the Lake Wetter, in Sweden,
in which the tubercles are smaller and more blunt, the warts
on the body fewer, and the eyes larger. Spawns in Decem
ber and January.
In all this genus the male may be known from the female
by its more slender shape and longer fins. The anus lies in
the foremost half of the body; the ventrals, when laid back,
reach to the anus, and the dorsal fin beyond the root of the
tail. In the female the abdomen is more protuberant, the

FISHES. 477
anus lies in the hinder dirision of the body, and the fins
are shorter. Gen. Aspidophorus.
Head maUed, depressed ; spines on the nose ; body
covered vrith polygonal scaly plates; two dorsals, close
together. 18. Aspidophoeus catapheactus, NUss. VanUg Botten Mus.
The Arraed Bull-head. D. F.
Is raet with, according to Nilsson, on all the Scandi
narian shores, frora the Cattegat up to Waranger Fjord,
near the North Cape ; but is not included in Widigren's
list of the fishes of Lulea Lapland. Length about 7 in.
Spawns in the end of April. Colour brown-grey, spotted
on the sides ; belly white ; fins speckled. Length 5 in.
to 7 in. D. 5—7 ; P. 15 ; V. 1,2 ; A. 7.
Gen. Sebastes, Cuv.
All large sea-fish ; shaped like the perch ; head and body
compressed ; a few small spines ; no tubercles on the back
of the head, which is scaly ; eye very large ; opercle and
preopercle spinous. One long dorsal ; the front dirision
spinous ; the latter shorter and higher than the other, with
weak rays.
19. Sebastes Noevegicus, Cuv. Norsk Kung Fisk. The
Bergylt. D. P.
Is taken occasionally on the coasts of Norrland, in
Waranger Fjord, three feet in length. Its principal
home appears to be vrithin the Polar circle, and it rarely
comes south, although sraall speciraens are occasionaUy
taken both in the Cattegat and Sound. Nilsson re
raarks that it is not iraprobable that the larger form of
bergylt, which is taken off Lofoden, 3 ft. long, and
there caUed " stor vern," raay probably prove to be a
distinct species. It is supposed here that an actual
copulation takes place between the two sexes, and that
the mother brings forth Uving young in June, which

478 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
follow her for a long time. This larger form is always
found in deep water, 150 fathoms or so, whereas the
smaUer one is principally taken off the coasts of Heli-
goland, and on hooks baited vrith the gadus esma/rkii^
(sma seg) and herring, in the summer, at a depth of
sixty to eighty fathoms. The flesh of the bergylt is
said to be deUcious. Colour vermilion-red ; eyes bright
yellow ; forehead between the eyes flat ; its breadth
equal to f in one eye diameter ; pectorals oval, thin ;
lower eight rays single, all joined by a web nearly to
the tips. Usual length of the southern specimens 18 in,
to 2 ft. It is singular that very sraall speciraens of
this flsh (under 8 in.) are even seen off these coasts,
D. 15,14 ; P, 19 ; V. 19 ; A. 3,8 ; C. 16.
There is a sraaUer form in these seas, which Kroyer and
Ekstrom both think is a distinct species, but which Nilsson
considers only as a younger form of the common bergylt.
Gen. Sebastes viviparus, Ejroy.
Pale reddish yellow, with a black spot on the tip of the
opercle, and a few indistinct dark spots on the sides of the
back. The points of the pectorals can reach back to the
anus. Length 8 in. to 10 in.
The fin ray formula in both is much the same.
20. S. Dacttloptbeus, De la Roche. Bla Munt (blue-
mouthed) Kungs Fisk.
Has never yet been met vrith out of the Mediter
ranean (where it appears to be comraon), except on the
west coast of Norway, where it goes as far up as Heli
goland. It is always in deep water, and its Norwegian
narae of " skjar ver " proves that here, as weU as in the
Mediterranean, it is principaUy found on rocky bottoms.
This species differs from the last in the narrower fore
head, in the rays of the pectorals being only haff-
covered with a web, a different fin ray formula, and
by the hinder part of the mouth being deep blue. Fore
head between the eyes deeply furrowed, its breadth

FISHES. 479
being equal only to one-third of an eye diameter.
Colour bright red ; rauch paler on the belly than the
sides, with three indistinct dark bands. The largest
specimen seen by NUsson was taken off Bergen, and
was 14 in. long. D. 12,13; P. 19; V. 1,5; A. 3,5; C.13.
Gen. Gasterosteus, L.
Small dull-looking fish, Uving as weU in salt as fresh
water ; head and body much compressed ; head with spines
or tubercles ; body covered raore or less vrith shield-like
plates ; several free sharp spines on the back, instead of a
first dorsal ; ventrals reduced to a single spine.
21. Gasteeosteus aculeatus, L. Tretaggad Spigg. The
Three-spined Stickle-back. D. F.
Assuming, as I believe is now the general opinion,
that the rough-tailed stickle-back {G. trachurus, Cuv.),
the half-armed stickle-back {G. gymnurus, Cuv.), and
the short-spined stickle-back {G. brachycentrus, Cuv.),
are nothing more than three varieties of the coraraon
three-spined stickle-back {G. aculeatus, L.), we raay
observe that one or other form is met vrith in most of
the Scandinarian waters, both brackish and fresh, from
the very south of Sweden up to far vrithin the Polar
circle. They appear to assume their red marital colour
ing in May, are in high colour in the end of June, and
even in the beginning of August. The usual length here
2f in. Three free rays on the back. D. 12 ; P. 10 ; A 1,8.
22. G. Pungitius, L. Tio Taggad Spigg. The Ten-spined
Stickle-back. D. F.
¦ Is as generally dispersed in these waters as the last,
with which it associates, but is no where so common.
Usual length If to 2 in.
Noticing Mr. Newman's remarks on the Scandinarian
species (quoted by Couch), and which, as Newman properly
observes, is figured by Ekstrora in his raagnificent work on
the Scandinavian fishes, " with only nine spines on the back,
and with a red colour on the gills and breast," I may add.

480 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
that this is clearly identical vrith the British fish, and that
the number of ten dorsal spines, frora which the fish derives
its name, is by no means constant, for I have myself taken
out of the same shoals examples vrith eight, nine, and ten
spines, and Ekstrom himself reraarks in the beginning of
his description, " Through eight to ten free spines on the
back, this species differs from the foregoing ;" and in de
scribing the suramer dress, he says : " The whole of the
upper part of the body very olive green, under parts paler
green, vrith a yeUow tinge, which under the head and at
the roots of the pectorals becoraes more ruddy." Widigren
obser-ves : " Is often found vrith but seven spines."
Ekstrom' s figure was frora a fish taken at Haparanda in
June. It was a large specimen, in full sumraer tints.
Gen. Spinachia, Cuv.
Ventrals with two soft rays ; lateral line arraed with
large carinated scales ; body five-cornered to the anus; head
not unlike the pike.
23. Spinachla -VULGAEIS, Cuv. Tang Spigg. The Fifteen-
spined Stickle-back. D. F.
Fffteen free spines on the back ; the largest of the
genus 6 in. long ; confined to the sea ; frequent most
of the Scandinarian coasts, the Cattegat, Baltic,
and North Sea; very rare in Finland, and not men
tioned in Widigren's list of fishes met vrith in Lulea
Lapland. Fam. 3. — SciiENin^.
Bones of the head and face deeply pitted ; two dorsals ;
preopercle serrated ; opercle vrith spines ; no teeth on the
vomer or palatines. Gen. Scicena, Cuv.
A row of strong pointed teeth in each jaw ; anal fin, vrith
only one small spine; no barbule under the chin, as in
the umbrina which the scicena much resembles ; large
sea fishes ; two dorsals, the first spurious ; scales large ;
more like the chub in the shape of the body than the perch.

FISHES. 481
24. ScLaiNA Aquila, Cuv. Hafs Gos. The Maigre.
The colour of the Scandinarian species, as described
by Nilsson, " silver grey -white underneath ; back
brownish; fins red-brown," is so much plainer than
in the Mediterranean fish, that, as Couch observes,
it seems to afford a proof that a change of water or
season vrill materially modify the appearance, as we
know to be the case, indeed, vrith raany other fishes.
Only one specimen of this fish has as yet been added to
the Scandinavian fauna, and this was washed ashore in Lands-
krona, in the south cjf Sweden, December 24, 1852. It was
five feet long, weighing seventy-two pounds.
Fam. 4. — SPAEiDiE.
In form resembUng the fresh-water breams, but with spiny
rays in the long single dorsal fin. Cheeks soft ; edges of all
the giU covers without teeth or spines; no teeth on the
palate ; body oval, corapressed, covered vrith large scales ;
no scales on the vertical fins ; anal very short, with three
spiny rays. Gen. Pagellus, Cuv.
All the front teeth fine and card like; molars smaU,
in two or more rows.
25. Pagbllus Centeodontus, Cuv. PageU Med Flack. The
Common Sea Bream. D.
Has much the forra of the fresh water rudd ; body
height about one-third of the length; colour reddish, with
alarge black spot on the coramenceraentof the lateral line,
which, however, is not apparent in the younger fish, or
"chads" of about 6 in. long (Couch) ; attains a length
here of 18 in. Br. 6 ; D. 12,13 ; A. 3,12 ; P. 17 ; V. 1,5 ;
C. 18.
Appears to be the most common of aU the species here,
as every where else. Is occasionaUy taken off the southern
coasts both of Sweden and Norway, principally in the
summer.

482 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Cantharus, Cuv.
Except that the body is thicker, and the teeth are
different, this genus much resembles the last. The teeth,
however, are all crowded together ; the head is larger, and
the form of the body not so neat.
26. Canthaeus Geiseus, Cuv. Gra Hafs Ruda. The
Black Sea Bream.
Colour subject to variation, but never red like the
last ; the back is generally green ; body with a reddish
yellow tinge, marked with irregular brown lines.
D. 11,12; P. 16; V. 1,5; A. 3,10; C.17.
Is occasionally taken off the south-west coasts of Sweden
and Norway; never, however, exceeding 16 in.
Fam. 6. — Squamipbnnes.
Form of body and character as in the last, but the dorsal
and anal fins are closely covered with scales.
Gen. Brama, BI.
The single dorsal and anals very long, covered vrith
scales, and with but few spinous rays ; card-like teeth on the
jaws and palatines ; the number of vertical rows of scales
on the body about thirty-four.
27. Beama Rayii, BI. Siffver Gra Hafs Braxen. The
Toothed Gilt Head. Ray's Sea Bream. D.
The peculiar shape of this fish wiU at once distmguish
it from the other sea breams. Body corapressed very
deep ; the greatest height almost equal to half of the
body length to the root of the tail; its thickness a
quarter of its height, tapering off very slender to the
root of the long curved tail ; and, unlike any other sea
bream, the dorsal and anal fins comraence -vrith a high
point, formed by the elevation of the first rays ; head
small, very much sloping in front; nose short; eye
large ; colour, back brown-grey ; sides sUver grey ;
beUy white ; iris black, with a yeUow ring round the
pupU. Br. 7 ; D. 4,32 ; P. 20 ; V. 1,5 ; A. 2,28 ; 0. 20.

FISHES. 483
Nilsson notices five speciraens, which have been taken
off the coast of Sweden up to 1850, and also says that
others have been taken off Chistiania and Bergen in Norway.
The length of his described specimen was 24 in., and it
weighed 6 lb. Gen. Pterycombus. Fries.
Dorsal and anal fins bare of scales ; scales of body rauch
larger; the nuraber of vertical scale rows being only
eighteen.28. Ptbetcombus Beama, Fries.
Very rauch resembles the last, but besides the above-
mentioned generic differences, the shape of the forehead
is widely different, and the dorsals and anal fins set in a
deep furrow, with a high ridge of large scales on each
side. The colour could not be noticed, as the skin was
dry and mutUated. Br. 7; D.46; P. 20; V. 1,5; A. 40;
C. 20.
The only known specimen of this fish is preserved in the
Stockholm museum. It was brought down frora Hammerfest,
in Norway, by a sea captain in 1832. It was caught close
to that town, where such a fish had never been seen before.
Its length 19 in; 8 in. high; length of the head 4 in.
Mr. Couch, to whom I sent my translation of NUsson's
fishes, which he frequently refers to in his new work of
"British Fishes," in describing the Ray's sea bream re
marks : " So deeply impressed on my raind was the opinion of
the probabiUty that two specimens, which might have been
supposed examples of the Brama Rayii, were in reaUty of
different species, that I ventured to coraraunieate to a local
society of natural history of Penzance, a paper on the
subject -vrith figures, and the opinion thus formed has
received some support from the observations of two eminent
naturaUsts of Sweden, whose eridence wiU be reproduced
at sorae length." He first describes Brama Bayii from a
British specimen of 23 in. long, and then describes Fries'
pterycombus brama as I have done, and then he adds : " How
much of the discrepancy between this description and that

484 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
which I shall proceed to give of an exaraple taken in Com
wall (figured below), can be ascribed to the confessedly
mutilated condition of the northern fish, vrill only be a
matter of opinion, but if finally it should be decided that
they are only variations of one species, they forra a new-
and reraarkable portion of the history of this curious
fish." He then proceeds to describe the Cornish specimen
which was 17 in. long and 5-i- in. deep, exclusive of the fins.
His general description agrees in the raain with Nilsson's,
but he notices nothing of the peculiar position of the dorsal
and anal fins. It is, I beUeve, the opinion of the northern
icthyologists that this is a good and distinct species.
Fam. 6. — ScoMBEiDiE.
Gen. Scomber, L.
Number of Unlets in front of the dorsal and anal fins five
in each case, wide apart.
29. ScoMBEK ScoMBEUS, L. MackrUl. The Mackerel. D.
Is very coraraon off the south-west coasts both of
Sweden and Norway; rarer in the Sound and Baltic, where
it is never raet with in shoals, always as single indivi
duals. The best fishery off these coasts is in the end of
May or June, when the large shoals corae in from their
vrinter quarters in the depths of the North Sea into shaUower
water to spawn.
Referring to the coloured engrarings of this fish both in
Bkstrom's " Scandinavian Fishes " and Couch's " British
Fishes," there is so marked a difference not only in the
colouring of the two figures but in the shape of the fins,
especially the dorsal and anal finlets, that, assuming both to
be correct, one can hardly believe the two fishes to be iden
tical. The general length of the mackerel taken off these coasts
is 16 to 18 in. ; according to Ekstrom they, however,
occasionally reach a length of 2 ft. They appear to become

FISHES. 485
smaller as they travel south, for off the coast of Scania they
usually run three or four to the pound. Br. 7 ; D. 12 4-
1,16; P. 18; V. 1,5 ; A. 1 -i- 1,10; C. 18.
Nilsson observes, it is not iraprobable that the Spanish
raackerel has been taken here, and confounded with the
young thunny, on account of the number of spurious finlets.
Gen. Thynnus, Cuv.
Finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins, nine ; dorsals
close together ; pectorals large ; a prominent ridge on the
sides of the body near the tail, and a corslet of small scales
on the breast.
30. Th-tonus VULGAEIS, Cuv. Thon Fisk. The Thunny. D.
Is not so very rare off the Gothenburg coast, but they
generally run sraall, eight to ten inches long. It does
not appear to go further north than the south of Nor
way, and only coraes into the Sound accidentally, never
in the Baltic. D. 14-+ 1,13; P. 33; V. 1,5; A. 2,12.
Colour never so handsome as in the mackerel.
Gen. Xiphias, L.
Nose elongated into a flat serrated bony sword, equal to
one-third of the length of the body ; one single dorsal high
in front, but in old fish all the middle rays disappear, leav
ing a high fin in front over the pectorals, and another at the
tail root like two fins ; no ventrals, but the anal in the old
fish appears divided into two, like the dorsal.
31. Xiphias gladius, L. Svardfisk. The Swordfish. D.
Is nearly confined in these seas to the low sandy
shores of South Sweden and Jutland. Nilsson reraarks
that all the specimens he has seen have been large,
from eight to ten feet long.
Gen. Garanx, Cuv.
Body compressed, not round like the comraon mackerel ;
the curved lateral li'.'e arraed with firra plates, forming a
ridge along the sides ; two distinct dorsals, with one spine
before the first ; a few spines before the anal fin.

436 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
32. Caeanx teachueus, Cuv. Tagg MackrUl. The Horse
Mackerel. D.
Is met with on most of the south-west coasts, from
the Sound probably up to Bergen, in Norway. It is
hardly known for certain whether they spawn in these
seas, although sraall specimens of four to five inches long
are frequently taken here in auturan.
The colour is not so rich as in the mackerel, and the
back is rauch more arched ; a black spot on the opercle.
D. 8 + 1,32; P. 21; V. 1,5; A. 2+1,28; C. 17.
Gen. Lampris, Cuv.
One single dorsal very high in front ; anal also elevated,
the first ray of the latter spinous ; body oval, compressed ;
no teeth ; colours brilliant in the extreme, blue, purple, and
gold ; body over all covered vrith large oval silver spots ;
ventrals placed far back on the belly ; root of the taU very
thin ; lateral line much curved ; tail broad, deeply cloven ;
height of the body equal to more than one half of the length.
Perhaps the raost beautiful of all sea fish.
33. Lampeis guttatus, Retz. Glanfisk. The Opan or
King Fish. D.
Although considered strictly a southem species, this
gorgeous fish has been, time out of mind, known aU
along the north and west coasts of Norway by the name
of the "lase storje," or large salmon.
It has occasionally been taken on other Scandinarian
coasts, from the v^ery south even up to the North Cape, but
never in the Baltic or in Greenland, or on the shores east of
the North Cape. The stuffed specimen in the Lund museum
from Christiania is three feet long.
I have had the pleasure of tasting this fish ; the flesh was
firm, white, and remarkably good. Br. 6 ; D. 60 ; P. 20 ; V.
14 ; A. 38 ; C. 20.
Para. 7. — Tjsnioidbi, Cuv. Riband Fishes.
Body elongated and very much compressed, like a
riband ; scales very small ; one long dorsal ; no anal fin.

FISHES. 487
Gen. Trachypterus, Gouan.
Body long, naked, compressed, like the blade of a sword,
covered with a sUvery gloss ; snout projecting ; eyes very
large; one long dorsal, with a partiaUy separate and high
portion in front ; tail distinct and well formed ; not on a line
vrith the body, but elevated ; no anal ; pectorals very
sraaU.
34. Teachtpteeus Aegticus, NUss. Norsk Solv Qveite.
The Deal Fish. D.
The dimensions of the example which was sent down
to Lund by Liljeborg from Tromsoe, in Norway, de
scribed by Nilsson, were as foUows : — " Length from
the point of the nose to the root of the tail 6 ft., of
which the head was 9 in. ; the height over the neck was
8 in., over the pectorals 10^ in., increasing gradually to
about 34 in. from the point of the nose, where it is
14 in.,whence it quickly diminishes, being only 1 in. when
4 in. from the root of the taU, and close to the tail 4 1. ;
colour ; head blackish ; mouth inwardly white ; head
and the right side of the body silvered all over ; the
two oblong black spots, which in the vaagmar (the
Iceland deal fish, T. Vogmarus, Reinh.) lie wide apart on
the sides near to the taU, are not seen in the s'olv qveite,
but in their stead there is a black band parallel vrith
the upper edge, a little under the root of the tail ; fins
red ; the left side nearly colourless grey, with scarcely
a sign of sUver gloss. Is said in Finmark to attain a
length of six to ten feet.
Couch's figure certainly represents the Iceland fish, but
in his description he says, " thrown on the shores of Iceland,
Norway, and Finland." If, as NUsson (and I believe cor
rectly) supposes, that the Scandinavian fish is a different
species from the Iceland vaagmar, Mr. Couch's Trachypterus
Arcticus, Gunther, does not appear even to be met with on
these coasts, certainly not at least the form as figured by
him, and described in his book by Dr. Giinther ; for NUsson,
in describing the Norsk s'olv qveite, says : — " This singular

488 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
flsh is well known on all the coasts of Finmark by the
fishermen there under the narae of the ' solv qveite, or sUver
flounder.' It is, nevertheless, rare, and is not seen every
year, and, like most other rare flsh, is principaUy found
washed upon the strand after a storm. Its habitat appears
to be peculiarly the icy seas, for it has never been taken on
any other Scandinavian coast, save that of Finland ;" but it
appears, by Malragren's list, that it never comes west of the
North Cape. The Danish flsh must be clearly the Iceland
vaagmar, and if so, probably not identical with this.
Nilsson further reraarks : — " The Iceland vaagmar {T.
vogmarus, Reinh.) appears, after Reinhardt' s description and
figure, to differ frora the Finland fish in the following par
ticulars : In the Iceland fish both sides of the body are alike ;
the pupil of the eye circular ; the fastenings of the pec
torals dbected towards the iris under the pupil of the eye ;
the rays of the long dorsal 172. In the Finland fish, the
sides of the body are not alike ; the pupU of the eye is ver
tically oval ; the fastenings of the pectorals directed towards
the raiddle of the space between the eye and the throat ; the
dorsal fin rays are 160."
But it is nearly irapossible to decide which are distinct
species, or what proper synonyme to use, from the muti
lated fragments generally seen of all this class of fishes.
The Finland fishermen say that the solv qveite, when
living, is excessively fat, and raore round on the sides,
but that it is so oily that it runs out of it as soon as the
fish is dead, on which account it becoraes thinner and
flatter ; are generally sold to the Russians, who come to
the north coasts of Finland frora Archangel, and think much
of oil. Gen. Gymnetrus, BI.
Body long, thin, compressed, and silvery, -vrith a short
blunt head and snub nose ; lateral line smooth. Fins : one
short and high, just behind the head ; behind that a low
fin, along the whole back, and joined to the caudal.

FISHES. 489
which, when present, forras the end of the tail, and is
horizontal, not elevated, as in the last. Pectorals consist
of one long ray each on the tip, flattened out to a web ; no
anal fin.
36. Gymnbteus Geillii, Lind. Norsk Sild Kung. Bank's
Oar Fish (?).
Description of a fresh fish by Dr. Lindroth, which was
washed up off Hitteren, near Trondtheim, in Norway, on the
12th August, 1797, the fragments of which are now pre
served in the Stockholra Museura : —
"Body pointed, thin, sword-like, 18 ft. long, 14 in. high,
and 3f in. thick; weight 180 lb.; colour silvery; skin
rough, on account of four dark knotty and five paler smooth
rows along the whole body, and a few transverse shades ;
head compressed, small, 7 in. high, 12 in. long, and 2 in.
thick. The mouth was crushed, but it appeared as if the
upper jaw had been a little shorter than the under. No
teeth could be found. Eyes 2 in. in diameter, with silvery
iris. Pectorals 2 in. long, and about the same in breadth ;
twelve rays. Ventrals, each consisting of a single ray
of 5 ft. in length, rounded at the root, about as thick as a
swan's quill, tapering gradually towards the end to a fine
point, which appeared to have terminated with a fiattened
web, which was so much damaged that the number of rays
could not rightly be seen. Colour bright red. The dorsal
fin, which extended along the whole back, was highest at
the head, 6 in. ; in the raiddle of the back 4 in. ; then gra
duaUy tapering off to the tail; its rays 406; itsweb thin, bright
red, darkest at the outside margin, paler towards the back.
The lateral line, which commenced at the upper edge of the
eye, after that gradually sank down two-thirds of the fish's
height, and continued thence along the body in a straight
line to the point of the tail. The whole of this lateral line
was in appearance like a cable with links, four lines long, or
oblong scales of one line broad, which sat loose and thin on
the skin. The tail fin was broken off."
NUsson adds that at the fishing station of Glesnas, which

490 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
lies on the Isle of Glesviir, 3| miles (Norsk) south of Bergen,
this fish is caught oftener than in any other place. We have
now records of the capture of five examples between 1 740
and 1798, and none seem to have been taken since. The
longest of these appears to have been one taken off Bergen
in 1791, and measured 42 ft. This was named by Lin
droth G. ascanii, and was described in the Bergen '^' Adress
Aris " for 1 791, under the narae of trichurus lepturus. The
description of this last specimen is unfortunately lost. The
dorsal in this was joined on to the tail ; othervrise it appears
to have had the sarae long band on the body as the one de
scribed. The head was short and blunt, vrith " visible and
strong teeth."
It seeras that Dr. Giinther believes this Norsk "sild
kung," or king of the herrings, to be a different fish from
the Bank's oar fish (and the same opinion prevails here) ;
and he further fancies it to be the regalecus glesne of authors.
(Couch.) This fish appears to be altogether confined to the north
and west coasts of Norway, but is even more rare than the
last. All the Fin fisherraen well know the difference
between the solv qveite and sild kung. The latter is much
moro slender in proportion to its length ; and the specimens
which of late years have been seen have aU been longer.
Few fishermen have seen this fish, but raost have seen the
solv qveite ; and yet it is singular that neither this nor the
last are included in Malmgren's list.
Fam. 8. — MugilidjE.
Body cylindrical, as weU as the head covered whoUy -vrith
large hard scales ; mouth transverse, angular ; two dorsals,
the first with four spiny rays; no barbules under the chin;
ventrals behind the pectorals. Gen. Mullus, L.
Largish sea fish. Head scaly ; body not raailed ; form
not unlike the chub ; depth of the body about one-fourth of its
length ; two dorsals, high, short, wide apart, the first spiny;

FISHES. 491
gUl covers smooth on the margins ; mouth small ; no bar
bules. May be distinguished by the dark longitudinal lines
which run along the sides, and the large hard stout scales.
36. MuGiL capito, Cuv. Gra Multe. The Grey Mullet. D.
Is met vrith on the coast of Bergen at all seasons of
the year, but not elsewhere in these seas. Length
often 2 ft. ; colour bottle green ; lighter on the sides,
which are streaked with about seven longitudinal dark
Unes. D. 4 + 1,7 ; A. 2,10 ; P. 17 ; V. 1,5 ; C. 19.
37. M. Chelo, Cuv. Tjock Lappad Multe. The Short
Grey MuUet ; the Thick-lipped Mullet.
Is taken both on the south-west coast of Norway,
where it is said to reraain throughout the year, and also
off Bohus Land, in the south-west of Sweden, where,
according to Ekstrom, it is raore common of late years.
It is so like the last that it is doubtful whether it can
be considered a distinct species. It is, however, smaUer
in all its proportions, but the principal difference con
sists in the. different shape of the gill covers and mouth.
The latter, instead of, as in the grey rauUet, being hard
and not sweUed, is in this fish swelled, fleshy, and soft.
When seen from below the edges of the gill covers do
not, in M. capito, hide the space under the tongue;
in M. chelo they do. But, as Dr. Giinther observes,
" the lateral view of the head alone is a just representa
tion of the fish described."
Fam. 9. — Blennioidei.
Body slimy ; scales very smaU, or altogether absent ; one
or two dorsals, with single rays, sometimes weak, sometimes
stiff and pointed ; head short ; forehead sloping.
All smaU dull-coloured sea fish, living on the bottom.
1. Ventrals apart, small; few or no rays. Tanglakar, Sw.
Gen. PhoUs, Flem.
Forehead smooth, without tubercles ; body covered vrith
a slimy skin ; no scales ; one long dorsal and anal fin ; pec-

492 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
torals broad ; ventrals small, but divided ; tail rounded ;
dorsal -with thirty-one, anal with twenty rays.
38. Pholis l^vis, Flem. Skygg Fisk. The Shanny.
Body round, elongated ; usual length here 6 in. to
7 in. Colour varies, but generaUy olive green, marbled
with dark brown. D. 12,19; A. 20; P. 13; V. 1,3;
C. 15.
The coast of Bergen, in Norway, is the only place in these
seas where the shanny has yet been taken.
Gen. Blenniops, NUss.
Two pab of tentacles on the forehead ; dorsal rays fifty,
anal forty ; body more slender than the last, covered with
small scales. The long dorsal joins the sharp-pointed tail.
39. Blenniops galbeita, Nilss. Tang Snarta. The Crested
Blenny; Garrell's Blenny.
Is not very rare on the Norwegian coast north and
south of Bergen, but is found nowhere else in these seas.
D. 51 ; P. 14; A. 40; V. 1,3 ; C.18. Colour varies, but
is always mottled Uke the last. Length 7 in.
Gen. Lumpenus, Reinh.
Of these fish Nilsson reraarks — " They are so totally
unUke any others of this faraily, that at the first glance it is
easy to see that they form a separate genus. Pries has de
scribed two Scandinarian species as belonging to this genus
under the name of clinus. According to him, we ought
entirely to lay aside the generic narae of lumpenus, because
Blen. lumpenus, L., is no other than a nominal species which
belongs to zoarcceus viviparus. But as the generic name of
lumpenus has abeady been adopted by many, I think it best
to retain it."
Body long, resembling that of the common gunnel, more
round than compressed, covered with small thin scales, laid
on like shingles. Nose projectbig, blunt ; gape horizontal;
teeth in the jaws, awl shaped ; on the sides in a thin single
row, but in front, on the top jaw, in several rows, of which

FISHES. 493
the outer ones are largest. A single dorsal fin extending
along the whole back, beginning vrith very low spines,
separated from each other, with all the rays sharp. The
ventrals, which are placed a little before the pectorals, are
very small and pointed, consisting only of one spiny, and
three weak rays, all grown together at the points. Anal
fin, which coraraences in front of the raiddle of the body,
often on the front third division, reaches nearly to the
caudal fin, and consists of jointed weak rays. Tail distinct.
GUI openings large, with six rays ; the giU raerabrane under
the throat free, forras a pointed angle.
[He dirides this genus into two sub-genera.
1. — Ctenodon, Nilss.
Teeth on the jaws, vomer, and gums ; two canine teeth
in the jaws above and below. To this belongs clinus ma-
culatus. Fries ; lumpenus aculeatus, Reinh.
2. — Lumpenus, Nilss.
Teeth only on the jaws ; none on the vomer or gums ;
no canine teeth. To this belongs clinus nebulosus. Fries ;
blennius gracilis, Stuvitz.j
40. Lumpenus Maculatus, F. Trubbstjertad Langbam.
(Blunt-taUed.)
The under dirision of the pectorals longer than the
upper, vrith free rays; tail rounded; dorsal rays
about sixty, of which the first consists of very low
distinct spines; rays in the anal fin thirty- six or thirty-
seven. Colour of the Uring specimen taken by Fries :
body dirty yellow ; sides, above the lateral line, covered
with several large irregular yellowish brown spots,
with dark brown edges ; head with a yellow tinge, and
dark spots on the upper part; iris whitish, wioh a
broad reddish brown ring around it ; dorsal fin pale,
with nine to eleven oblique wavy streaks and rows
of small round brown spots ; anal and ventral fins
pale unspotted ; caudal and pectoral fins with smaller

494 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
spots on the rays, forming distinct transverse bands.
Br. 6; D. 59; P. 10 + 5; V. 1,3; A. 37; C. 13.
A specimen frora the Bohus Land coast was 6 in. long ;
its greatest height, under the pectorals, 4f 1. ; its greatest
thickness 3 1.
This fish, which had been previously taken on the coast
of North Greenland, has as yet only been discovered in one
place on the Scandinarian coasts, namely, on the Bohus
Land, Skargiird, not far from Gothenburg, where, according
to Fries, it is only met with in October, Noveraber, and
December. They do not appear to go in shoals, for even
during the spawning season they are never taken in any
great numbers, but only one or two in each cast of the net.
They Ue chiefiy on the bottom, with the body stretched
out and the pectorals spread. Food : Crustacea and small
aniraals. Spawning season : the beginning of winter, when
the fish are in pairs.
41. Lumpenus Nebulosus, Fries. Spetssjertadt Langbam.
(Sharp-tailed.)
Pectorals oval, with the upper and lower rays shortest,
and -vrithout any free rays ; tail lancet shaped ; rays
in the dorsal fin about 70, in the anal fin 50 ; more
slender than the last, which, it othervrise reserables, ra
habits and appearance ; colour orange yeUow, raarbled
with brown ; fins reddish.
Is met with sparingly along the west and north coasts
of Scandinaria ; has been several times taken in Christiana
Fjord, in Norway, and once on the Bohus Land coast, in
Sweden ; seems to become more common further north, and
is met with both in Iceland and Greenland. The spawning
season is about Christmas. The general length is 8 to 9 in,,
sometimes 12 in.
Nilsson remarks that of this fish they have on the west
coast of Scandinavia two distinct forms ; the one is met
vrith from the Bohus Land coast to the North Cape, . the
other on the coast of Christiania ; but although they differ
in the size of the relative proportions of body, there scarcely

FISHES. 495
exists any constant mark of distinction which can lead us to
suppose they are two distinct species.
Gen. Gunellus, Cuv.
Body very long and compressed, smooth and shppery ;
head small ; nose sharp ; dorsal fin long, with all the rays
sharp and single ; tail free ; pectorals consist of one spike,
and one weak ray, joined together ; teeth in several rows ;
height of the body equal to one-ninth of the length.
42. Gunellus vulgaeis, Cuv. Svart Fliickig Tejstefisk.
The Spotted Gunnel. D.
Distinguished by the ten round black spots along
the top of the back, each encbcled vrith a white ring ;
the Scandinarian specimens rarely exceed 8 in.
These fish derive their Swedish name from the fact
of their affording food to the black guillemot, caUed in
Swedish "tjesto."
Is met with along all the Scandinarian coasts, from the
Sound at least up to Tromsoe, near the North Cape;
comraon in West Finland; spawns in November; colour
brown-yellow. D. 78 ; A. 2,42 ; P. 12 ; V. 1,1 ; C. 18.
Gen. Zoarcceus, Cuv.
Body sUmy; both the anal and dorsal fins are joined on
to the taU ; ventrals before the pectorals.
43. ZoAECffius Viviparus, Cuv. Tang Lake. The Viripa
rous Blenny. D. F.
In shape much resembles the burbot, whence its
Swedish narae of tang lake.
Is met with pretty commonly on every Scandinarian
coast; length from 12 in. to 16 in.; brings forth Uring
young at no one particular season of the year, probably
dependent upon the age of the fish; body colour yeUow-
bro-wn, with black spots on the sides, and yeUow anal
fin; D. 100; A. 70; P. 19; V. 3.
Gen. Anarrhichas, L.
Body sUmy, deep in front, with protruding abdomen
tapering very much to the taU; head blunt, rounded;

496 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
forehead very sloping ; strong conical front teeth, and low
round molars ; tail distinct ; no ventral fins ; one dorsal.
44. Anaeehichas Lupus, L. VanUg Hafkatt. The Wolf
Fish. D. F.
Is raet with on all the .Scandinarian coasts, far up
into Norway, never in shoals, but as they are caught in
the sarae places at all seasons of the year, there is no
reason to suppose they are migratory. Their usual
length here is from 3 to 4 ft. ; spawn in May and June.
Colour grey-brown ; sides transversely banded -vrith
dark brown ; a yellow ring round the pupU of the eye ;
dorsal 62 to 77 rays ; anal 43 to 45 ; all the fin rays
weak. 2. Ventrals apart, very broad. Sjo Kockar, Sw.
Gen. Callionymus, L.
Body' smooth, without scales ; preopercle spined ; two
dorsals ; ventrals irregular ; fins very large ; eyes close
together; gills hardly apparent, formed only by a little round
opening on each side of the neck ; the males are much hand
somer than the females, and the shape of the fins is different.
45. Callionymus Lyea, L. VanUg Sjokock. The Gem-
meous Dragonet. D.
Head ablong ovate, measuring in a fish of 10 in.
2-1- in. in length, and If in. in breadth ; hinder dorsal
covered vrith several horizontal bands of pale blue-green
and yellow; body yellow, striped and spotted -with
blue ; the feraale yellow-brown spotted. Male : the
front dorsal fin very high, the first ray being so long
as to overlap the tail; yellow with blue longitudinal
streaks. Female : the front dorsal fin lowest ; the
web between the three last rays black.
Nilsson considers the callionymus dranunculus, L;, or
sordid dragonet of British authors, as nothing more than
the female of G. lyra, L. The male is always the largest,
oftenmeasuringl0to]2 in. D. 4+10; A. 10; V. 1,5; P. 18;

FISHES. 497
C. 10. Is met with along the coasts of the Cattegat and
North Sea. Not rare, but no where very coramon, and never in
any quantities. Like raany other fish, they Uve in a state
of raonogamy, and copulate when they come up from the
deeps in November and December to spawn. The flesh is
never eaten here. They are sometimes taken on a hook,
but generaUy in nets.
46. Callionymus Maculatus, Raf. Flackig Sjokock. D.
The hinder dorsal fln is high and pointed, but will
not reach back to the root of the taU ; colour yellowish
green, vrith round spots in several horizontal rows ;
rarely exceeds 6 in. in length. ,
This handsome little flsh, whose peculiar home is in the
Mediterranean, has been taken both in the Sound and off
the Bohus Land coast, in summer and winter, but female
fish have never been caught here.
Colour green-yellow, with small red-brown and pale
blue spots ; four parallel rows of round green spots on the
hinder dorsal. Fin ray formula as in the last.
43. Ventrals grown together into an obUque, funnel-shaped
hoUow. Smor Bultar, Sw.
Gen. Gobius, L.
Sea Fish, vrith SUmy Bodies.
Body large ; long thick scales, aU smaU duU coloured ;
easUy recognized by the pecuUar forra of the ventrals, the short
anterior rays and the long posterior ones on each side being
united together, forming a hollow sucker with which they
possess the power of attaching themselves to rocks.
47. GoBius NiGEE, L. Svart Smorbult. The Black Goby.
D.F.
Dorsals (the first spinous) near together ; the points
of the anterior ones reaching, when the finis laid back,
to the root of the taU; taU rounded; jaws of equal
length ; length 3 to 6 in. ; the largest of the genus. 32

498 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Is never met with on the sandy coasts of South Sweden,
but is common in the upper parts of the Baltic as well as in
the Cattegat and North Sea. Spawns in May ; colour deep,
olive brown, variegated ; a row of small black spots along
the sides. D. 6 + 1,12; P. 19 ; V. 1,6—1,5; A. 1,12.
48. G. MINUTUS, Gm. Hitaktag Smorbult. The One-
spotted Goby. D. F.
Dorsals wide apart; rays 6 + 12 ; the points of the
anterior ones do not reach half way to the root of the
taU when laid back ; tail square ; under jaw longest ; a
black spot on the first dorsal ; length 2 to 4 in ; colour
whitish grey, tinged with yeUow ; back finely spotted.
Is met vrith in the Baltic, Cattegat, and North Sea,
but is always smaU in the Baltic. The spawning season here
seeras very irregular, for we raeet vrith smaU individuals on
these coasts aU through the sumraer. Both these species are
very rare in Finland.
49. G. GEACILIS,- Jen. Spetsstjertad Smorbult. The
Slender Goby.
Dorsals distinct ; rays 6 + 15 ; taU pointed in the
middle ; eyes close together ; much reserables the last,
but more elongated and slender. One single example
of this fish has been taken in the deep GuUmare Fjord,
Norway, in January. D. 6,15 ; A. 13; C. 25.
When Uring, must be the handsomest of all the gobies,
vrith rows of red spots on a yellowish bottom.
50. G. RuTHENSPAEEi, Euph. Sjustralig Smorbult. The
Double-spotted Goby. D.
Closely reserables the black goby, but is the smaUest
of the genus, scarcely 2 in. long; dorsals wide apart;
tail square ; colour Ught bro-wn ; the two spots on each
side, one at the tail root, the other close to the pectorals,
will distinguish this from G. minutus ; under jaw the
longest.
Is met with in great quantities both in the Cattegat and

FISHES. 499
North Sea, but never in the Baltic. Spawns in the summer.
D. 7+ 1,10; A. 1,10; P. 17; V. 1,4-1-1,4.
51. G. NiLSONii, Dub. and Kor. Tva StraUg Smorbult.
TaU rounded in the raiddle ; dorsals wide apart ; fin
rays D. 2 + 20; P. 30; A. 20; C. 31. Sides covered
with 28 to 30 deep rauscular furrows.
Several exaraples of this new species have been taken off
the west coast of Norway, both in the sumraer and winter,
in thbty fathoras depth. None were two inches long, and
all transparent, and might have been nothing more than
young fish of sorae larger species ; but this seems hardly
probable when we compare the number of fin rays with aU
the other known species.
52. G. Stuvitzii, Dub and Kor. Fem StraUg Smorbult.
The White Goby (?).
Fin rays : D. 5 + 12 ; P. 15 ; A. 14.
Resembles the white goby in all respects, save that the
hindmost rays in the back dorsal and anal fins graduaUy
decrease in length behind, and when laid down do not reach
half way to the root of the taU fin. Has been caught off
Bergen in December, but aU were young fish, scarcely two
inches long. Discoboli. Sucking Fish.
4. Ventrals united, forming a concave disk or sucker beneath
the naked body. Sug Fiskar, Sw.
Gen. Cyclopterus, L.
Body thick and solid, vrith a fatty ridge on the top of the
back; skin rough, covered vrith knotty warts; pectorals
large, united under the throat ; the first dorsal scarcely per
ceptible.
53. Cycloptbeus Lumpus, L. Stenbit. The Lump
Sucker. Red Lump (male). Blue Lump (female).
F. D.
The northem examples of this fish rarely exceed 1 ft.

soo TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
4 in. The males are always larger than the females.
They live in ^, state of monogamy, and an actual pairing
is said to take place between the two sexes ; spawn in
March ; colour blackish grey ; edges of fins red ; aU the
rays covered with thick skin. ,'D. 11; P. 28; A. 9;
0. 11.
Tolerably common in some parts of the Baltic (but
never on its Swedish shores), the Cattegat and the North
Sea, to far up on the coast of Finland. A specimen 16 in.
long wiU be 8 in. deep and 4 in. wide.
Gen. Liparis, Art.
Smaller fish ; one dorsal fin ; body smooth ; in form Uke
the black goby.
54. LiPAEis BAEBATUS, Ekst. Storro Lumpfisk. The Sea
Snail. F. D.
NUsson remarks that these fish seem to be identical vrith
the lurapsucker in a lower stage of development, and he can
see no other generic difference between, a full-grown liparis
montagui and a young cyclopterus lumpus, which has not
yet obtained its knotty skin, than that the former has one,
the latter two dorsal fins.
This species is larger than the next, measuring 7 to 8 in.,
whereas Montague's sucker rarely exceeds 3 in. The prin
cipal difference is in the shape of the pectorals, and the
length of the dorsal and anal fins. In the sea snail they both
are joined to the square tail one-third of its length. In
Montague's sucker the last ray of the dorsal does not reach
to the root of the tail-fin, but the anal fin is joined to the
pointed tail. Colour reddish grey, covered with broad irre
gular black spots. Is rare on the Scandinarian coasts, and
has hitherto been taken only in the Baltic off the shores of
Stockholm and (Ester Gothland. D. 35; A. 27; P. 27;
C. 12.
55. L. Montagui, Yarr. Mindre Lumpfisk. Montague's
Sucker. D.
Is never met vrith in the Baltic, but is not rare on

PISHES. 501
the western coast of Scandinavia, from tho Sound up to
Bergen, in Norway, and probably further north. Colour
dull orange; belly dbty yeUow; all the fins with a
blueish tint; length 3 in. D. 30; A. 24; P. 28;
C. 14.
Gen. Lepidogaster.
The sucking organ dirided into two portions ; pectorals
very large ; one dorsal ; cirri before the eyes.
56. Lepidogastee bimaculatus. Pen. Tvafiackad Dubbel
Sugare. The Double-spotted Sucker.
The smaUest of the genus, rarely 3 in. long. The
single dorsal and anal fins each with six rays, and both
dirided from the caudal fin ; pectorals very broad ; a
round purple spot behind each pectoral, and a double
cirrus before each eye; colour purple brown, vrith
minute spots.
This pretty little sucker was added to the Scandinavian
fauna from a speciraen taken by Baron v. Duben, on the
west coast of Norway, at a depth of thirty fathoms.
The L. comubiensis, Jen. (or Cornish sucker) has not yet
been detected in these seas. It rather resembles the last,
but is larger, and the dorsal and anal fins are united with
the caudal. Fam. 10. — Pedunculati, Cuv.
Body naked, smaU, and tapering ; head enormous ; pec
torals fleshy and horizontal; mouth wide.
Gen. Lophius, Art.
Ventrals Uke feet ; giU opening behind the sraall pec
torals ; on the head are three long separate moveable ten-
drUs, distinct from the dorsal fins, which are two in nuraber ;
skin without scales; ventrals before pectorals; the branchi-
ostegous rays form a purse under the chin.
57. Lophius piscatoeius, L. VanUg Marulk, The Fish
ing Frog, D,
Is met with in all the Scandinarian seas (except on

502 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN,
the Swedish coast of the Baltic), from the Sound up to
the North Cape ; said soraetiraes here to attain a length
of five feet ; colour grey above, marbled -vrith brown
and black. D, 3 + 11 ; P, 23 ; V, 1,5 ; A, 8 ; C. 8.
58. LoiHius EUEYPTBEUS, Dub. and Kor. Bredfenad Marulk.
Head raore broad than long, tapering to snout ; pec
torals large, much more broad thain long ; the first ten
dril on the head short, ending in a transverse soft
cylinder ; ventrals spread out like a fan, with six rays ;
length 4 in. D. 3 + 12 ; P. 27 ; V. 1,5 ; A. 11 ; C. 8.
Only about three specimens of this Uttle fish have been
taken here, and all on the west coast of Norway. Concern
ing its habits Baron v. Duben observes : — " In a shell fiUed
with salt water one of these Uttle fish lived for two days, and
would stand right up in the shell, or svrira to and fro, often
on its back, rooting with its nose in the bottora." Colour
above speckled vrith grey and brown ; below white.
Gen. Batrachus, Schneid.
Head broader than the body, corapressed ; gill coverts
furnished with spines ; pectorals broad, placed on short
fleshy arras ; ventrals under the throat sraall and pointed ;
two dorsals, the flrst short, with thick spiny rays, the hinder
long, with soft rays. In many respects forms a transition
to the last.
59. Bateachus boeealis, Nilss. Nordisk Paddflsk'.
In shape soraething Uke the last, but without the
filaments on the head; body compressed, long, tapering
off to the taU, smooth, covered with small round thin
scales ; sub operculum -vrith only one spine ; dorsal fin
rays twenty. The length of the Swedish specimen was
8 in. This was taken off KuUen, in the Cattegat, in
1820. Colour dark brown ; greyish on the sides and
head. D. 3 + 20 ; A. 16 ; P. 21 ; V. 1,2 ; C. 13.
It has lately been disputed whether this fish has any right.
to a place in this fauna, and some contend that the specimen
sent in to the Lund Museum had been purchased of an

FISHES. 503
American skipper. But this, as Nilsson observes, is scarcely
probable, for the specimen, when ^he described it, was so
fresh that the natural colours reraained. Moreover, in the
storaach, which he preserved in spirits, were found remains
of cancer depurator and buccinum reticulatum, both of which
are common off KuUen, where this flsh was taken.
This fish, as Nilsson observes, stands very near to, if it
is not identical vrith, the Gadus Tan., Bloch 57.
Gen. Chironectes, Cuv.
SmaU fish, principaUy confined to the warmer seas.
Head and body both corapressed ; skin naked, full of round
sUray openings ; three spinous rays above the head ; dorsal
supported by soft rays.
60. Chieonectes Aegticus, Dub. and Kor.
The only specimen of this fish that has been met with
in the Scandinavian seas was taken off Vardoehus, near
the North Cape, in 1826. Most probably, Uke the other
tropical fish which are taken in the northern seas, it had
been carried on to these shores by the agency of the
Gulf Stream. It was H in. long, f in. high. D. 12 ;
P. 10; V. 5; A. 7; C. 10. Colour grey-brown,
marbled ; eye bright yeUow.
Fam. 11. — LAEEID.S;, Cuv.
Body oblong, scaly ; one long dorsal ; the spines invested
in a raerabrane; lips fleshy and projecting; taU broad,
rounded on the margin.
"These flshes," as Wood so truly and prettily observes, in
his "IUustrated Natural History," " are not only reraarkable
for the full fleshiness of theb OAridently sensitive Ups, but
for the endless variety of rich and rivid tints with which
their bodies are decorated — hues pure as the bright patterns
of cathedral windows, and often arranged with a syrametri-
cal regularity of outline and a daring harmony of contrast
ing colours. Even on our own coasts the labridce are most

504 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
lovely creatures, but it is in the tropical and warmer seas of
the world that they are to be seen in their fuU brilliancy.
No artist can transfer to paper the radiant hues that glow
on these favoured members of the finny race, and no pen
can do justice to their wondrous splendour as they dart
through the crystalline waters like Uring meteors, or leisurely
traverse the forests of moving algce, balancing themselves
among the submarine foliage, like humming birds of the
sea." Gen. Labrus, Cuv.
The smooth edge of the opercle distinguishes this genus
from crenilabrus.
61. Labeus maculatus, BI. Berg Gylta. The BaUan
Wrasse. D.
The largest of the genus, and frequently taken in the
North Sea 18 in. long, and weighing 7 to 8 lb. Is met
with on all the western coasts of Sweden and Norway,
from the Sound up to Bergen, but not in the Baltic.
Spawns in May. Form of the body oblong oval.
Colour varies rauch, but is either green, yeUow, or red ;
always lively. Hinder rays of the dorsal much elevated
and rounded off, as is also the case vrith the anal ; so
that both these fins appear to end in a rounded lobe.
D. 20,10 ; P. 16 ; A. 3,9 ; V. 1,5 ; C. 14.
Couch fancies that YarreU's " corkwing " is only the
young of this.
62. L. MiXTUS, L.; L. Dispae, Fries. Bla Gylta. The
Cook Wrasse (male) ; the Three-spotted Wrasse
(female). D.
The male is one of the most beautiful of the Scandi
navian fishes ; prevaiUng colour red-yellow, streaked
and marked vrith blue. The feraale and- ybuiig males
reddish brown, with three large round black spots on
the upper part of the back. Body more slender and
elongated, nose longer and sharper, than in the last.
Usual length 12 in. to 14 in. ; dorsal fin of an equal

FISHES. 505
length throughout. D. 17,13 ; P. 15 ; V. 1,5 ; A. 3,10 ;
C.ll.
Is met with in aU the seas on the western coast, from
Bohus Land at least up to Sondmor, in Norway, but not
in the Sound or Baltic. None of the wrasses are known on
the coasts of Finland. Gen. Crenilabrus, Ouv.
Preopercle denticulated on the hinder margin.
63. Ceenilabeus melops, Cuv. Skar Rone. The Cork-
wing. D.
General appearance that of the labrus, but the body
is deeper. A black spot at the root of the taU, and
another at the back of the eye; but these are not
always constant. The general length of the Swedish
examples 8 in. to 9 in. Spawns here in July; and
Kroyer fancies that an actual pairmg takes place be
tween the sexes, but that the feraale directly after
deposits the fructffied eggs. Colour of the Uring fish
resembles a yeUow-brown net over a pale blue bottom.
This puazUng species is by no means rare on the
western coasts, from the Sound up to Sondmor, in
Norway, 62° north lat. D. 16,9; P. 15; V. 1,6;
A. 3,10 ; C. 14. Gen. Ctenolabrus, Val.
Preopercle denticulated only on part of its margin.
64. Ctenolabeus eupesteis, Val. Berg Smeltra. Jago's
GoldSinny. D.
Fins aU of one colour; a black spot over the root of
the taU fin, and another at the commencement of the
dorsal ; form more elongated than in the others.
Is one of the smaUest of the northem -wrasses, barely
exceeding 5 in. ; but it is also the comraonest on aU the
western coast, from the Sound to far up in Norway.
According to NUsson, this species not only frequents
brackish water, but is even occasionally taken far up in rivers
on the coast.

506 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
This is the least handsome of aU. Colour usuaUy green
ish grey, vrith indistinct dark transverse bands ; iris blood
red. D. 17,9; P. 15; A. 3,7; C. 16.
Gen. Acantholabrus, Val.
Five spiny rays in the anal fin (no other northem species
has more than three) ; preopercle denticulated all along the
hinder margin.
66. AcANTHOLABEUS EXOLBTUS, Cuv. Sma Munt Smeltra.
The Rock Cook ; The SmaU-mouthed Wrasse.
GeneraUy about 6 in. long, and is the rarest of aU the
Scandinarian wrasses, from aU of which it may be dis
tinguished by its very smaU mouth ; the height of the
body more than equal to the length of the head.
D. 18,7; A. 5,7; P. 13; V. 1,6; C. 16. Colour when
just caught olive brown; belly whitish; sides of the
head yellow-brown, vrith longitudinal blue bands.
MALACOPTEEYail. SOFT-FINNED FISHES.
All the fin rays (with the exception sometimes of the first
in the dorsals and pectorals) soft and cartUaginous, mostly
dirided at the points. Division 1. — Abdominales.
The ventrals suspended from the abdomen, and placed
far behind the pectorals.
Nearly all the Scandinavian fresh-water fish belong to
this order. Fam. 1. — CvPEiNiDiE.
Body well shaped, covered vrith round scales ; one dorsal
and one anal fin ; mouth sraall, without teeth, which Ue in the
throat. They are all fresh-water fish, properly speaking,
although many of them can Uve in brackish water. Theb
food consists of vegetable matter, larvse, and insects. No
member of this family has more than three rays on the bran-
chiostegous membrane.

FISHES. 507
Gen. Oyprinus, L.
Dorsal long ; anal short ; one of the foremost rays in
each thick, and doubly serrated in the hinder edge ; teeth
in the guUet flat.
Body raore or less arched and compressed, with large
hard scales. A. — Cyprinus, Cuv.
66. Cypeinus Caepio, L. Karp. The Carp. D. F.
Two barbs on each side of the mouth ; tail forked ;
common in some stUl waters in the south of Sweden,
where it was imported about the year 1560 ; length
1 to 2 feet; colour olive-brown, .tinged vrith gold.
D. 4,20; P. 16; V. 9; A. 3,6; C. 19. Lateral Ime
scales 35. B. — Ca/rassius, NUss.
67. A. — Cypeinus Caeassius, BI. Sjo Ruda. The Crucian
Carp.
Is the broadest in shape of aU the genus. No barbs
at the mouth ; taU crescent shaped ; colour as in the
last. D. 2,20; A. 2,7; P. 15; V. 9.
Is much more abundant in Scandinaria than the comraon
carp, and goes rauch further north. Is raet vrith in the
middle of Sweden, as well as Norway, and in Finland ; goes
up as far north as at least 64° north lat. Length 12 to 14 in.
Kroyer acknowledges only one distinct species in Den-"
mark, the Carassius vulgaris, Kroy., and Malmgren does
the same. B. — Cypeinus Gibblio, BI. Damm Ruda. The Prus
sian Carp.
Is met with in lakes and ponds from the far south of
Sweden, right up into Lulea Lapland ; and I have seen
specimens from the River Klar.
According to Ekstrom this is nothing more than a

508 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
degenerated form of the Crucian carp, and I think he is
right. Tinea, L.
Dorsal and anal fins short ; mouth vrith two short barbs;
body tolerably high, covered vrith smaU sliray scales ; all the
fins thick, fleshy, and rounded off; teeth in the gullet flat.
Body colour dark, with a bronze metal gloss. D. 13 ;
A. 11; P. 18; V. 10.
68. TiNCA VULGAEIS, Cuv. Sutare. The Tench. D. F.
Is common in many places in the south and middle
of Sweden ; and is met vrith in the grassy bays on the
western coast of the middle of the Baltic. In Finland,
goes up to about 52° north lat. Length 12 to 18 in.
Gobio, Cuv.
Dorsal short ; anal long ; raouth with two barbs; body
round, covered vrith large scp,les ; tail cloven ; teeth in the
gullet pointed.
Sides of the body, as well as dorsal and anal . fins,
covered vrith smaU dark spots. Body elongated; smaU
fresh-water fish. D. 10; A. 8.
69. GoBio Eluvlatilis, WiU. Sandkrypare. The Gudgeon.
D.F.
Is certainly a very rare fish in Sweden, and one
which I never met with. It is, however, taken in some
places in the very south ; only one specimen has ever
been taken in Finland, on the coast near Vyborg.
Usual length 6 to 8 in ; swims in shoals.
Leuciscus, Klein. Squalius, Bon.
Dorsal short ; anal short ; mouth without barbs ; body
either lengthened, or else very high and compressed.
The foUovring table of fin ray formula, position of the

FISHES. 509
dorsal fin, and number of scales on the lateral line, may be
useful in distinguishing the different members of some of
the genera of this genus : —
a. Dorsal fin placed dbectly over the ventrals. Leucis
cus grislagine, D. 10, A. 11 ; scales on lateral line 52. L.
idus, D. 11, A. 13 ; scales on lateral line 55 to 60. L.
rutilus, D. 11, A. 12 ; scales on lateral line 42 to 44.
b. Dorsal comraencing above the terraination of ventrals.
L. latifrons, D. 11, A. 12 ; scales on lateral line 45.
c. Dorsal placed behind the ventrals, but before the anal
fin. L. erythrophthalmus, D. 11, A. 1,4; scales on lateral
Ime 42.
d. Dorsal standing over the space between the ventrals
and anal fin. L. phoxinus, D. 9, A. 9.
Unlike all the pre-riously described members of this
famUy, the fish belonging to this genus do not Ue grovel
ling at the bottora of the water, but are quick and Uvely in
their motions, preferring clear water.
70. Leuciscus Geislagine, Art. ; C-ypeinus Geislaginb, Fries
and Ekst. ; C. Leuciscus, L. Stamm. The Dace.
D.F.
Much confusion has existed respecting the identity of
this fish, and the many different synonymes which have
been used by different authors, have only tended to add
to, instead of diminish it. I think we may now take
it for granted, that the Swedish " stamm" is no other
than the common British dace, and that the Cyprinus
dobula oi Kroyer's " Danish Fishes," the Leuciscus dobula
of YarreU, as well as that author's Leuciscus vulgaris and
Leuciscus Lancastriensis, are all different forms of and
identical with the Cyprinus Grislagine, or " Stamm " of
Swedish authors.
Is comraon in the middle and north of Sweden, as well
as in Norway and Finland. I never saw an exaraple
more than 8 in. in length. They spawn vrith us in May.

510 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Colour of our " Stamm " brownish, sUvery on the sides ;
white abdomen ; all the lower fins vrith a reddish tinge.
71. Leuciscus Idus, Cuv. VanUg Id. The Ide. D.F.
May be at once distinguished from the chub by its
much smaller scales, and the different shape of the anal
fin, which in the ide is square or rather indented, in
the chub rounded off. Kroyer appears to doubt
whether the British ide is identical vrith the northern
fish.
The ide is a very comraon fish' in Scandinaria, from the
south of Sweden, at least as far up as Karesuando in Lap
land, and the coraraonest of all the fresh-v^ater fish in Pin-
land. They delight in clear and running water. Many
winter in the brackish bays of the Baltic, but they aU come
up into fresh water to spawn, about the end of April.
Here they attain a good size, an ide of 5 or 6 lb. not
being uncommon, and they are even said to' becorae larger.
They wUl take a bait spinning. In habits they rather
reserable the British chub, but are far better eating. I do
not see why this fish should not be introduced into the
British waters, with profit, for I fancy they would thrive
in any chub water, and it is certainly a far better fish than
the chub.
The specimen described by Nilsson was 17 in. long,
4f in. high, weighing 2f lb.
72. Leuciscus Cbphalus, Flem. ; Cypeinus Cbphalus, L. ;
C. Jbses, Wright and Ekst. (vrith a beautiful
figure) ; C. Idus, BI. ; Leuciscus Dobola, Cuv. and
Val. ; L. Latteeons, Nilss. ; Squalius Dobula,
Heck.; S. Cbphalus, Leib. The Chub, Yarr.
Farna ; Bred pannad Id. ; Karnel Id, Wenern, Sw.
F.
Much confusion has existed in the identffication of
the chub, the dobule roach, and the dace ; but I beUeve
the synonymes which I have given aU properly belong
to this fish. It was a matter of doubt for a long

FISHES. 511
time • whether our British chub was an inhabitant of the
Scandinavian waters. It is now, however, clearly proved
that such is the case, and, according to Malmgren, all
the different synonymes quoted belong to this fish and
no other. Although found in many of the Scandinarian
waters (especially in the middle of the country), and
even far up in Finland, where they attain a weight of
8 to 10 lb., it is, I fancy, nowhere so common as the ide,
nor does it (in Wermland at least) run to so large in size,
although Ekstrom mentions haring seen one 22 inches long,
and another weighing 7 to 8 lb. But NUsson gives the
general size as 8 to 10 in. in length, and this is, I think,
pretty correct, certainly in the northern tract of the
Wenern. They spawn here in June. Is not included in
the Ust of Danish fishes, unless it goes under the synonyme
of L. Dobula or L. Grislagine, which I fancy is not the case.
It is singular, however, that Mr. Lloyd gives us a figure of
the dobule roach in his " ScancUnavian Adventures," and
remarks : " The dobule roach, or what Mr. Yarrell, who
examined several specimens brought horae frora the Wener,
and myself considered to be such, was comraon as well in that
lake as in the Gotha." This does not agree with Malmgren,
who denies the existence of the dobule roach, as a distinct
species, in either Britain, Denmark, or Sweden. It is my
opinion that the confusion respecting the identity of sorae
of the different members of this genus is not cleared up,
and I do not believe that we have the true dobule in
Sweden.
73. Leuciscus Eeytheophthalmus, Cuv. Sarf. The Rudd.
D.F.
Is very common in the south and middle both of Sweden
and Norway, but I believe it is not ascertained precisely
how far north it is raet with. They spawn here early
in June. Theb general length is about 8 in., but I have
seen them larger; may always be known from the roach
by the deeper body, the bright vermilion fins, and the carp-
Uke colour of the scales.

512 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
74. Leuciscus Rutilus, Cuv. Mort. The Roach. F. D.
Is certainly the commonest of all the genus, and is met
with from the extreme south of Scania far up into Lapland.
They run to a large size, a roach of a foot long not being
so very uncommon. They say here that the male fish appears
on the spawning grounds a fortnight before the females;
and the fishermen call the former the "Is mort," the latter
the "lek " or "lof mort." They generally spawn about the
beginning of May. I hardly believe that we have "two
distinct species of roach here, but certainly the very dff-
ferently-coloured fish we take in distinct waters would ahnost
favour this supposition.
75. Leuciscus Phoxinus, Cuv. Blritza. The Minnow.
D.F.
Is met with in all Uttle streams, and in many of the
large lakes, from the extreme south of Sweden far up into
Norway. Usual length 3 to 4 in., but I have taken them
in Wermland more than 5 in. Is comraon in the brackish
waters of the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia.
Gen. Abramis, Cuv.
Dorsal short ; anal long, with always at least six more
rays than in the dorsal ; mouth without barbs ; body gene
rally high and compressed.

A. — Upper jaw longest.
a. Dorsal fin placed directly over the ventrals. Abramis
wimba, D. 11, A. 22,23; scales on lateral Une 60.
b. Dorsal behind ventrals ; ends in front of the anal fin.
A. bjorkna, D, 11, A. 24,25 ; scales on lateral line 46
to 48. c. Dorsal behind the ventrals ; ends over the commence
ment of anal fin. A. brama, D. 11, A. 28,29; scales on
lateral line 54,
d. Dorsal placed dbectly above the anal fin, A. ballerus,
D. 11, A. 40,41 ; scales on lateral line 70,

FISHES. 513
B, — Under jaw longest.
a. Dorsal commencing behind the ventrals, A. aspius,
D. 10, A, 17 ; scales on lateral Une 62,
b. Dorsal partly above the anal fin, A. alburnus, D. 11,
A. 20 ; scales on lateral line 50.
c. Dorsal entbely above the anal. A. cultratus, D. 9,
A. 30. A. — Upper jaw longest.
76. Abeamis Wimba, NUss. Wimma. F. D.
Is scarcely so broad as many others of this family, for
the greatest height of the body is equal to only one-fourth
of its length. In fact, as Mr. Lloyd observes, it much more
resembles the young of some species of Coregoni, but is
readily distinguished by the absence of the adipose fin. It
may be easily recognized by its thick projecting snout. I
do not believe that they attain any very large size, although
I have seen them taken in the Wener about a foot long.
They appear to be most comraon in those rivers that run
into the Baltic, where raany of them winter in brackish
water ; but about the end of May they ascend the rivers to
spawn in clear running water. They abound in some parts
of the lake Wener ; they are not considered of much value
for the table ; appear to be very common in the Gulfs of
Bothnia and Finland, and also in Ladoga; come out of the
large lakes and the Baltic, where they winter, into the rivers
about May to spawn. The long, projecting snout and rounder
body marks the wimraa. Colour brown above; sides, sil
very, tinged vrith yellow ; pectorals reddish brown ; ventrals
more red ; anal paler.
77. Abeamis Beama, Cuv. Braxen. The Bream. D. F.
Young fish: Cyprinus Farenus, Art. Braxen-
panka.
Is met with from the south of Scania to the far north
of Norrland, and is considered here both the largest as weU
33

514 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
as the best of the whole genus. Its general length is about
a foot, but they are often taken larger, and a bream of 4 to
5 lb. is in Wermland considered about a middle-sized fish.
They are particularly fond of those ponds and waters where
the " quiU wort" {Isoetes Lacustris, L.) abounds. They are
considered so shy a fish, that in certain parishes which border
on the Lake Wener it is forbidden to ring the bells for
church during the spawning season, which usually takes
place early in June.
The younger fish are so unlike the old ones, that they
are by some considered a distinct species, C. Farenus, Art.;
Braxenpanka, Sw.
The bream is met with to about the polar circle, but
does not go over the Lapland frontier. On the Finland
coast is met with in brackish water.
78. Abeamis Ballbbus, Cuv. Faren. D.
This fine-shaped bream raay be distinguished at a
glance from any other of the faraily by its long cloven
tail, its smaller scales, and its long anal fin; jaws
equal; 16 scales in a row between the lateralUne and
dorsal.
Is certainly the rarest of aU the breams in Sweden, but
is found in the Wener, and in fact in many of the midland
lakes, but nowhere so common as in the " Malar." NUs-.
son gives the size of the speciraen he describes as 1 ft.
2 in. ; I never saw one so large. They spawn in the end
of April or May, and Nilsson mentions a curious mark of
distinction between the sexes at this time. The male has
under the lateral Une, over the hinder part of the anal fin, a
yeUovrish patch rough to the finger, on which the scales
are covered with a slimy skin full of smaU warts ; and these
warts are also even apparent on the pectorals. This dis
appears after the spawning season. I have reraarked this
rayself, in a specimen taken in the Lake Fryken; and
curiously enough I have reraarked that the male roach in
the spawning season are covered with sharp tubercles all
over the body, especially on the head.

FISHES. 515
Little appears to be known of the habits of this fish,
but raost probably they much resemble those of the other
breams. The Pomeranian bream, A. Buggenhagii, BL, is not in
cluded by Nilsson in the Scandinarian fishes ; but Mr. Lloyd
says, " We had another bream, caUed by the Wener fisher
men ' Sjo Ruda,' or Lake Carp, but of what species I can
not exactly raake out. Mr. YarreU, to whom I submitted
several specimens brought from the Wener, is inclined to
think it the A. Buggenhagii, BI."
This Pomeranian bream rather resembles the wimma, and
might even be taken for a young of the brama or ballerus, if
the smaUer number of rays in the anal fin (18 to 19), did not
prove it to be a distinct species. According to Valen
ciennes," it most resembles A. Bjorkna ; scales on the lateral
line, 48.
79. Abeamis Blioca, Cuv. ; Cyprinus Bjorkna, Art.
Bjorkna. The White Bream, or Brearafiat. F. D.
Not so deep as the coramon bream. May always be
known by its shiny sUvery appearance. Is very coraraon
in many of the Scandinavian waters, as far north as Up
land. The young fish resemble the roach, the older ones
the young bream. It is, therefore, not an easy fish to
identify, except by a careful exaraination of fin rays and
scales on the lateral line. They spawn here in June.
The habits are the same as those of the rest of the
famUy. Usual length, 10 to 11 iu. ; height, 4 in.
Is tolerably common in Ladoga, in Finland.
B. — Under jaw longest.
Aspius, Agass.
80. Abeamis Aspius, NUss.; Aspius Rapax, Agass. Asp.
D.F.
This is another of the genus which in shape much
resembles the gwynniad, but it may be easUy known by
the very projecting under jaw and the larger mouth; eyes

516 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
small,one-eighthof thelengthof thehead. Colour blueish
grey, sides silvery, iris yeUow ; dorsal grey with a red
tinge ; caudal the same ; anal and pectorals reddish.
Is one of the largest of the whole family, according to
NUsson occasionally attaining a length of 3 ft. In fact,
one of the specimens described by him was 2 ft. 7f in.
It is principaUy confined to the lakes and rivers in the
east of the middle of Sweden ; and is met vrith in the lakes
Malar, Hjelmaren, Wener, and Wetter. It is perhaps the
only species of this faraily that is a fish of prey, and it
greedily devours the " nors," or smaU smelts that abound
in the above-named lakes. Those which I saw in a sort of
moat or canal in Orebro seemed as tame as carp, and readily
took bread which was cast in to them.
The flesh is excellent, but they say hard of digestion.
This is another fish which I think might advantageously be
introduced into the British waters ; for although a fish of
prey, worms, insects, and larva form the greater portion of
its food, and I think many British waters would suit it.
They spawn with us in the end of April, or early in May.
This fish is called in the Wener the " stam," as is also the
leuciscus grislagine.
81. Abeamis Albuenus, NUss.; Cyprinus Alburnus, Lin.
Loja. The Bleak. D. F.
Is comraon in all the northem waters, frora the far
south of the country, at least as far north as Lake Kalix, in
Lulea Lapland. I have taken them here nearly 7 in. long.
They spawn in the beginning of June.
Gen. Chela, Buchan.
Forra like the bleak, with a turned up nose ; lateral line
winds all over the sides.
82. Chela Culteatus, Buchan. Cypeinus Culteatus, L.
Skar Braxen. D.
Scales thin and sraall, about 110 on the lateral Une;
body much compressed, the under part of the belly in

FISHES. 517
front of the anal fin forming a sharp edge ; nose very
blunt and turned up.
This fish, whose native horae is North Germany, Prussia,
etc., where it is said to attain a length of 18 in., must be con
sidered as one of the rarest of Scandinarian fish, only one
specimen having been taken in this country, and this was
procured by Linnaeus himself, in Christianstad, in the south
of Sweden. Is met with in the Lake Ladoga. More
properly belongs to the Black and Caspian Seas.
Gen. Cobitis, L.
Dorsal and anal short ; mouth under the nose bearded ;
body elongated, round, covered vrith sUme and smaU scales ;
taU fin square ; giU openings smaU.
83. Cobitis Baebatula, L. Gronling. The Loach. F. D.
Is certainly a very rare fish in Sweden, if it is ever found
here, of which there appears to be a doubt. I never saw
a Swedish specimen. Sides of the head unarmed. Common
in Finland up to 65°.
84. Cobitis T^nia, L. Nissoga. The Spined Loach. P. D.
Beneath each eye is a forked spine.
Is met with, according to NUsson, in many places in the
middle of Sweden, and I have seen several specimens taken
in the Wener. Is certainly more plentifiil in Scandinavia
than the last. Fam. 2. — Bsocid.s!.
One dorsal fin, set far back ; head flat, vrith -wide gape ;
body long ; both covered with hard scales ; teeth forraidable.
Gen. Esox, L.
Inter-raaxillaries forraing two-thbds of the upper jaw;
fresh waters ; live singly.
85. Bsox Lucius, L. Gadda. The PUse. F. D.
Is the commonest of aUthe Scandinarian fresh water fish.

518 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
and is met with everywhere, from the south of Scania to
far up in Lapland and Finland, and even in feU lakes above the
birch region. The pike spawns in Sweden at three different
seasons : the younger and smaUer fish begin first, about the end
of February; these are called " is gaddor," or ice pike, and
are about 18 in. long. A Uttle later, in March and April,
the larger ones spawn; these are called "fro gaddor,"
or frog pike, because the coramon frogs spawn about the
same time. The largest spa-wn in May, when the trees are
in leaf and are consequently called "lof gaddor" or leaf
pike. It is a singular circumstance here, and one which I never
noticed in England, tha,t at certain times the gums grow
over the teeth of the pike, like the lampas in a young horse,
and for ten days or so they cannot take a bait weU. Theae
periods are said by some to occur regularly, accordmg to
the age of the moon ; but what appears singular is that they
are not supposed to occur at the sarae time every year, but
to be dependent on the terraination of the spawning season.
I never yet met vrith any one, however, who could fully
explain this phenomenon, or state exactly at what time of
the moon it would occur. But I have noticed it at certain
times during the whole fishing season, and they say, that
ten days before the new moon and ten days after is the
period when the pike cannot hang on a bait.
Gen. Scomber Esoces, MiiU.
The lower throat bones grown up together, as in the
labri. Salt water fish. Go in large shoals. Dorsal and
anal fins entire. Subgen. Belone, Cuv.
Body Uke an eel ; nose lengthened to a long smaU round
beak ; dorsal and anal fins entire.
86. Bblonb VULGAEIS, Cuv. Nabbgadda. The Gar Fish.
F. D.
Is very common both in the North Sea, Cattegat, and

FISHES. 519
South of the Baltic ; even on the Stockholm and Finland
coast in May, when they come into the shallow water to
spawn. Like the pike, they spawn at three different times,
and the season lasts frora the beginning of May to the end
of June, when they go back again to the deeps. They have
an old saying in the south of Sweden, that when raany gar
fish come on to the coast in May, a dry suramer and a dear
year wUl foUow. Theb general length here is 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 in.
The Uttle fish described in YarreU as the " European hemi-
ramphus," has been several times taken in the Baltic, but I
beUeve it is the opinion of Swedish naturaUsts in general, that
it is nothing more than the young of the gar fish. Nilsson
does not give an opinion one way or the other. He does
not, however, include it in the Scandinarian fishes as a distinct
species, and I fancy repudiates it.
Subgen. Scomber Esox, Lacep.
Like the gar fish, but the dorsal and anal fins are divided
into small finlets, as in the mackerel. Length 1 ft. to If ft.
87. ScoMBBE Esox Campbei, Lacep. Makrill Gadda. The
Saury Pike. D.
Has only once, before 1863, been taken in the Sound
and once off Christiania, in Norway. An example,
however, was in 1863 taken off the Swedish coast,
near Malmo, so there is no doubt now that it is entitled
to a place in the Swedish fauna.
Fam. 3. — Silueid.^.
One single dorsal, in front of the back ; body long,
without scales; long feelers or barbs around the mouth.
Fresh water fish, Uving on the bottom.
Gen. Sil/wrus, L.
One short dorsal; no adipose fin ; a long anal.
88. SiLUEUS Glaenis, L. Mai. The Sly Silurus. P. D.
Six barbules, two very long, four shorter. Rather

520 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
resembles the burbot in habits, appearance and color.
Colour above blackish green, vrith dark spots ; below
whitish. Is perhaps the largest fresh water fish in
Europe; has been known to attain a length of 6 to 8 ft.,
andj a weight of 150 lb. Is found in some lakes and
large rivers, in the eastern dirision of Sweden,
especially in Smaland and Kalmar Land, specimens
haring been taken there 4 ft. long and weighing
80 lb. ; and it is on record that one was caught in the
Malar lake, in May 1846, which was 7 ft. 6 in. long
and weighed 136 lb. They are said to spawn at
midsummer, but little is known of this, or indeed of
their other habits.
It is very doubtful whether the silurus can be classed
among the British fishes, although I beUeve vrithin the last
few years attempts have been raade to introduce them into
the British waters, where, however, in my opinion, they .would
never attain to any great size. The sUurus is a sluggish,
voracious fish, lying on the bottom, moring its long feelers
to and fro, no doubt for the purpose of attracting its prej
vrithin reach. In Finland is met vrith only in the lakes
around Tavastohus. Fam. 4. — SALMONina).
Every member of this famUy can be at once distinguished
by the small fatty adipose or hinder dorsal fin, near tie
root of the tail, over the root of the last anal fin ray. They
are aU more or less fish of prey ; some Uve entbely in fresh
water, others only in the sea, but most of them pass tie
greater portion of the year in fresh waters, where they
spawn, and return to the sea for a short time to recruit
themselves afterwards. Very clean, neatly formed fish.
The salmon have no true 'type in the South American or
AustraUan seas, where they are represented by the Ga-
laxidcB. 8ahno, Art. Salmon and Trout.
Adipose fin, placed over the hinder part of the anal fin.

FISHES. 521
Artedi dirides this genus thus : —
1. Trutta, or Sahno proprii. Spots darker than the
colour of the body; scales tolerably sraall, about 10 to 12
in a row of a quarter the length of the head; along the vomer
are either a row of teeth or a raised keel, which is not,
however, -risible tiU the skin is taken away. Spawn in
running water.
2. Salvelini, Charr. Spots red or whitish, generaUy
paler than the body colour ; scales very small, about 18 to 20
in a row, a quarter the length of the head ; vomer, which
has teeth only on the front, is for the rest smooth vrithout
teeth or keel. Spawn in stUl water.
No family is so difficult to diride into species as this. No
great stress can be laid upon the different shape of the gill
covers, or position of the teeth on the vomer, for these may
differ even among indiriduals of the same genus, and the
colour and even the forra of the fish, depends upon different
waters and locaUties. I have not space here to enter fully
into this subject, nor have I the abUity to do so, I can only,
therefore, notice the different species pecuUar to Scandinaria,
and make a few remarks on them and their probable identity
vrith other known species, frora my own personal investigation,
and from the observation of men far better acquainted vrith
the subject than myself.
Of the first division, the Salmon proper (Salmon and
Trout), we certainly have in the Scandinarian waters six
distinct /orms, if not distinct species, viz : —
MIGEATOEY.
1. 8. Solar, L. The Sea Salmon
2. 8. Eriox, L. The BuU Trout.
3. 8. Trutta, L. The Salmon Trout.
NON-MIGEANTS.
4. 8. salar, var. Lacustris. Wenems SUfver Lax.

S22 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
5. 8. microps. Hard., 8. ferox, Jard. Great Lake Trout.
6. 8. fario, L. Common Trout.
And of the second dirision, or charr, we have two clearly
distinct forms if not species.
1. 8. alpinus, L. The Charr. Lapplands Roding, Sw,
2. 8. salvelinus, BI. Wettems Roding, Sw.
89. Salmo S-Alae, L. Blank Lax. The Salmon. D. F.
Whatever difficulty there raay be in identifying any
other merabers of the family, or distinguishing one from
the other, there is no doubt that the sea salmon of Scan
dinavia is precisely the same as the salmon of Great Britain
and North America, and its habits in these waters are the
same as in other countries. They are common aU round
these coasts, and ascend the rivers which run into the
Baltic, Bothnia, Cattegat, North, and Polar Seas, in the
end of the spring, to spawn. But in many streams they
cannot come up far, on account of the steep water faUs vrith
which these northern rivers abound, and as salmon ladders
or other derices to assist the fish in their progress to and
from the sea are not in use here, the faUs generaUy prove
insurmountable obstacles. On this account we have no
fresh run sea salmon in the Wener, for they could not
come up the falls of TroUiattan, which He about six English
miles down the Gotha, south of this lake. The sea salmon,
as well as the buU trout and salmon trout, however, come
np to the bottom of the falls to spawn every spring, and the
different seasons of theb appearance at the Uttle viUage of
LUla Edet, about twenty miles belowthe falls, as stated by Nils-
son, may be relied upon as correct. The sea salmon generaUy
begin their spring migrations here as soon as the rivers
are free from ice, and these migrations appear to go on
periodically during nearly the whole summer, and the fish
are called according to the season when they arrive. Thus
at Lilla Edet, the first that come up are :
1. Mort Lax. These are smaller than the general
salmon and come up the river in the end of April, or early
in May, when the " mort," or roach, spawn.

FISHES. 523
2. Hagg Lax, which come up in May, when the "hagg,"
or bird cherry, blossoms, and these are the largest of all,
sometiraes weighing 50 lb., rarely 56 lb.
3. Borting, or saxorling, do not begin to ascend the
streams to LiUa Edet, Falkenberg (in the south), etc., till
after the 20th May, when the raigration of the large salraon
is over ; and the migration of these "borting" continues more
or less imtU October. The " borting " are smaller than the
comraon salmon, and have thinner scales, which easily
peel off.
After the spawning season is over, the salmon return
to the sea, where they remain all the winter spread about,
and apparently making long migrations. In one of the
rivers of Norrland, a salmon was taken in the spring in
which was found a certain kind of hook, which at that time
was only used on the coasts of Pomerania.
Some naturaUsts have supposed that the crook in the
under jaw of the male salmon during the spawning season
has been prorided by nature to moderate the effects of
the severe battles which take place at this time between the
male fish, certainly not to assist them in the operation
of spawning. The largest salmon noticed by NUsson was
a male taken in the sea off the coast of Calmar, in Novem
ber, it was 4 ft. 2f in. long, and llf in. high.
The general spawning season of the sea salmon here
appears to be throughout the month of Noveraber.
90. Salmo Eeiox, L. Gra Lax. The Bull Trout. D.
Does not appear to be so common on any of the Scan
dinarian coasts as the salmon. According to Malmgren
(who has lately published a Ust of the fish found in Finland,
and which contains some interesting remarks on the great
lake trouts of Scandinaria to which I shall hereafter refer)
this bull trout is nothing raore than a form of the 8. trutta,
L., or salmon trout, which latter fish, however, he aUows to
be a good and distinct species. In his description of 8,
trutta, L., he gives as synonymes : S. trutta, L. ; 8. eriox,
S. ocla, and S. trutta, Nilss.; the salmon trout, Yarr.;

524 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
8. truttula, NUss,, sterile form. Sw. hafs forell, gra lax,
Borting, Fin, taimar.
" Professor Nilsson," he remarks " has made of this fish
not less than three distinct species, viz. :
" 8. trutta, L, — The young fuU grown fish in vrinter
and spring during its residence in the sea,
" 8. ocla. — The same fish ready to spawn in rivers,
and most probably the female fish directly after spawning.
" S. eriox. — (Grey or bull trout, Yarr). A very old
fish, which has lost its teeth on the hinder part of the vomer."
Professor Nilsson's statement that the ocla is met with
in the large Scandinavian lakes, has arisen from a confusion
vrith the trutta lacustris, Sieb, {8. salar, var. lacustris
Hard., a description of which vriU be found below). In
Finland they take this 8. trutta, L. mostly in the northern
Osterhottens rivers, where they are called taimen, but they
are also found in the Gulf of Finland and the Polar Sea.
It is undeniable that the 8. spurius, PaU., belongs to this
species. "According also to Widigren the "borting" or S'.
trutta, and the 8. eriox are the same fish at different ages,
for he says there are no specific characters which can dis
tinguish the 8. eriox from very old indiriduals of the-
S. trutta. " 8. truttula, NUss., Prod., of which through the kind
ness of Dr. Widigren, I have received speciraens frora Ide
Fjord, in Bohus Land, is without doubt a sterUe form of
the S. trutta, as is the 8. Schieffermulleri, Bloch. (Wetterns
silfver lax), only a sterUe form of the trutta lacustris,
Sieb." This I doubt.
The investigation of this subject of steriUty in the
genus salmo is interesting. That there may be sterile
forms of both the Wetterns and Wenerns sUfver lax which
I believe are precisely the same fish, I do not deny, but
they are certainly very rare in the Wener, where we have
two clearly distinct species of lake trout, which never by
any chance appear to breed together, and both of which
are taken in our lake in the autumn, full of roe and milt.

FISHES. 525
The buU trout attains a great size in these waters, and
is precisely the sarae as the British fish. I cannot, at least
at present, agree with Mahngren, but consider the bull
trout as good and defined a species as the salmon trout.
However, much remains to be cleared up as regards this
genus, and in the present state of our investigation most
of our opinions are grounded only on suppositions.
91. Salmo Teutta, L. Laxoring Tajraen. The Salmon
Trout. D. F.
The Scandinarian form is clearly identical with the
British fish, as well as with the examples sent from Finland,
and seems to agree exactly with Agassiz's figure and de
scription of 8. trutta, var. tab. 8, Nilsson.
Is met vrith in aU the Scandinarian coasts, from the
extreme south of Sweden to far up into Lapland and Norr
land. NUsson reraarks that the salmon trout in the spawn
ing season has a crook in the under jaw, but not so large
as the salraon, and also red spots raixed with the darker ones.
NUsson mentions specimens taken in Karlaby River of
the weight of 16 lb.
They spawn here in the middle of October.
Febsh Watee Salmon oe Teout.
92. Salmo miceops, Hardin. S. Ferox, Jard. The Great
Lake Trout. Insjo ForeU, Var Lax. Wenems
Lax.
I shall, I trust, be excused if my remarks on the two
species of large fresh water trout, pecuUar to Scandinaria,
are rather long, for much confusion has existed, and stUl
does exist, as to their identity. Both species or forms are
met with in the Wener in great numbers. In the south
ern part of the lake the S. ferox, or Wenems lax,
certainly attains a larger size than in the north ; whereas in
the south of the lake the " silfver lax " {8. sala/r, var. La
custris, Hard.) is much scarcer, and always smaUer than in
the Carlstad waters at the north of the lake, where it often
is taken up to the weight of 20 to 22 lb., whereas m the

526 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
waters around Wenersborg, on the south of the lake (ac
cording to Mr. Lloyd, who has, perhaps, had as much
experience in salmon fishing in the Wener as any man
liring) their usual weight is 7 to 9 lb., and the largest he
ever heard of was one of 14 lb., which he killed himself.
That this 8. microps. Hard., is identical vrith the British
lake trout {T. Ferox, Jard.) is, I believe, universally aUowed,
and I shall only give a short description of our Wener fish
(furnished to me by Magister Hardin, Carlstad), that the.
reader may compare it with his description of the " sUfver
lax," hereafter described. He says : — " This species," speak
ing of his S. microps (the S. ferox, Jard.), which is
decidedly distinct from the " silfver lax," " has smaU eyes, on
which account I have given it the name of S. microps.
In this fish the upper maxUlary bone reaches more or less
behind the eye. The scales are rounded, covered vrith a
thick black spotted sUray skin, only in the middle marked
vrith a round silvery spot, and sweUed up at the edges, on
which account the rows are less distinct, and the colour not
so sUvery as in the 'silfver lax.' The spots are placed
close together, above as weU as below the lateral Une, also
on the gUl covers ; tail, even at the end, or nearly so."
"This species is caUed by the Carlstad fishermen 'var
lax,' or spring salmon, because it is the first that begins to
ascend the Klar River (north of the Wener), in the spring,
although in smaller numbers than the ' silfver Tax.' It is
properly called the Wenems lax, because it is found over
the whole lake, and is the one which is taken aU round its
shores by different devices, such as spinning, etc. This fish,
moreover, goes up most of the tributary streams which run
into the Wener (as the Bije Elfven up to Josseforss),
whereas, on the contrary, the " silfver lax " only goes up
the Klar River, and is principally taken in that neighbour
hood. That this ' var lax ' is YarreU's S. ferox I think is
certain, because Sir Thomas Wilson furnished YarreU vrith
specimens from the Wener, and his figure agrees with our
' var lax.'
" That these two Wener fish are entirely distinct species

FISHES. 527
I infer from the fact, that they both ascend the river at the
same time, and yet we never see the slightest signs of a
transition 'form from one to the other, but we can always
vrith the greatest ease, distinguish them; and, raoreover,
both retain their characters as distinct species even during
the spawning season."
Lloyd, who gives an excellent engraving of this fish in
his " Scandinarian Adventures," from a male weighing up
wards of 30 lb., and measuring 42 in. in length, says : —
" Many of these fish remain in the river Gotha aU the year
round, but by far the greater portion, when the spring was
pretty weU advanced, left us for the Wener, where they
passed the summer, and it was not until the faU of the year
that they again rerisited our rapids for the purpose of spawn
ing. They spawn in the end of October or November, but
long prior to this period, generaUy in the month of August,
they fell down from the lake into the upper part of the
river. The fc-st batch consisted mostly of males, and it was
not untU some Uttle time afterwards that any considerable
number of the females joined company. When the spawn
ing was crver, the fish either headed back into the Wener
or retbed to the deep pools in the Gotha, where they re
mained during the winter to recruit theb strength. The
males, on an average, are nearly a third larger than the
females. I have not unfrequently captured males of 30 lb.
and upwards, whereas the females seldom exceed 20 lb."
Description of a fresh-caught Wenems lax {S. ferox),
which I saw at Mr. Lloyd's house, in Wenersborg, July
5th, 1863. It was a male fish of 30 lb., caught by spinning.
Its length was 3 ft. ; depth under the first dorsal fim 8 in. ;
tail 7 in. across, nearly even at the edge ; upper maxUlary
extended If inch beyond the back of the eye when the
mouth was closed. The spots were round, not cruciform, as
in the " silfver lax ;" the shape of the scales different ; eye
about 1 in. across both ways ; not a red spot on this fish.
On reraarking the great resemblance between this fish
and the 8. eriox, L., or bull trout, Lloyd hazards an opinion
whether it may not be identical vrith that fish, though

528 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
slightly altered by a long permanent residence in the fresh
water, to which it has been restricted.
There is much in this remark, and I think very probably
that such may be the case. That Malmgren's opinion coin
cides with it, is certain, for after describing the 8. trutta, L.,
as a (Ustinct species, he gives us Var. B. — Trutta lacustris,
Sieb ; 8. ferox, Jard. ; 8. trutta, Agass. ; 8. ferox, NUss. ;
8. microps. Hard. ; 8. trutta, Widigren (sterUe form) ; 8.
Schieffermiilleri, BI. ; 8. lacustris, Agass. ; 8. lacustris. Heck.
and Kor. (sterile form, according to Widigren) ; Insjo forell,
Sw. And he remarks : — " As the trutta relicta (vide next
description) is in the Lake Ladoga a confined form of the sea
salmon {8. salar, L.), so is it fair to suppose that this fish is
a confined form in our inland lakes, of the sea trout {8.
trutta, L.)
" Most icthyologists consider this a distinct species, al
though we have not had the luck as yet to prove it so by
any certain distinguishing marks. According to my judg
ment, it is as irapossible to consider this and the foUo-wing
variety" (he here alludes to the common trout, S.fario, L.)
" as true and well defined species, as it is wrong to foUow Dr.
Widigren, and reduce them altogether to one single species,
vrithout noticing or accounting for the different forms in
which this species is met vrith in nature. The distinguishing
marks of this variety are its stronger teeth and darker body
colour, especially above. They live in most of our large
Finnish inland lakes, such as Ladoga, etc., out of which they
ascend the rivers to spawn.
" Siebold, who considers both this and the 8. fario, L.,
as good species, gives as one of the specffic differences in
this fish that it has larger scales than the sea trout {8.
trutta, L.) ; but we can lay little stress on this, because the
scales vary so much in size even in members of the same
form. The stronger teeth in the 'insjo foreU' are
accounted for by the fact that this fish principally lives on
smaUer fish, whereas the salmon trout (hafs foreU) Uves on
smaller animals, principally Crustacea, for the seizing of
which strong teeth are not required. Between our speci-

FISHES. 529
mens of the Finland *¦ insjo forell ' and those which inhabit
the lakes of Sweden, Switzerland, and England, under the
various synonymes given above, I cannot see the slightest
difference." It was in the lake trout in Bodensjon that Siebold first
detected sterility, which araong the genus salmo does not
appear to be so very uncoraraon. Dr. Widigren has since
conceived that the Wettern's so-called " sUfver lax " is no
other than a sirailar sterile forra of the " insjo foreU " {8. ferox,
Jard.), and in every respect agrees with the " insjo forell " of
Boden Ijo, which has always hitherto been considered a good
and distinct species, and called 8. lacustris, Agass. The sterUe
forra of " insjo forell " may be known by the smarter shape
of its body, by the indented taU fin, by the paler body colour
(the young are steel blue), a lesser number of spots on the
body, and, for the rest, by a general appearance which strongly
reminds us of the sea salraon, frora which it only differs
by the row of strong teeth along the whole voraer.
The flesh of our Wenerns lax is neither so rich or so
red coloured as that of the sea salmon. They take a bait
freely, but I never knew one rise to the fly, although they
may do so.
93. Salmo salae, Var. Lacustris, Hard. " Silfver Lax."
This second species or form of Scandinarian lake trout
or salmon (for it is clearly a salraon, and not a trout, like the
last), was very common in the Wener, especiaUy in the
River Klar, where we caU it the Degeforss lax, on account
of theb being captured in immense numbers in the salmon
trap at the falls of that place, a few miles up the river.
It is a more salmon-shaped fish than the last, and is of a
bright sUvery colour, whence its name. It is a splendid fish,
both for sport and the table ; vriU rise as readily at the fly
as a bait ; and although not quite so red, the flesh is very
Uttle inferior to that of the sea salmon. In fact, in appear
ance it precisely resembles the salmon trout ; and in form,
colour, or general appearance, I could never detect any
difference between the sea salmon trout, this silfver lax of

530 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the Wener, and the large trout which we used to catch ia
the Tarra river, up in -Quickiock, Lapland, called there the
" borting," especially when fresh kiUed. Now, these " bort
ing," or ' ' borsting," are considered by Widigren to be the S.
ferox ; and he, raoreover, adds that he can see no difference
between 8. eriox and old exaraples of ^S*. trutta. Be
these Lapland fish, however, what they may, it is certain
that they must be confined all theb lives to these Quickiock
waters, for they never can ascend and descend the faUs in
the Lulea River, to get to and frora the sea. I had only
one season's experience in the Quickiock waters, and I cer
tainly considered these "borting" as identical vrith our
Wenerns silfver lax; I only saw one or two, which I
fancied more resembled our var lax taken there, and they
were smaU, and might have been even large 8. fario. But
I fancy they had both forms of these fish in the Quickiock
waters. There are even now doubts whether this fish is iden
tical with any other European salmon or trout. Dr. Gunther,
to whom I sent speciraens both of this and S. microps,
considered them distinct species; and he further ob
served that our 8. salar (lax) agrees with the " silber lachs "
of Lake Constance, in the shape and length of the pectorals ;
but the whole forra of the head and body of the latter are so
peculiarly elongate, that I cannot hesitate to consider them
as distinct. Hardin has weU described the pecuUarities of this fish in
the following diagnosis : — " Eyes large ; upper maxffiary
bone scarcely reaches to the hinder edge of the eye ; scales
lying in regular transverse rows ; their outer division is alto
gether silvered over, and their shape nearly rhoraboidical ;
spots few, generaUy cruciform, alraost invariably placed
above the lateral Une and on the gUl cover ; taU semi-lunate
or cloven, with pointed lobes." " This species," he adds,
" so much resembles the sea salmon, that we can easUy sup
pose it to be a form of that fish, which, on account of its
long confinement in salt water, never attains the size of those
that inhabit the sea."

FISHES. 531
And this is Malmgren's opinion ; for, when speaking of
the Finland salraon, he says : —
" In Ladoga we meet vrith a form of sea salraon which
Dr. Widigren declared to be identical with those that
inhabit the Wener, in Sweden. I am myself convinced
that this Ladoga salmon is not a distinct species, but a con
fined form of the sea salraon, its character changed by
thousands of years' residence in fresh water. I propose,
therefore, that this Ladoga salmon shall be considered as a
variety of the salmo salar {trutta salar, S'leh.), under the
name of trutta relicta.
" The T. relicta which we take in Finland differs at the
first glance from the coraraon trutta salar, Sieb. {8. salar,
L.), on account of the sraaUer size and the different distri
bution of the black spots on the body. Trutta salar has in
general few spots, and these mostly placed above the
lateral line, whereas in the trutta relicta the spots on the
front part of the body extend below the lateral line, and are
spread pretty thickly in front of the pectorals behind the giU
covers. Trutta relicta seldom reaches a weight of more than
20 lb. ; its general size appears to be 10 to 12 lb. They
shed the teeth on the vomer much sooner than the sea
salmon. In all which I have examined, even araong the
sraaUer ones which only weighed 4 to 6 lb,, I could
detect no sign of a row of teeth reraaining on the back
part of the vomer, whereas in the 8. salar I have often
found them reraaining in a specimen of 8 lb. In the T.
relicta three or four teeth always sit in a cross row in front
of the vomer. The male of the sea salmon has always in the
spawning season a large crook on the under jaw, but in the
male of trutta relicta this is smaU, often nearly iraper-
ceptible, " The roe cones in trutta relicta are much smaller than
those of the sea salmon, and appear to hatch some weeks
earlier." There seems a mystery as to the spawning habits of the
Wenerns silfver lax. Mr. Lloyd remarks: "What became of
them in the spawning season was always a mystery to us.

532 TEN TEAES IN SWEDEN.
but the presumption is that it either held its ' lek ' in the
deeps, or, which is less probable, that it crossed the Wener,
and ascended some of its tributaries. It was always in the
highest possible condition, even in the early part of the
spring, at which time the adult S. microps had only par
tially recovered frora the effects of spawning."
Hardin also reraarks : " It is coraraonly supposed that
salraon ascend rivers and their faUs for the sake of spawning,
but this is certainly not the case with our Wener salmon.
In the beginning of November I have received these fish of
both sexes, which have been taken ' under lek •' (m the act
of spawning) right out in the lake ; but I could never find
the least proof that they deposited their roe up the river.
Their annual raigrations up the Klar (which are at their
height about Midsummer, when some thousands are taken
at Carlstad) must be for sorae other purpose than that of
spawning." The " Wetterns lax," which I have received from Dr.
Widigren, is very like the Wener' s fish, which I call the
8. microps, and certainly belongs, like that fish, to the divi
sion Trutta, jet, nevertheless, appears to rae to be a dis
tinct forra.
The shape of the scales is one of the best distinguishing
marks between the divisions of this faraUy. In the salmon
the scales are round, and rather broader than they are long ;
but in the trout, on the contrary, they are raore oblong, and
more horizontally placed.
Respecting the sterility in some of this genus, Malmgren
makes the foUovring interesting ¦ remark : — "Like all the
rest of the genus in the breeding season, this species is
covered with a thick dark slime, and this is supposed by
Widigren to serve as nourishment to the fish during this
season. This is assumed by the fish before the spa-wning
season begins, and is retained a long time after it. The fish
is then called in Lake Ladoga 'harraaga lohi.' I could
not raake out whether the fisherraen here mean by- the name
of 'walkea lohi' anything more than such indiriduals as
have not assumed this dark spawning dress; but an old

FISHES. 533
fisherman told me that this walkea lohi never spawned. It
would be of the greatest interest if we could prove whether
this walkea lohi is permanently barren, or whether, as sorae
think, it only spa-wns every other year. They ground this
idea upon the fact that the sea salraon does not spawn every
year." 94. Salmo eaeio, L. Forell. The Coraraon Trout. D.
Of this fish we have two distinct forras in Scandinaria.
1. The S.fario, Cuv.; Back ForeU.
2. S.punctatus, Cuv.; FjaU Forell.
The former is clearly identical with the common trout of
Britain and the Continent ; is dispersed over the whole of
Scandinavia ; and Nilsson mentions that on the Dovre Fell,
in Norway, he has seen thera 18 in. long, and they occa
sionaUy reach the weight of 12 lb. and upwards. In the
south of Sweden, however, they rarely exceed 6 to 8 in. in
length. 8. pmictatus may always be distinguished by the little
dark spots with which the body is thickly strewed all over.
Is confined to the feU lakes, ahd can live at a greater ele
vation than any other European fish, for we never find the
charr in those lakes that lie above the wiUow region, whereas
the fjiill trout thrives in waters which are surrounded by
perpetual snows.
Malmgren raakes the S.fario, or coraraon trout, nothing
more than a variety (Var. C.) of the 8. trutta, L., or salmon
trout. I do not fancy many naturaUsts vrill agree to this,
although, doubtless, there is much truth in what he says
respecting this fish : — " Large indiriduals of this variety can
be known by no certain distinguishing characters from in
dividuals of the same size of the foregoing variety {8.
ferox) ."
It can be no other than a large example of fario which
NUsson has described as 8. ferox, Jard., in his " Scandina
rian Fishes," p. 415, and which was sent down frora the
Tomea river ; and even Nordraann has fancied that a full-
grown 8. fario, caught in the Kajana river, was 8. ferox.

534 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN..
These facts are quoted only to prove how difficult it is to
distinguish this and S. ferox frora each other. In the
trout state, as Widigren properly observes, it is impossible
to distinguish 8. trutta and 8. ferox from examples of 8.
fario of the sarae size ; and it is often alraost irapossible to
distinguish individuals of the different forms of the same
size from each other, unless we know from what waters they
were taken. How, then, can we consider them as distinct
species? Even in the comraon trout {8. fario, L.), Siebold
has detected raany barren individuals. Without doubt such
may also be found in the north.
It will be seen by the above description that in Scandi
navia we have, as I consider, at present three species of
migratory salmon, and three species confined to the fresh
waters ; for I can hardly agree with Malmgren, and consider
the 8. eriox, or buU trout, and the 8. fario, L., common
trout, as nothing raore than varieties of the 8. trutta, L., or
salmon trout. I think there is much in his remarks respect
ing the identity of our large lake trouts with the sea salmon
and the bull trout, and very probably these two fish are not
distinct species, but only degenerated forras of the sea fish,
changed by a long residence in fresh water. However, in
the present state of uncertainty (for after all it is only a
supposition that these two large lake trout are nothing more
than forras of the salt water species), I have deemed it best
to consider our two lake trout or salraon as distinct species,
and I think we may fairly erase from the list NUsson's 8.
ocla and 8. truttula.
A careful study of sterility in merabers of this family will
probably lead to iraportant results, and raay account for many
a curious forra of salraon or trout which has hitherto puzzled
our icthyologists.
Respecting the propagation of hybrids between the dff-
erent species of this genus, such as between the sea salmon
and coramon trout, I consider it a subject to be approached
with great caution. Without at all denying that a hybrid
fish can be produced as well as a hybrid bird, it seems so
contrary to all natural laws that I can never believe, except

FISHES. 535
in the most extreme cases, that two species of the same genus
¦vriU ever breed together in a state of nature. If fish were
in the habit of doing so, there would be no end to the curious
varieties that we should meet vrith in every water. We
might see crosses between the perch and the ruffe, between
the roach and the bream, the chub and the dace, between
the coraraon trout and the charr, and raore especiaUy be
tween the two forras of our Wener lake trout. Yet I never
saw a net drawn in Sweden vrithout being able at a glance to
narae every fish that came to land ; and Hardin's remark as
to the lake trout in the Wener (and he has had opportuni
ties of examining thousands of these fish fresh caught in the
Klar river), that "we never see any transition from one to
the other, but can easily distinguish the two forms, even by
the short diagnosis which he has given," is a pretty good
proof that hybrids between these two forms or species (call
them which we wiU) do not exist.
Salvelini, Nilss. Rodingar. Charr.
95. S. Alpinus, L. Lapland's Roding. The Charr. F.
Is coraraon in all the northem feU waters, raore espe
ciaUy in Lapland, and appears to be identical with *S'.
Alpinus of Scotland, although the Scotch charr arrive at
maturity at a size inferior to the Swedish charr. The usual
size of those we take in the Wermland lakes is under a foot,
but I have seen them considerably larger, and weighing
5 lb. They appear to be as general feeders as the salmon
and trout, for here they vriU rise at the fly, and they wUl also
greedUy take dew worms, grubs, and even small pieces of
fat pork. We principally take them in our fell lakes on
night lines baited with dew worms, or in fine trararaels, and
we also catch a good many in the winter in holes cut through
the ice. I beUeve the southem limit of the charr in Sweden
is a smaU fell lake in Dalsland (about 58°), at no very great
elevation above the sea, but, of course, the further north we
travel the more plentiful, as well as hearier, are these fish.
The habits of the charr are curious, and there seems even
stiU to be much mystery attached to thera. They appear to

536 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
become, more migratory the further north we travel. In
Wermland they never leave the deep fell lakes to spawn, but
come up for that purpose on to the shallow water at the sides
and in the raiddle of Sweden. I never heard of any being
taken in rivers. Up in Lapland and north Norway we read
of thera being frequently caught vrith the fly in the large
rivers under the falls. And now another most singular fact
has been noticed regarding the migratory habits of this fish,
both by Professor Liljeborg, in Finland, in 1848, and later
still, by an English salmon fisher, which is, that in the tracts
round the North Cape they leave the rivers for the sea, hke
the sea salmon after spawning, as they have been taken on
their return in the mouth of the rivers with sea Uce on their
bodies. 96. S. SALVELINUS, BI. Wetterns Roding.
It is hardly yet, I believe, decided whether this large
charr, which appears in Sweden to be almost pecuhar to the
lake Wetter, and is never found in the adjacent lake
Wener, is a distinct species, or only a larger form of the
common charr. Dr, Giinther certainly considers it a distinct
species, and identical vrith the 8. salvelinus of the Continent.
Malmgren, on the contrary, considers them one and the
same fish, and in remarking on the Ladoga charr, he says —
" Of this fish we find in the deeper waters a large and a
sraall form, generaUy so dissimilar in colour that the fisher
men consider them as distinct species, and give them differ
ent names. In Ladoga they call the smaller form, which
live in the deepest water, ' pehuli,' and the larger form
' nieria.' Pehuli lives and is taken only in the very depths
of the lake, in fifty to a hundred fathoms of water, while, on
the contrary, 'nieria' wanders about in shallow water, and
is a greedy fish of prey. It is certain they cannot be called
two distinct species, and we can only suppose the pehuli to
be the young nieria, but we are in the dark as to what should
cause the difference in theb colour and habits. I fancy that
the younger fish, which principally lives on Crustacea, holds
itself in the deeps where these Crustacea abound. Whilst

FISHES. 537
I was dredging in Ladoga, m 1862, I found Gammarus lori-
catus and cancelloides Uring in great numbers in forty and a
hundred fathoras of water, but not in shaUow water, and
it is just these Crustacea that pehuli Uve on. The large
nieria, on the contrary, destroys small fish, which live in
shallower water."
I can, in most respects, confirm Malmgren's statements,
frora studying thei habits of the charr in our Wermland
lakes. I have seen the coraraon charr of 4 or 5 lb. taken
in Wermland frequently, and the largest I ever saw we took
in a Lap lake at Quickiock. This was a raale fish, in splendid
condition, 2 ft. 2 in. long, weight 6f lb., caught on June
20th; but I have heard of charr weighing 9 lb,, taken frora
our Wermland lakes, and this on reUable authority.
In his list of European charrs. Dr. Gunther, in his
diagnosis of 8. salvelinus, says (A), "The length of the
pectoral fin in the mature fish less than one half of the dis
tance between the roots of the pectoral and ventral fins ;"
lateral line 1 90 ; lower parts red.
Of the 8. Alpinus he says (B), "The length of the pec
toral fin in the mature fish more than or equal to one half of
the distance between the roots of the pectoral and anal fins ;"
lateral line 195 — 200. Andin his description of /S. salvelinus,
L., Nilss., he notices a large male speciraen from our Lake
Wetter. He further remarks, " The length of the head in
8. salvelinus exceeds the height of the body; the eye is
smaller than in S. Alpinus, and although the number of
scales in both fish is the same in specimens of a correspond
ing age and size, the pectorals in salvelinus are much longer,
the maxillary is less developed," etc.
Opinions are much dirided as to whether this 8. sal
velinus is a distinct species, or only a form of the common
charr. All I can say is that I have examined specimens of
both these fish together, and when they are of the same size
I have been unable to detect much difierence. Malmgren
decidedly says that they are the sarae fish, and NUsson only
gives it as a form, not a variety, although at present I think
it safest to retain it as a distinct species. Nilsson's diag-

538 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
nosis of this 8. salvelimis, or "Wetterns roding," is : "nose
more pointed ; head longer ; fins longer, and colour not so
dark as in the common charr." This forra or variety is, I
beheve, only found in two Swedish lakes, the Wetter, and
in the south of the Sommen. It grows to a large size, often
to 12 lb., sometiraes to 15 lb. (but I never saw one nearly so
large, and I do not consider the size as having anything to
do -vrith determining the species, because I am certain in
many Scandinavian lakes the coramon charr runs to 10 or
12 lb.). Even of this 8. salvelinus there appear to be two
forras-^— the one they call the " livree rocUng," which, accord
ing to Nilsson, never goes out of the lake into rivers which
fall into it (by this it would appear that the other form is
partially migratory) ; spawns throughout the whole of Oc
tober on a stony or sandy bottom, in a depth of about a
fathom. The flesh of this "livree roding" is red, fat, and weU
tasted. The other form, which they caU the " blank rodin-
gen," spawns at the sarae time, but always on a muddy or
clayey bottom, in thirty to forty fathoms. This is smaUer
thap. the other, and the flesh is white and poor.
The fln ray forraula in the 8. salvelinus, carefully reckoned
in raany species, was as foUows : D. 13 ; P. 13 ; V. 9 ; A.
12; C. 19 — 8,7; scales on the lateral line, accordirig to
Nilsson, are 120. This does not- at all agree with Dr.
Gunther. Nilsson gives us two other varieties of the charr, 8-.
carbonarius, Strom, and 8. rutilus, Nilss, both pecuUar to
some lakes in south-west Norway, which are, however,
clearly nothing more than varieties in colour of the common
charr, 8. alpinus, L. Gen. Osmerus, Art.
This genus is distinguished by the transparent body
(haring a pecuUar cucumber Uke scent) ; thin scales ; large
eye ; projecting lower jaw, and adipose fln placed over
the front division of the anal fln ; smaU fish, rarely exceeding
one foot in length ; habits like the salraon, but in Scandinaria
they principally live in fresh water during the whole year.

FISHES. 539
A. — Osmerus.
Large canine teeth in front of the vomer and on the
tongue.97. Osmerus Epeelanus,L. Slom; Nors. The Smelt. D.F.
Fin rays: D. 10— 12 ; P. 11— 12 ; adipose fin higher
than it is long.
In Wermland we call the large smelts, slom; the
smaller ones, nors ; they are, however, decidedly the same
species. The slom generaUy runs to about the length
of 8 or 10 in., but I have seen a specimen 14 in. long. The
nors rarely exceeds 4 in. Both forras are raet with in aU
the large inland lakes in the raiddle of Sweden, and it is
very doubtful whether the real smelt is found in Norway.
With us they remain in fresh water throughout the whole
year. Nilsson says the two forms do not appear to as
sociate, even in the spawning season. I have, however, in the
same cast of the net, taken specimens of smelt of aU sizes,
frora 3 in. and less, up to 8 and 10 in. long. I have seen
both spawn and milt in examples not 4 in. long. They
spa-wn in the Wener early in spring, often before the ice
breaks up, and generally in stormy weather, and a snow storm
at this season with a high vrind is caUed by aU the residents
around the lake a " nors il," or smelt storra. They are
said in the Wener occasionaUy to be taken on a hook, but
such a circurastance never carae under my observation.
Colour, back greenish, sides sUvery. Br. 8; D. 10; P. 8;
V. 11 ; A. 16 ; C. 19.
B. — Mallotus, Cuv.
No canine teeth.
98. Osmeeus Aegticus, Fab. Lodda. F.
Fin rays: P. 18; D. 14; A. 22; adipose fin more
long than high.
This species, which much resembles the common smelt,
but is generally a little sraaUer, has its peculiar horae in the
Polar sea, and has only on solitary occasions been taken
in the south of Norway or the Cattegat. They Uve entbely

540 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
in the sea, but in May or June countless thousands come up
on to the northem coasts of Finland to spawn, followed
by shoals of cod and other fish, who prey upon them. The
scent of the lodda is even stronger than that of the smelt,
and highly attractive to the large fish of prey, on which
account they are in such request for bait, that in 1786,
when the great cod fishery off Lofoden was in the hands
of the Danes, it was forbidden to use this fish as bait because
all could not procure it.
Colour : on the back green, on the sides silvery white ;
the position of the scales forraing longitudinal bands along
the sides. The Scandinarian speciraens have not ex
ceeded 8 in. Gen. Thymallus, Cuv.
(All the species of the salmonidce which have been
hitherto described, are characterized by a wide gape, and
sharp teeth. The three next genera, thymallus, coregonus,
and argentina, have a very small gape, very few teeth, but
the body on the contrary is covered with much larger
scales). Breast armed with a band of scales, which
stretches far beyond the pectoral fins ; dorsal long and
high. 99. Thymallus vulgaeis, Cuv. Vanlig Harr. The Grey-
Ung. D. P.
May always be distinguished by the long high
dorsal fin, with 20 rays, and the dusky longitudinal
streaks along the sides of the body, as weU as by the
long dorsal fin ; scales on lateral line, 90 to 92 ; scales
large, Ue in longitudinal rows.
Is principally confined to the northern lakes and rivers,
and although I have met with small ones in the Klar, near
its outlet into the Wener, I never saw them taken further
south. They spawned vrith us in May, in Lapland in June.
The largest I ever saw was one I took at Quickiock, which
weighed above five pounds.
Colour grey-brown ; sides blueish with a silvery tinge.

FISHES. 541
dotted with smaU black spots. Br. 10; D. 21; P. 15;
V. 10_; A. 13; C. 19.
Gen. Coregonus, Art. The Gwynniad.
General appearance that of a large herring, with an
adipose fin ; teeth either altogether absent, or very sraall •
the whole head and gill covers totally devoid of scales ; first
dorsal short ; more high than long.
Most of this genus are partial raigrants to the sea, but
aU spawn in fresh water.
This is another class respecting the identity of the raera
bers of which the greatest confusion has hitherto existed.
It is impossible, frora the variety and misapplication of the
synonymes used by different authors when describing the
different species, to say which the synonyme properly belongs
to, and although of late many of our naturaUsts have
tumed their attention to this genus, much stiU remains to
be done before we can even say how many different species
of gwynniad we have in Sweden. I shaU refer to the
various authors who have devoted much time to the study
of this fish, and by coraparing their remarks we vrill see if
we can throw any light upon this vexata quaestio.
Beginning with Mr. Lloyd, who has had good opportuni
ties of studying the gwynniads in the south of the Wener,
and who wrote on this subject in 1864. He first remarks
that English naturalists assured him that not one of the
Swedish speciraens brought over by hira was identical vrith
those found in Great Britain.
In his "Scandinarian Adventures" he gives us descriptions
and excellent figures of three different gwynniads which
were all coraraon in the Wener, and which he seems to
cionsider as good and distinct species, and these are certainly
the comraonest and best identified of the Scandinarian
gwynniads. 1. Coregonus oxyrhynchus, L. Nabb sik, Sw. Thymallus
Lotus, BI.
The distinguishing characteristics of this fish, he says,
are the remarkable elongations of the upper jaw, the

542 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
pecuUar form of the mouth, the small eye, and the high
shoulder. 2. Salmo marceno, Bloch. Lof sik, Sw.
The leading characteristics of this fish are that the
length of the head, as corapared -vrith the length of the
whole fish, frora the nose to the end of the fieshy portion
of the taU, is as one to four and a half, that the length of
the head is equal to the depth of the side of the body
between the dorsal and ventral fins, that the orbit of the
eye is so large as to equal one-fourth of the whole length
of the head, that the lateral portion of the inter-maxillary
bone is long, being equal to tvrice the breadth of the nose
in front, and that the snout is deep. It appears to spawn
in the Wener about the middle of October, or ten days to
a fortnight earUer than the 0. Oxyrhynchus. Both attain
a good size in the Wener ; 7 or 8 lb.
3. S. Lavoretus, L. Hedge or Martensmess Sik, Sw.
Also very common in the Wener, the leading character
istics of this fish are -as follows: the length of thehead,
as compared vrith the whole length of the fish, from the
nose to the end of the fieshy portion of the tail, is as one to
six ; the length of the head considerably less than the
depth of the side of the body; the inter-maxillary bones
short, the posterior edge not reaching in a vertical line to
the anterior edge of the orbit of the eye; the eye smaU;
the snout less deep than that of the supposed 8. marcena
in specimens of equal length.
This is the smallest of the three, rarely exceeding one
foot in length, and- is said to spawn about the middle of
November, sorae even in the beginning of Deceraber.
Besides these three, he gives us the coregonus olbula or
vendace, and these are the only four species which seem
to be kno-wn to him ; but we must recoUect that he is only
referring to the fishes of the south Wener, and does not
appear to have studied the icthyology of Scandina-ria further
north. Now, Mr. Lloyd is a man whose opinion is entitled to the
greatest respect, for he has not only studied the habits of

FISHES. 543
the Wener's fresh-water fish for many years, but, when he
published his "Scandinavian Adventures," he had all his spe
cimens over in London, laid them before his friend Mr.
Yarrell, and took his opinion; it is odd if two such men
could not arrive at something Uke a just conclusion. With
out, therefore, denying that the two new species which have
lately been added to the Scandinarian fauna, and to which
I shall hereafter refer, are good and distinct, I for one am
inclined to place my faith more upon Mr. Lloyd's opinion
in this particular than any other naturaUst ; and I therefore
take it for granted that these three are good and distinct
species, and are the comraon Scandinavian gwynniads which
are found more or less dispersed over the whole face of the
country. Nilsson, in his " Scandinavian Fiskar " (1855), divides
them as foUows : —
A. — Upper raaxUlary projecting, or both jaws alike.
C. oxyrhynchus, L. Stor sik. Of this we have two
varieties, very difficult to distinguish frora each other —
(a). C. oxyrhynchus, Bloch. Nabb sik. Nose pointed,
fieshy, much projecting ; nostrils much nearer the eye than
the point of the nose.
(6). 0. marcena, Bloch (?). Knubb sik. Nose blunt,
but stUl projecting beyond the gape ; nostrils right between
the point of the nose and the eye.
0. lavaretus, Nilss. Prod. Gra sik. La coregone lava-
ret, Val.
NUsson's three forms or species are clearly the sarae as
those described by Mr. Lloyd, for both theb descriptions
agree in every main point, the only difference between the
two being that Nilsson considers Mr. Lloyd's "lof sik" as
only a variety of the nabb sik, not a distinct species. I wUl
only refer the reader to the two splendid engravings of these
fish in Lloyd's " Scandinavian Adventures," and I think he
will agree with me that the difference in the shape of the

544 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
noses of the two fish, as weU as the difference in the size of
the eyes and shape of the upper raaxillaries (if constant, and
they vrithout doubt are so) , are quite sufficient of theraselves
to constitute two good and distinct species.
Nilsson gives us a fourth species, Coregonus Nilssonii, Val.
(bla sik), and he also describes a second species of vendace,
G. luimba, L. (sik wimma) ; but of these two fish more here
after. Dr. Widigren, who has lately published a treatise on the
Scandinarian salmonidce, says — " Of the Swedish coregoni,
which have the upper jaw'longer than the under, we can
discover three which have different forms at all ages, and
which, even in the same water, hold themselves distinct from
each other; and these we must consider distinct species,
riz. :
" 0. oxyrhynchus, L. Head sraall, thin, and pointed.
Called in the Wener nabb sik, fit sik ; Wetter, asp.
" The rarest of aU in Sweden. I only know of three cer
tain localities — the Baltic, the Wetter, and the Wener.
"(7. /era. Jar. Knubb sik, Nilss. G. Marceno, BI. Lof
sik. (Wener) .
" Nose, as it were, cut off square. According to my ex
perience, is found in all the three above-raentioned lakes,
and, by all accounts, it is the species which in Lapland is
called the stor sik.
" G. lavaretus, L. The Powan, Yarr. Sw., Sik gra sik.
Is the coraraonest and widest spread of aU the Swedish
gwynniads." B. — Jaws even.
C. Nilsonii, Val. Is, next to the foUovring, the smaUest
of all the genus. Speciraens of 140 mm. long, which I took
in Saggat Trask, up at Quickiock, in June, had abeady such
large roe that they would doubtless have spawned in the
foUo-vring auturan.
The most characteristic mark of distinction in this species
is the form of the head and nose. On account of the fiat
forehead, and the shape of the under jaw, it rather resembles

FISHES. 545
C. albula. In the dimensions it coraes nearest to the fol
lowing species, frora which, however, it can easily be dis
tinguished by the eyes, which in C. Nilsonii are considerably
sraaUer than in C. megalops.
G. megalops, N. Sp. Both jaws alike ; the. breadth of
the upper maxillary more than its height. Nose and fore
head broad, but the nose in front of the eyes is curved down.
Eyes large, equal to about one-third of the length of the
head ; body forra more round and even than in any other of
our gwynniads. The upper maxiUary extends to the front
edge of the eye, which lies raore than one eye diameter from
the point of the nose. The dorsal is higher in proportion
than in any other Scandinarian species. D. 14; P. 15;
V. 11; A. 16; C. 19; scales on lateral line 92. Colour
above dark soot brown, with a very slight silvery tinge;
beUy and sides reddish, silvery.
Is the rarest, as weU as the least of aU the species.
The largest I have seen have not exceeded 200 mm. in
length. He gives very fab reasons why this fish differs from the
young of any other Scandinavian sik, and says that frora the
form of the upper maxUlary it appears to come nearest to
G, Pollan, Thompson, but in this latter the eye is much
smaUer than in the 0. megalops.
I shaU now quote a few extracts from Malmgren's " Fish
of Finland" (1863), in which he remarks —
"TiU now the coregoni have been but Uttle known.
Professor NUsson has to one species joined at least three
good species : C. oxyrhynchus, L. ; 0. lava/retus, L. ; and
G. fera, Widigren (not Jurine) ; and has taken as a distinct
species the young of the true G. lavaretus, L."
As Finnish species he gives us —
1. G. lavaretus, L., Kroyer, NUss. Siiki, Fin. C. oxyr
hynchus, V. B. Knubb sik, NUss., p. 433. The Powan.
0. cepedei, Fam., Yarr., " British Fishes," i. p. 314.
This is the commonest species in Finland. Is met -with
m great quantities both in the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland,
from whence they come up the rivers to spawn. General
35

546 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
weight 1 to 3 lb. We see by his synonymes that he consi
ders this Finland fish as identical with the British powan.
In the south of the Baltic it appears that this species
answers to the German " schnapel," which is the true
C. oxyrhynchus, L. This last-named species is met with also
in the lakes Wener and Wetter, in Sweden, on the
Swedish shores of the Baltic, and probably also on the
south-west coast of Finland.
He describes this latter under the synonyraes of — C
oxyrhynchus, L. ; 8. lavaretus (der Schnepel), Bloch. ; G.
oxyrhynchus, Val., KJroyer, Siebold, and Widigren.
2. C. marcena, Bloch., not NUsson. Walkea suki. 0.
fera, Widigren.
Coramon in Ladoga. General size 5 to 10 lb. His
description exactly agrees with Mr. Lloyd's, and he, more
over, says that he fancies this is the true Lapland gwynniad.
3. G. Widigreni. Walamka suki. 0. fera, Widigren
nee Jurine.
Is met -vrith in the deepest parts of the north of Lake
Ladoga, and is taken during the spawning season in fifty to one
hundred fathoms. Dr. Widigren has had the goodness to
send me a specimen of his 0. fera frora the Wetter, and
after a careful examination, I can safely identify his C. fera
vrith my C. Widigreni, from Ladoga. But I am obliged to
give this a new name, because Widigren's 0. fera not only
includes this species, but also the foregoing, C. marcena, BI.
Moreover, the name is wrong, because Jurine's G. fera, from
Bodensjon, has, according to Rapp's description, a shorter
and higher head and shorter fins. From aU this 0. fera,
from Bodensjon, appears to corae rauch nearer our G.
onoA'cena, BL, than our C. Widigreni, which is identical vrith
0. Widigreni, frora the Wetter. Siebold fancies that
0. fera, Jurine, is a local form of G. marcena, BL
4. G. Nilsonii, Val. Is also met vrith in Ladoga, and in
this lake aU the Finland species of gwynniad Uve together.
5. G. albula, Nilss. In the Ladoga attains a length of
12 to 14 in.
He adds that two other species or forms of vendace are

FISHES. 547
met vrith on the coasts near Archangel — the one called by
the Russians " nelma," which appears to be identical vrith
G. nelma. Pall. ; the other taken by Liljeborg, and by him
supposed to be G. clwpeoicles. Pall.
It would therefore appear that now our modern Swedish
naturalists suppose that we have five distinct species of
gwynniad in Scandinaria, besides the " sik loja," and
vrithout entering into the question as to whether this new
G. megalops is a good species or not, it wiU be best to
include it in the list as a species, and leave it for a matter of
future investigation.
I beUeve the three first described to be good and distinct
species, riz. : —
100. C. OxYEHYNCHUs, L. Nabb SUs. D.
101. C. Mae^na,BL Lof Sik. F.
102. C. Lavaeetus, NUss. Gra Sik. D. F.
For diagnoses of these refer to the introductory remarks.
Certainly these three are the coraraon species of gwyn
niad peculiar to Scandinavia.
103. C. Nilsonii, Val. Bla Sik. F.
Is a smaU species, rarely exceeding 11 in. in length;
head smaU, pointed ; eyes large ; the point of the nose
flattened, double as broad as it is high; both jaws
nearly of an equal length; inter-maxUlary bone bent
on the front edge, and projecting beyond the tubercles
of the nose; ventrals vrithout any axiUary scales;
scales on the lateral Une, 55 to 87; colour dark brown
shifting into steel blue (whence its Swedish name of
bla sik), graduaUy assuraing a sUvery tint on the sides ;
below white not sUvery; dorsal and caudal brown-grey;
under fins white; the ventral and anal vrith blackish
points ; the body lancet-shaped. A. 14,15 ; P. 14
or 15; V. 12; A. 15; taU deeply cloven. (This is
NUsson's description.)
NUsson remarks that this species ought to be carefuUy
compared vrith two British species of gwynniad.
Is principaUy found in " Ringsjo," a lake in the south

548 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
of Sweden, where it remains all the year. It is also pro
bably a native of other Scandinarian lakes, for Valenciennes
has even obtained speciraens from Norway.
They spawn in November, and the spawning season
lasts till the middle of January.
Of Widigren's G. fera, Jur., Malmgren appears to make
a new species, which he calls G. widigreni, G. fera, Wid.;
and he says : " From 0. marceno, which it otherwise much
resembles, this species differs on account of its longer
head, its more slender form of body, and the different
shape of the nose, its smaller size, and later spawning
season (end of Noveraber and Deceraber). The head, as
well as the body, is raore lengthy in proportion, but not so
" spool " shaped as in C. lavaretus, but reaches its greater
height at the back of the head ; the nose, seen from the
side, appears triangular ; scales on the lateral line 90 ; usual
size 1 to 3 lb."
He refers to G. fera, Wid. (nee Jurbie), Wid. 1862, Fab.
18, p. 64.
Now there seems some discrepancy here. I have before
me Widigren's " Bidrag till kannedom om Sveriges Sal-
monider," in the " Ofversigt of Kong vet Akad, Forhand "
for February 1862, and here he certainly notices only the
five species which I have mentioned above, nor can I see
any thing in his description there which leads me to sup
pose that the fish which he describes as G. fera, Jur., and
to which he gives the synonyme of C. Marcena, BL, and the
Swedish narae of " knubb sik," is meant by him to be con
sidered as a new species, or anything more than the C.
marcBna, Bloch, as described by Mr. Lloyd; for he gives
it the Wener name of the "lof sik" aswell as "knubb sik,"
and except as regards the spa-wning season, both their de
scriptions of this fish seem to agree, especially as regards
the eye, one of Mr. Lloyd's chief raarks of distinction. So
whatever they raay consider in Finland, I think no natura
list here -vrishes to make 0. fera, as described by Widigren,
a new species, or anything more than the coramon " lof sik,"
of the Wener.

FISHES. 549
I cannot make out what Mahngren means by alluding
to the smaller size of this fish as a specific mark of dis
tinction. Widigren in his above quoted description says
nothing of its smaller size. According to Lloyd, the lof sik
of the Wener attains an equal weight with G. oxyrhynchus,
7 to 8 lb.
On this interminable question of the identity of the
different species of sahnonidce, it appears that the rising
generation of naturaUsts are now aU at once going to
settle it by juraping at conclusions which the naturaUsts
of the past generation had to puzzle out by very slow
degrees. I think that the British icthyologists, at least,
wiU be interested in some of the remarks which I have
quoted on this subject.
104. C. Megalops, Wid. N. Sp.
See my preceding remarks on this new species.
If we acknowledge this as a good species, and Malm
gren's conjecture that Widigren's G. fera which he (Malm
gren) includes in the list of Finland gwynniads as G.
Widigreni, turns out correct, we shall have six species of
gwynniad in Sweden, besides two forms, if not distinct
species, of vendace, but as I have before remarked, it is
excessively cUfficult, especially among the younger and
smaller examples of this family, to decide which is a species,
and which a mere form or variety.
C. Under jaw projecting. o
105. CoEEGONUS WIMBA, Nilss. Sik Wimma. Anims
Wimma.
Body undersized ; its height greater than the length
of the head, which is as one to six of the length of the
body ; upper maxillary broad, and ends under the front
edge of the pupU of the eye ; scales on the lateral hne
about eighty ; usual length 9 to 10 in. ; colour above
dark green, tinged vrith blue; sides sUvery; opercle
yeUowish; fins smaU. D. 12 ; P. 16; V. 12 ; A. 15.
There is a question whether this is a distinct species or

550 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
only a variety of the 0. albula, or vendace. Be this as it
may, it seems as yet only to have been met vrith in one place
in Scandinaria, the lake Anim, in Dalsland, where Linnaeus
first discovered it, and where the fishermen distinguish it
from the coramon vendace by its brighter scales, its smaller
eyes, and different form of mouth. They never appear
to migrate, but always keep in deep water, and never
approach the shore. They spawn in the end of October,
and the spawning season lasts two months.
106. CoEEGONUS ALBULA, Val. Sik Loja. The Vendace. F.
Body lengthened, round, compressed at the sides ; its
height less than the length of the head, which is as one
to five of the whole body length ; usual length 5 to 6
in. ; colour and fin ray formula as in the last.
Is met with in raost of the lakes in the raiddle of Norway
and Sweden, and goes far up into Lapland. In our midland
lakes they spawn about November and December.
Gen. Argentina, Art.
Much resembUng the smelt in appearance, but the posi
tion of the dorsal fin before the ventrals will at once distin
guish this genus. Live only in the sea, and except, as
young fish, never approach the coasts.
107. Aegentina silus, Nilss. Storre SUfver Fisk, Sw.
GuU Lax. Las SU, Norw.
About 18 in. long; sides of the body in the young
fish sUvery white, in the older ones yeUovrish ; scales
broad, sharply serrated at the hinder edge. Fin rays :
D. 11; P. 17; A. 14 — 15; vertebrse 66; eye very
large, equal to one-third of the length of the head.
Is found on the western coast of Norway, especiaUy off
Bergen, where they occasionally attain a length of two feet ;
in sumraer they live at the depth of eighty to a hundred
fathoms, in company with the sebastes.
The spawning season is not precisely known, but is pro
bably either in autumn or spring. May be considered a rare
fish.

FISHES. 551
108. Aegentina Hebeidica, Yarr. Mindre Silfver Fisk.
The Hebridal Argentine.
Rarely exceeds 7 in.; the body more lengthened
than the last; the head and eye sraaUer. Fin rays : P.
13 — 14; A. 12 — 13 ; vertebrae 52 ; colour silvery, tinged
vrith brown.
Has as yet only been caught in one place off the Scan
dinarian coast, in Christiania Fjord, where it is taken
not unfrequently at a depth of twelve to fifteen fathoms,
and is known by the name of " stromsUd ;" has a cucumber
scent, like the smelt. It is not known when they spawn,
but a specimen of eight inches, taken in June, was full
of roe. Gen. Scopelus, Cuv.
Small sea fish, something in the shape of the minnow,
but the under jaw is very projecting, the eye very large, and
they may always be known by the row of sUvery spots along
the sides and belly ; the adipose fin is scarcely perceptible,
being nothing more than a long low skin lobe over the
hinder dirision of the anal fin ; sUvery scales, large, round,
thin, and easUy peel off.
109. Scopelus boeealis, NUss. Nordisk Prick Fisk. The
Pearl Side.
Length about 3 in. Is rare in these seas, but is
occasionally taken in the Cattegat and off the west coast
of Norway ; pectorals under the edge of the subopercle ;
between the ventrals and gUls a row of twelve spots;
head much shorter than the greatest height of the body.
Fin rays as in the last.
110. Scopelus glaculis, Reinh. Strom's Prick Fisk.
Described by Strom as " en liden rar fisk." Head no
longer than the greatest height of body ; ventrals exactly
half way between the point of the nose and the end of
the anal fin ; between them and the giUs a row of five
spots; pectorals behind the posterior edge of the
opercle ; length 2f to 3f in. ; colour greenish brown ;
sides silvery. D. iO; A. 17; P. 15 ; V. 8.

552 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
On the Scandinavian coast only one specimen of this
little fish (which evidently belongs to the North Greenland
seas) has been taken, and this was many years since, off the
strand, in Sondmor, West Norway.
Gen. Sternoptyx, Herrm.
Body compressed, high, scaleless, sUvery, vrith a thin,
bony keel along the abdomen, and a shorter one on the
back; mouth large; preopercle with one spine; one short
dorsal, and behind that a rudiraentary adipose fin, as in the
last genus ; anal long ; taU deeply cloven.
111. Steenoptyx oleeesii, Cuv. Offers Platt Fisk.
A double row of four spots under the root of the tail
fin, and twelve along the side of the abdorainal keel. A
rare tropical fish, generally about 2 in. long; colour
along the back dark, for the rest the whole colour
appears to be sUvery. Br. 9 ; D. 9 ; P. 10 ; V. 6 ; A.
12; C. 19.
Two specimens have been taken on the coast of West
Norway, probably brought up there by the gulf stream.
Many rarities are carried to far distant coasts frora the land
to which they belong, through the agency of this guff
stream. For instance, the seeds of the Araerican Mimosa
Scandens, Dolichos urens, etc., are frequently taken off the
coast of Heligoland.
And here I will quote an excellent remark of Professor
Bell's, in his work on British reptiles : —
" The single, and purely accidental, occurrence of a bird
or of a fish vrithin the range of our guns, or of our nets, has
always been deeraed sufficient warrant to constitute the wan
derer fair game to our native faunists. It may, perhaps, be
doubted whether the important and interesting subject of
the geographical distribution of animals can receive much
illustration from thus swelling the catalogue of local species
by the addition of such as owe their place in our fauna rather
to the caprice of the winds or the waves, to the riolence of a
storm, or the temptation of an unusual chase after theb food.

FISHES. 553
than to any regular and voluntary raigration ; nor does there
appear any very sufficient reason for distinguishing between
those species of birds, for exaraple, which are driven to our
coasts by the immediate force of the tempest, and those
which are brought from the same countries, and wafted
hither by the sarae impelUng power, but through the medium
of the sails of a ship, and secured by the safeguard cf a
cage." Fam. 5. — Clupeid.s;.
Rather reserable many of the faraUy of the cyprinidce in
shape and appearance, but every raeraber of this faraily has
considerably more branchiostegous rays, usually six to eight,
one species as many as fourteen : abdomen compressed, the
scales on the margin forraing a serrated ridge ; scales large
and thin ; fins sraall ; one single dorsal, vrith the pectorals
directly under it. AU live in the sea.
A. Under jaw projecting.
Gen. Glupea, L.
Body -vrithout spots ; raouth sraaU, directed upwards.
The position of the ventrals, close to the dorsal fin, forms
the safest distinguishing character between the members of
this faraily.
112. Clupba haebngus, L. Vanlig SiU. The Herring.
D.F.
Ventrals placed under the middle or foremost thbd
division of the dorsal fin; abdominal keel not deeply
serrated. Br. rays 6 — 8; anal 16 to 18 rays. Length
7 to 15 in.
Several different forms of herrings are taken off these
coasts, which are naraed after the localities and the seasons
of the year in which they are taken. The largest and best
are those caught on the Norwegian coast ; the sraallest are
in the Baltic, and one forra, called the stroraraing, never
exceeds 8 in. in length.
They corae on to these coasts to spawn at very different
seasons of the year. The large Norwegian winter herrings

554 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
begin to approach the coast in January, and leave in April ;
but the form which they call the sumraer herring comes on
to the coast in July or August, and spawns about October,
and the smaU forra in the Baltic spawns in May and June ;
up the Bothnia, at Umea, the stromming spawn in the
middle of July.
The herring fishery on the Swedish coasts is now very
inconsiderable, as corapared to what it formerly was.
113. Clupba speattus, L. Sharp SUL The Sprat. D.F.
Dorsal placed further back than in the herring ; the
ventrals beneath its hinder dirision ; keel of the abdomen
deeply serrated ; length 5 to 6 in. ; anal fin with 20 rays.
There are two forms of sprat which, NUsson observes,
might well be taken for two distinct species — the one a
northerly form, body smaUer and more elongated, vrith the
head longer than the greatest height of the body ; from
the coasts of Stockholm and Norway. The other is more
broad, with a shorter head, which is not equal to the greatest
body height. From the Sound and coast of Scania. Is met
vrith (never in such large shoals as the herring) aU round
these shores, from the north of the Baltic in the east to north
of Bergen on the west.
Spawns principally about Michaelmas. The most are
taken off the Norwegian coast in October. It is of this fish
that the far-famed Norwegian anchories are made. Accord
ing to SundevaU, they spawn off the Stockholm coast in
July. 114. Clupba pilchaedus, BL Sardin (eUer) Pilchard. The
PUchard.
No teeth, as in the herring or sprat ; dorsal exactly
in the centre of gravity, with the ventrals placed under
its middle ; two oblong patches of scales on the sides
of the tail fin ; anal fin vrith 18 rays ; keel of the
abdomen not so sharp as in the herring, which in general
appearance it much resembles, but the body is thicker
and rounder; length 9 to 10 in. ; scales very large,
7 to 8 in one transverse row.

FISHES. 555
Only one single example of this fish appears to have been
taken off any Swedish coast. It was caught off KuUen, in
the south of Sweden, and was a female full of roe ; about
10 in. long.
It is this species that forras the sardines of coramerce,
and the principal bait used to take them off the coasts of
Brittany is salted codfish roe from Lofoden.
Gen. Alqsa, Cuv.
Distinct teeth in the jaws ; upper jaw notched in the
middle ; a row of dusky spots along each side of the body ;
scales sraall; about 18 in one transverse row; length 14 to
18 in. ; otherwise more resembUng the pUchard than any
other. 116. Alosa pinta, Cuv. VanUg Stam SUL The Twaite
Shad. D.
Is rare ; principally taken in the Cattegat and Sound,
now and then in the south of the Baltic, but never far up.
B. — Upper jaw projecting.
Gen. Engraulis, Cuv.
Body elongated ; mouth large ; gape extending far be
yond the back of the eye ; branchiostegous rays 12 to 14.
116. Engeaulis VULGAEIS, NUss. Ansjovis. The Anchovy.
D.
Body without spots, vrith a silvery gland ; teeth very
fine; ventrals placed in front of the dorsal fin; an
oblong scale on each side of the taU ; length 6 to 7 in.
Is very rare in these seas, and only found on the west
from KuUen to a little way up the Norwegian coast.
Division 2. — Thoeacici.
Ventrals placed a Uttle before or immediately beneath
the pectorals. Fam. 1. — GADiD.a;,
Body of the usual form of fish well proportioned or

556 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN,
lengthened ; scales in all, except about three genera, soft,
small, and weak; mouth large, full of sharp teeth; gill
openings large, with seven rays.
Are all (with the exception of the burbot) sea-fish, and
usuaUy Uve in shoals. COD-EISH,
1 , Ventrals placed in front of the pectorals,
A, — Three dorsal and two anal fins.
Gen, Gadus, L,
Crista sagittaUs upright and single; three dorsal and
two anal fins, covered with small scales ; caudal distinct.
a. Upper jaw projecting.
(1). With one barbule under the chin.
117. Gadus MOEEHUA, L. (old fish) ; G. callaeias, L. (younger
fish). Torsk. The Coramon Cod. D. F.
The northem cod differ so rauch in colour, that on these
coasts we have four different forms, all known to the fisher
men by different names —
1. Gra Torsk (Grey Cod). This is the most common.
Colour white-grey or grey.
2. Griis Torsk (Grass Cod) . Greenish or oUve-coloured.
3. Berg Torsk (Rock Cod). Reddish, with red fins.
4. Svart Torsk (Black Cod) . Black or blackish.
In aU, however, the lateral line is white.
Mr. Couch inclines to the opinion that G. callarias,
L., is a distinct species, and figures it as "The Dorse."
D. 13 + 18 + 19; A. 19+17.
This is the coraraonest of the genus, and is met vrith on
all the Scandinavian coasts. On the southern coast they
spawn about April. The cod here runs to a large size, 2 to
4 ft. ; body patched and spotted all over with rainute dark
spots; anal opening under the front edge of the middle
dorsal ; eyes much smaUer than the distance between them
and the tip of the nose.

FISHES. 557
118. G. LUSCUS, L. Bred Torsk. The Bib Pout. D.
May be at once known from any other member of the
faraUy by the depth of the body, which is raore than
the length of the head, and the long anal fins, the first
of which coramences nearly in a line vrith the first dorsal.
Is rare in Scandinavia, and scarcely ever exceeds a foot
in length. D. 12 + 20 + 30 ; A. 29 + 20. The lateral
Une is black, and there is a black spot at the origin of
the pectorals, as in the whiting. Size of the eyes equal
to the distance between them and the point of the nose.
119. G. MINUTUS, L. Glys Torsk. The Power, or poor.
Cod. D.
This, the smaUest of all the family, rarely exceeding 8
to 10 in., may be known at a glance frora the last, which
it otherwise much resembles, by the shorter first dorsal
fin, and by its different position, which is entbely
before the first anal. Is never met with in the Baltic,
rare in the Sound, and not coramon anywhere in these
seas, although it is found, I believe, all through the
year on the coast south of Gothenburg, and as far up as
Bergen. Anal opening under the hinder edge of the
first dorsal fin ; eyes rauch larger than the distance
between thera and the point of the nose. D. 13 + 21
+ 20; A. 26 + 21.
120. G. jEglbeinus, L. Kolja. The Haddock. D. F.
May always be known by the white colour, the black
lateral line, and the large black spot under the first
dorsal. Is comraon in the Cattegat, Sound, and
North Sea, even as far up as Trorasoe, but never in the
Baltic. Usual length here 12 in. to 16 in., but they are
occasionally taken as large as 2 ft. Anus placed under
the front edge of the middle dorsal fin. D. 16 + 22
+ 21; A. 25 + 22.
(2). With no barbule under the chin.
121. G. MBELANGUS, L. HritUng. The Whiting. D.
Is known by its silvery colour, and the black spot over

558 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
the root of the pectoral. Usual size here 8 in. to 12 in.,
but they have been taken up to 18 in. and 20 in. ; anus
under the middle of first dorsal. Is met with on aU
these coasts, from the south of the Baltic to far vrithin
the Polar cbcle. They never here, appear to flock
together in large shoals, even in the spawning season,
nor do they wander much, but remain throughout the
year about the spots where they were born. D. 14 + 21
+ 20; A. 34+ 23.
b. Under jaw projecting.
(1). With no barbule under the chin.
122. G. POUSTASSO, Riss. ; G. mblanostomus, NUss. Kolmule
HritUng. Couch's "Whiting.
General characters of the whiting, but the under jaw
is longer, the back is darker, and the eye nearly double
the size of that in the common whiting ; the three
dorsal fins, instead of being placed together, are set
vride apart, and the space between the hinder and
middle fins is more than the length of that fin. Inside
of the giU covers, black. The Norwegian specimens are
usuaUy from 10 in. to 18 in. long; anus long, before the
first dorsal. Is taken occasionaUy off the south-west
coast of Norway, where, according to the fishennen,
they do not go up into shallow water, and are never
taken in any great numbers. D. 13 + 14+24;
A. 38 + 25.
123. G. CAEBONAEIUS (old fish) ; G. VIEENS, L. (young fish),
Gra Sej. The Coal Fish. F. D.
Resembles the poUach more than any other species,
but the lateral Une is straight and white, the eye is very
much smaUer, the tail more deeply forked, the fins all
appear larger, and the greenish black colour of the
back of the old fish, mingles by degrees vrith the silver
grey of the sides ; anal opening under the back dirision
of the first dorsal fin; mouth black inside. CoIoim
varies so much vrith age, that for along time the young

PISHES. 559
fish was considered as a distinct species, under the
name of the green cod. The green colour on the back
of the young fish, and the yeUow sides, appear to give
place to a darker tint, when the fish has reached the
length of about 10 in., and it becoraes blacker every
year as the fish increases in age.
Is a common fish in all the Scandinarian seas, from the
Sound up to the North Pole, but has never been taken in the
Baltic. They appear to be most common, however, off
Bergen, where they go by different names, according to the
different seasons of the year. Under 6 in., they are called
'^mort," and are then taken in autumn in the shallow
fjords off the coast. When they are 9 in. to 18 in. long
they are called " pale ;" in the second year, " sma pale ;"
in the third year, " stor pale ;" and the larger they
are the further they keep from the land. In the fourth
year they are caUed " sej," when they leave the coast and
banks, and go out into the deeps. They are said to spawn
at Christmas. Usual size of the largest 3 ft. to 3f ft. Speci
mens of 3 ft. 8 in. weigh 20 lb. D. 13 + 19 + 20 ; A. 26
+ 23.
124. G. POLLACHius, L. Blank sej. The PoUach. D.
Lateral line dark and crooked ; taU fin slightly
forked; the dark brown colour of the back and the
sUvery tinge on the sides, divided by a weU-defined Une ;
anal opening under the front dirision of the first dorsal ;
scales sraaUer than in the last. Is certainly very rare
on the Swedish coast of the Baltic, but is raore common
the further we proceed up the western coast ; and in
the North Skargard, off Gothenburg, they are met with
at aU seasons of the year, on a sandy bottom, among
steep rocks, in ten to twelve fathoms of water. They
are said to spawn in April. Length from 2 ft. to 3 ft.
D. 12 + 20 + 19; A. 31 + 26.
(2). With a small barbule.
125. G. ESMAEKii, Nilss. Sma sej.
Might be easUy confounded vrith the young of the

560 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
last, were it not for the presence of the sraall beard,
which might, however, easily be overlooked; but the
head is shorter, the eye and the scales rauch larger.
In an obUque row, frora the lateral line to the middle
dorsal fin, fifteen scales can be counted ; in the poUach
forty. Tail small; anal opening under the hinder
division of the first dorsal. Length 6 in. to 8 in.
D. 16 + 23 + 23; A. 27 + 28.
Dr. Esmark relates that this Uttle fish is not uncommon
in Christiania Fjord, in Norway, probably also in many
other places off the Norwegian coasts. Respecting its
habits, nothing is known.
B. — ^With two dorsal and one anal fin.
Gen. Merluccius, Cuv.
Crista sagittaUs cloven in front ; body covered vrith large
hard scales.
126. Meeluccius vulgaeis, Flem. Vanlig Kuramel. The
Hake. D.
The flattened head, the round long body, the large
scales, and the hinder dirision of the dorsal and anal fins,
being higher than the front and rounded, wiU easily dis
tinguish this species from any other of the cods. It is
often taken in the northern seas four feet long, but usuaUy
it is sraaUer. Is not raet with in the Baltic, seldom in
the Sound, but in the Cattegat and North Sea it is more
common, and it is taken far up on the west coast of
Norway. Forraerly they were far more coraraon off the
west coast of Sweden than at the present day, for now they
are rare and principally taken (always on a muddy, never
on a sandy bottora) on long lines in 100 to 120 fathoras. They
are said to spawn off the bants in deep water in July and
August, and never at any season of the year to corae in on
to the coasts. D, 10 + 38; A. 33; anus lies nearer the
head than the point of the tail.
Gen. Molva, Nilss.
' Body covered with small scales, lying in a sUmy skin ;

FISHES. 561
teeth large, in a single row; mo perceptible crista sagittaUs;
taU widely dirided from the dorsal and anal flns.
127. MoLVA VULGAEIS, NUss. Langa. The Lmg. D. F.
The longer body, the beard under the chin, the rounded
tail, and the sraall scales, -vrill always distinguish this species
from the last. The ling attains a large size here, often
measuring 5 to 6 feet. Is never taken in the Baltic, rarely
in the Sound, but the principal fishery is on a bank about
16 or 18 Swedish miles off the Skaw, the northernmost
point of Jutland, where it is taken during the summer
on long lines, in dry weather in 150 fathoms, but in rainy
weather it comes up into 40 to 60 fathoms. With luck,
one boat in a week wUl take about 300 Ung and large cod
off this bank. These are salted and sold in Gothenburg as
" kUppfisk," or else as " kabUja," for which latter purpose
the ling are best.
128. M. Abyssoeum, Nilss. Birke Langa.
Never attains so great a size as the common Ung, which,
however, it much reserables, but is easily distinguished by
the foUovring characteristics. The under jaw is considerably
longer than the upper, the eye is rauch larger, and the fore
head between the eyes is nbt so broad : moreover the body is
thinner according to its length, and rauch raore tapering to
the taU. Br. rays 7; D. 14+ 76 to 78; P. 18 to 19; V. 6;
A. 74 to 75.
In the common ling the fin ray formula is : Br. rays 7 ;
D. 13 + 67; P. 18; V. 6; A. 58 + 66.
Is not found in the Cattegat ; only in the North Sea,
off the west coast of Norway. The coramon Ung is only
taken in deep water, far out at sea, whereas this species
never goes far from the land, but is always met vrith in
bays and fjords, though only in those which are deep and
have a soft bottom. Gen. Lota, Cuv.
Fins, scales, and crista sagittaUs as in molva. Tail fin
joined to the dorsal and anal fins; head flatter, and taU
36

562 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
much more pointed, than in the last ; a small beard under
the chin. Fresh water fish.
129. Lota vulgaeis, Cuv. Lake. The Burbot. D. F.
Body piebald, brown and yellow ; eyes sraall ; jaws
equal ; in the midland rivers and lakes often reaches
a weight of 12 to 14 lb. In the Wener they spawn in
January, and this is the only time of the year they are
in season. They are then taken in bow nets set under
the ice, and are sold at from Is. 6d. to 3s. for 20 lb.
They are said to spawn at so young an age, that seven
or eight will go to a pound. They are occasionaUy
taken on night lines.
Stewed burbot is considered a great dish here; the Uver
is particularly large and fine. They are voracious, and very
destructive to the roe of other fish.
Gen. Phycis, Art.
Characters of the lota, but the head is much flatter and
broader; the body is much deeper, and the ventral fins
consist only of a long single forked ray, Uke a thread; a
smaU beard under the chin ; ventrals always t-wice as long
as the head ; first dorsal high ahd pointed. Body covered
vrith large scales ; dorsal and anal fins as in the Ung.
130. Phycis Fueoatus, Flem. VanUg Bartel. The Great
Fork Beard.
The first dorsal more elevated than the second;
ventrals twice as long as the head; body elongated;
usual length here from 18 in. to 2 ft. D. 9 + 58 ; P.
16; V. 1; A. 61.
Is taken occasionally off the west coast of Norway.
Gen. Motella, Cuv.
First dorsal scarcely perceptible ; barbules on the top of
the snout, as weU as oh thd chin ; body long, as in the lota;
scales small, lie in a thick sUmy skin. Head depressed ;
colour dull, vrithout gloss ; resembles the burbot in shape.

FISHES. 563
131. MoTBLLA Teicieeata, NUss. Tretommad Skarlanga.
The Three Bearded RockUng.
Two beards on the, nose, one under the chin; body
strewed vrith large round blackish spots ; usual length
12 to 16 in.
Never met vrith in the Cattegat, but occasionaUy on the
west coast of Norway in rather deep water, on stony bottom.
Spawns early in spring.
132. M. CiMBELi, Struss. Fyrtommad Skar Langa. The
Four Bearded RockUng. D.
Three beards on the nose, one under the chin ; taU
pointed, rounded off; colour yeUow-brown, with smaU
black spots, and is easily distinguished at a glance from
any of the others, by the greater length of the first fila
ment in the anterior dorsal fin, which in a fish of 10 in.
wiU measure above 2 in. The usual length here is
12 in.
Is occasionaUy, but rarely, taken in the Oresund, and
off the west coast of Norway.
133. M. Mustela, Jenn. Fem Toraraad Skar Langa. The
Five Bearded RockUng. D.
Four beards on the nose, and one on the chin ; colour
yellow-brown, unspotted ; the lateral Une distinctly
raarked by a series of short slender white streaks.
About the size of the last ; appears to be the commonest
and widest spread of aU the genus on these coasts, and is
taken on the Gothenburg Skargard, as weU as along the
west coasts of Norway.
Head compressed, colour tinged vrith a sUvery gloss.
134. M. Aegenteola, Yarr. SUfver Fargad Skar Langa.
The Mackerel Midge.
This beautfful Uttle fish, which rarely exceeds 2 in.
in length, much resembles the whiting in form and
proportions, but may always be known by the sUvery
colour, and five barbules, four on the head. It much
resembles the young of the last, but as Mr. Yarrell obr

564 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
serves, presents in its economy some of the attributes
of a species.
Has been taken off Christiansand in Norway.
Gen. Raniceps, Cuv.
Head depressed and very broad; body tapering off
behind ; the first dorsal consists only of three rays (the one
large and two very small) ; a sraall barbule under the chin ;
scales very sraall, both on head and body ; pectorals end in
one or two fine threads ;. eye large ; have a sUght resem
blance to a tadpole.
135. Raniceps Nigee, Nilss. Svart Padd Torsk. The
Lesser Pork Beard. D.
Black, vrith a white mouth ; under jaw the longest,
furnished with a Uttle short beard ; pectorals end with
two fine white threads ; usual length 9 to 12 in.
Is very seldom taken in the Sound, oftener in the
Cattegat and North Sea. Always found near the bottom.
Said to spawn between Martinmas and Christmas. D.
3 + 66; A. 60; P. 22.
C. — With only one dorsal and one anal fin.
Gen. Brosmius, Cuv.
Body like the cod ; chin with a single barbule. May be
distinguished from any other by the single dorsal fin.
136. Beosmius VULGAEIS, Cuv. Vanlig Lubb. The Torsk.
D.F.
Anal opening under the middle of the body; jaws
of equal length ; colour grey, with yellovrish transverse
bands ; lateral line brown, crooked ; usual length 2
sometimes 3 ft.
Is never taken in the Baltic or Sound, but is not uncom
mon in the Skaggerack and off the west coast of Norway.
The northern parts of the North Sea appear, however, to be
their pecuUar home, from 58° to 72° north lat.

FISHES. 565
2. Ventrals directly under the pectorals.
Gen. Macrourus, BL
Body long, terminating in a very long, smaU taU, with no
distinct fin ; scales hard and sharp, carinated and spined ;
two dorsals ; the first very high and short ; second dorsal
and anal, very long ; both terminating in the smaU thin
tail point ; eyes large ; one beard under the chin ; head
large ; nose flattened, with the large raouth under it.
These fish differ from aU the other thoracic fishes by the
long, thin, pointed taU (giving them something the appear
ance of the northern chimera) and the immense eye.
137. Maceoueus Noevegicus, NUss. Stroms Skolast.
Scales hard and large, covered with fine spines; anal
opening far in front of the beginning of the hinder dor
sal ; first ray of the first dorsal, spined along all the
edges ; colour silvery grey ; iris yellow ; inside of the-
mouth and gUl covers, black ; all the fins blackish ;
length 2 ft. 8 in. to 3 ft., but specimens are rarely ob
tained -with a whole tail fin.
Is met with in the North Sea, from the south of Norway
even up to the North Cape, but rare ; most common in the
tracts of Bergen. Is always in 80 to 120 fathoras. One
example has been taken off the reef of Jutland. Is caUed
off the Norwegian coasts " berg lax," or rock salmon.
138. M. EUPESTEIS, BL Fabricius Skolast.
Scales carinated, and ending in a sharp point ; anal
opening placed further back than the commencement
of the hinder dorsal ; the first ray of the foreraost dorsal
round at the root only, denticulated on the point.
Is a Greenland fish ; only one specimen is known to have
been taken off any Scandinavian coast, and this was in 1839,
at Hammerfest, not far from the North Cape.
Fam. 2. — Pleueonectid.s;.
Head with both eyes on the same side ; body very high
and corapressed, usually vrith small thin scales ; sides not

S66 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
aUke, the one coloured, which is turned obUquely upwards
when the fish svrims, the other white ; anal opening far in
front of the body, under the root or middle of the pectorals ;
dorsal and anal fins very long, extending along the whole of
the back and the under part of the body, even from the
pectorals. They derive their name, pleuronectis, irom their habit of
s-wimming obliquely on their sides. But this is not pecuUar
to the flounders, for the tenidce do the same. All sea
fish. The Scandinarian species may be divided into two
groups : —
1. Pleuronectes. Both jaws perfect, and visible (not
being hid in scales) ; the lower eye a Uttle before the
upper one.
2. Solea. .^aws hidden in a scaly skin; lower eye a little
behind the upper. Gen. Pleuronectes, L.
1. Teeth blunt, placed close together.
Anal spine wanting.
139. Pleueonectes miceocbphalus, Don. Pluddermun.
Lemon Dab. D.
Jaws of equal length; body oblong, oval; lateralUne
straight ; body altogether smooth. The handsomest of
aU the famUy. Colour Ught brown above, mottled with
yeUow; belly white; skin seems as if it were poUshed
head very small; Ups swollen; length 12 to 18 in.
height nearly equal to the length of the body. D. 90
A. 74.
Is met vrith on these coasts from the south of the Sound
up to Norway. Spawns here in July.
Anal spine present.
140. P. PLATESSA, L. Rod Spatta. The Plaice. D.
Under jaw longest ; body rhomboidical ; taU rounded ;
much resembles the flounder ; but the smooth lateral

FISHES. 567
Une and the large bright orange spots on the body are
good distinguishing characters of this species ; usual
length 12 to 18 in. ; varies in colour; height equal to
half the length of the body. D. 70 ; A. 50.
Common in the Baltic up to Aland, the Cattegat and
North Sea. Off the coast of Scania is met vrith the whole
year, and principaUy caught in April, May, and June.
Spawns in March and AprU.
There is a larger form in these seas which they caU
" hansing," from 2 to 3 ft. long, 1 ft. broad, and weighing
6 to 7 lb. These are principaUy taken off the Scaw in the
autumn. 141. P. Flbsus, L. Skmbb Skadda. The Flounder.
D.F.
Lateral Une rough ; taU even on the margin ; body
more elongated than in the plaice ; colour generaUy
dark brown ; varies much, often spotted, but the spots
are always very smaU and indistinct ; usual length under
a foot ; but the larger examples of 14 in. long and about
7 in. high, are caUed by the fishermen here " skrubb-
slatta;" height as one to two in the body length.
D. 57; A. 37.
Is the commonest of all the family, and in these seas the
most widely spread, from Scania up into the Gulf of Bothnia
on the east, and up to the North Cape on the west. Spawns
about AprU.
142. P. Cynoglossus, L. MareFlundra; Svart Fenad
Skadda. The Pole.
Can scarcely be distinguished from the two last
species, except by the more oblong oval form of the
body, and the lower eye is further advanced ; lateral
line altogether straight ; the body is smooth, of a uni
form yeUow-brown colour, and the pectoral fin is black
on the eye side; length 1 ft. to 18 in. ; height equal to
one-thbd of the length. D. 110 ; A. 94.
The rarest of all the famUy on these coasts, and has only
been taken in the south of the Cattegat; said to spawn

568 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
in the end of July. Is best eating in June, but never so
good as the plaice.
2. Teeth more or less pointed, distinct.
143. P. LiMANDA. Sand Skadda. The Dab. D. F.
May be at once distinguished from either the flounder
or the plaice, vrith which it associates, by the Ughter
brown [colour of the body, the arched lateral Une above
the pectorals, and the roughness of the scales. The
shape of the body resembles the flounder ; usual length
10 in. ; height scarcely equal to about one-third of the
length. D. 70; A. 50.
Is common in the Baltic, Sound, Cattegat, and North
Sea, as far up as 72° north lat. Spawns in May.
144. P. LiMANDOiDES, BL Ler Skadda. The Long Rough
Dab. D.F.
The straight lateral Une and the more elongated form
of body wiU distinguish this from the last ; the mouth
also is larger; scales very rough; usual length 10 in. ;
height equal to about one-fourth of the length.
Is never taken in the Baltic, but not rare in the Cattegat
and North Sea. Spawns in AprU and May ; is best eating
in May, but always inferior to the other species of flounder.
Gen. Hippoglossus, Cuv.
Body smooth ; vomer without teeth ; dorsal commences
above -the upper eye, and ends, like the anal fin, a consider
able distance from the root of the tail ; eyes placed to the
right. Anal spine present.
145. Hippoglossus vulgaeis, Flem. HaUe Flundra. The
Halibut. D. F.
Body more elongated and less flattened than any
other species of flounder. The surface smooth ; scales
soft ; colour above clouded, from Ught to dusky brown ;
length from 3 to 6 ft. ; height equal to one-thbd,
breadth to one-fifth of the length. D. 100; A. 76.

FISHES. E69
Is met vrith in all the Scandinarian seas, from the south
of the Cattegat up to 72° north lat. NUsson mentions a
specimen which was caught off Vadero, on the southem
coast, which weighed 120 lb.
Gen. Rhombus, Cuv.
Vomer with teeth ; body rough, rhomboidical, nearly as
broad as long; eyes to the left; eye side of body, yeUovrish
brown mottled, covered aU over vrith small rough bony
tubercles. 146. Rhombus maximus, Cuv. Pigg Hvar. The Turbot.
D.F.
Is raet vrith on aU these coasts, both on the east and
west to far north. Off the southern coast of Sweden
is taken aU the year round, but it is best frora May
to midsummer; its usual size is 10 to 12 lb., but is
occasionaUy taken larger, even 2 ft., and weighing
17 lb. ; and they say it has been caught off KuUen, in
the south, up to 40 lb. D. 66 ; A. 46.
147. R. L^vis, NUss. Slatt Hvar. The BriU. D.
Very simUar to the turbot, but the body is quite
smooth, and raore oval. The speciraen described by
NUsson was 21 in. long, lOf broad, weighing 41b.;
appears to be confined to the Cattegat and south of the
Baltic, and is never taken in deep water ; height equal
to one-half of the length. D. 74 ; A. 54.
148. R. Megastoma, Don. Stor Munt Hvar. The "Whiff.
Body raore oblong and elongated than either of the
last; its height equal only to one-third of its length;
mouth very large ; scales on the lateral line tubercu
lated ; the lateral line is double over the pectoral fin,
one portion being a continuation of the straight line
that traverses the body, the other taking a high curve
over the pectoral; length 12 to 18 in. D. 87; A. 69.
Is raet vrith only on the north-west coast of Norway, off
Glesnar and Bergen, where it is called the glas flundra, on
account of its transparent body ; throughout the year in a

570 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
depth of .eighty, to one hundred fathoms. Spawns in April
and May.
149. R. CAEDINA, Fries. Sma Hvar. Bkstrom's Topknot.
D.
Anal body pointed alike at both ends. Colour on the
upper side yellowish brown, with irregular dark spots ;
scales ciUated on the edges. The dorsal, which begins
just before the upper eye, has none of the foreraost rays
lengthened, and ends, like the anal fin, a Uttle behind
the root of the taU. Greatest height about one-third of
the length.
Has only as yet been found off the Bohus Land coast, in
Sweden, and the west coast of Norway.
In reraarking on this fish, which has only just been added
to the British fauna from one single specimen taken in the
Bristol Channel in 1863, Couch observes: "There is much
confusion in the two or three writers I have been able to
consult on the fish to which I have assigned the EngUsh
name of Bkstrom's topknot ; and there cannot be a doubt
that the name B. cardina, given to it by the Swedish authors
in their works on Scandinarian fishes, is misappUed, as it
bears little likeness to the species which is thus named
by Cuvier, who refers to Jago's figure in Ray's ' Synopsis,'
f. 2, where it is represented under the narae of the whiff.
This last-named fish, B. cardina of Curier, is the ' carter ' of
our work." (The whiff of Yarrell.)
In describing this new species, he reraarks that " both
eyes are nearer the snout than in R. hirtus, Yarr. ; on the
cheeks the scales are regular, and plainly risible, while they
are not discerned in the R. hirtus ; the pectoral is longer
and raore pointed, and the uncoloured side, as WeU as the
cheeks, is covered with ciUated scales, which is not the case
in R. hirtus."
Nilsson reraarks that this species, especially when young,
much reserables the whiff, but the form of the body is very
different ; and they maybe distinguished from each other by
the following characters : —

FISHES. 571
The "Wliiff. — Scales in the outer margin rounded, and
rough on the top. In an oblique row above the lateral
Une 26 to 30 scales can be reckoned ; under that, 24 to
26 ; on the lateral Une, behind the curve, 64 to 66 scales.
If the lateral line is drawn straight, at least ten scales Ue in
a row above that and up to the curve.
Ekstrom's Topknot. — Scales angular, only finely crenated
on the outer edge. In an oblique row above the lateral line
18 scales; under it about 20; on the lateral line about 36
slimy scales. If this is drawn straight, 4 to 5 scales Ue in a
row above it up to the curve.
150. R. HiETUs, Yarr. Luden Hvar. MiiUer's Topknot. D.
Roundish oval ; only the eye side of the body rough ;
edges of the scales crenated; jaws equal; the first
dorsal ray not longer than the preceding ones ; ventral
and anal fins united ; the dorsal and anal fins connected
to the taU, by a merabrane ; eyes close together. In
other respects, reserables the turbots. Usual length
9 in. ; greatest height equal to half of the length.
Is raet with sparingly, at aU seasons of the year, in the
Sound and Cattegat, and on the north-west coast of Norway,
at least as far up as Bergen. Of its habits Uttle appears to
be known. Bloch's topknot (P. unimaculatus, BL), which has never
yet been identffied on these coasts, has been probably over
looked. It may always be distinguished from MuUer's top
knot by the elongated first ray of the dorsal fin, by both
sides of the body being rough, by the large eyes, and the
separation between the ventral and anal fins.
Gen. Solea, Ouv.
Eyes to the right ; no anal spine ; dorsal commencing at
the mouth, and reaching, as weU as the anal, quite to the
caudal. 151. Solea -vulgaeis, Cuv. Tunga. The Sole. D.
Oblong; eyes vride apart; scales smaU and rough.
Colour of the upper part of the body dark brown ; pec-

572 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
torals tipped with black ; lateral line straight as far as
the back of the head; irides golden yeUow. Usual
length 12 in. to 14 in., but occasionally larger; height
one-third of the length.
Is rare in these seas, except off Bohus Land, where it
is common, and caUed " sale." Is occasionally met vrith
on the south-west coast of Norway, but its northern Umit
is not known. It is principally caught here from the
beginning of AprU to the end of May. According to
Ekstrom, spawns in May and June. The flesh is more palat
able than any other of the flounders.
APODES. VENTEALS WANTING-.
No ventral fins; body long, round, or compressed,
covered -with a thick hide ; scales deeply embedded, scarcely
perceptible. Fam. 1. — Ammodytidj), Mull.
The long dorsal and anal fins distinct from the taU.
Gen. Ammodytes, L.
Body eel-Uke, round ; small scales in a thick skin ; snout
sharp ; caudal forked ; gill opening very large.
AU small fish, liring on sandy shores, in which they bury
themselves. 162. Ammodytes tobianus, L. Hrit Tobis. The Sand Bel.
D.F.
Under jaw much longer than the height of the body ;
dorsal commences dbectly over the end of the pectorals ;
crown of the head flat. Colour dark green above ; all
the rest silver white ; a dark spot on the cheek ; usual
length here 7 in., but they grow often to 12 in. or 13 in.
D. 53; A. 28; P. 14; C. 16.
Common on all the sandy coasts of Scandinavia. About
the spawning season, which takes place sooner or later in
the sumraer, they come on to the sandy shores in shoals.
The sand eels come into Ystad, in the south of Sweden,

FISHES. 573
where the greatest sand-eel fishery is carried on, to spawn
in AprU, the sand launce in August ; and in one parish here
the yearly catch -wUl be perhaps above 200 bushels. They
appear in the winter to keep to very deep waters.
163. A. LANCEA, Cuv. Bla Tobis. The Sand Launce. D. F.
Is so much Uke the last, that for a long time the two
species were considered as one. But the sand launce is
always smaUer, rarely exceeding 8 in. ; the crown of the
head is flat, the under jaw shorter, than the height of the
body, the dorsal commences over the middle, or hinder
part of the pectorals, and there is never a spot on the
cheek ; paler in colour than the last ; no difference in
the fin ray forraula.
Habits and locaUties on these shores as in the last.
Fam. 2. — Muesnoidei, MuU. Eels.
The long dorsal and anal join at the tail point, which has
no distinct fin ; bladder present.
Gen. Anguilla, Cuv.
Body dark coloured ; not so sUvery as in the last; sUmy;
scales hidden in the thick skin; dorsal commencmg far
behind the pectoral ; upper jaw shortest.
154. Anguilla vulgaeis, Cuv. Sott Vattens Al. The Com
mon EeL D.F.
Is met with in most of the lakes and rivers of the south
and middle of Scandinaria, and, according to Widigren, as
far up as Lulea Lapland (but in no great nurabers), where
in August they leave the rivers for the coasts of the sea, and
lie buried there during the winter.
According to Mahngren, they are comraon in Ladoga,
and go up in Finland as high north as 64f ° north lat. They
attain a good size here. Respecting the different forms of
species of eels, Malmgren, SundevaU, and Nilsson consider
the length or shape of the nose as no speciflc mark of dis
tinction. SundevaU says it is probably owing to a difference

574 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
of sex, and Nilsson, in his description of the common eel (to
which he gives the synonyme of MurcBna anguilla, L.), gives
us three varieties or forms — 1. The common eel {Anguilla
acutirostris, Yarr.) ; 2. The snig {A. mediorostris, Yarr.) ;
3. The broad-nosed eel {A. latirostris, Yarr.) ; all which
forms we have in Scandinaria. KJroyer, on the contrary, in
his " Danish Fishes," gives three distinct species — Anguilla
migratoria, Kroy. ; A. acutirostris, Yarr. ; A. latirostris, Yarr.
Malmgren says there is decidedly only one species.
The foUovring extract from a letter of Mr. Pinkerton
("Field," October 25th, 1862) is, I thmk, worth msertmg
here. He says : —
"¦ There is no doubt that there are three distinct species
of eels (at least) in the British and continental waters, aU
different in their habits and forms. The snig is more in
chned to a yeUow colour than the other two species, and is
distinguished by its habit of roring and feeding by day, the
others by night ; and as the nose of the snig is not so broad
as in the broad-nosed, nor so sharp as in the sharp-nosed
eel, it has properly been called the mediorostris. Moreover,
the first five cervical vertebrse are smooth and round, being
entirely destitute of the superior and lateral spinal processes
possessed by the two other species.
" Old women, when they go to raarket, prefer buying the
delicately-flavoured long-nosed eel, rather than the rank,
coarse, flat-nosed species, and the fishermen always obtain
more for the former.
" The broad-nosed eel bites with a more violent, ricious
tug than the other ; and being one of the most filthy of
feeders, emits a rank, strong smell when being cooked.
The sharp-nosed eel is a much cleaner feeder. In the Lake
of Geneva, where the sharp-nosed eel abounds, the blunt-
nosed has never been taken.
" But the great distinction between the two is this— the
sharp-nosed eel is a migratory fish, while the blunt-nosed is
not. I admit that the latter has its summer and -winter
quarters, and it wanders about a good deal at night in search
of prey ; but it does not migrate to the sea in large shoals,

FISHES. 575
like the sharp-nosed eel. The annual migrations of the
sharp-nosed eels take place about the end of October,
always choosing a dark night. [And Nilsson corroborates
aU these reraarks, and especially respecting the biting of the
broad-nosed eel, which, as the fishermen here say, is ' arg,'
savage, and 'hugger som en orra,' bites like a snake.]
In the great eel fishery at Toorae, on the Lower Bann, fifty
to sixty tons of eels are annually caught at the season of
migration. As raany as 70,000 have been taken here in
one night, aU sharp-nosed, vrith the exception of perhaps
a dozen, which have been mixed vrith them.
" "What becoraes of the sharp-nosed eels that descend to
the sea every season — do they reraain in the brackish waters
of the estuaries, or do they return in small detachments at
various periods ? This remains to be solved. As none are
observed to return, how is their supply replenished ? "Why,
by the ascent of myriads of sharp-nosed eels next spring."
The migrations of the old eels down to the sea in
October, and of the young fry up the rivers again in the
suraraer, are as regular on these coasts as in Britain ; so
there is little doubt in ray raind that the sharp-nosed eels
descend to the sea to spawn in brackish water, and the old
fish do not retum to fresh water again. Mr. Young, as
quoted by Yarrell, says — " They spawn in the Shin in fresh
water. The old ones deposit the spawn in the summer,
which becoraes rivid in September or October, but remains
under the gravel, in the spawning beds, until the foUovring
April or May." It would have been interesting if he had
stated which eel it was that spawned in the Shin, for he only
notices the habits of the river eels, not distinguishing the
sharp-nosed from the broad-nosed.
The eel would appear to be of slow growth, attaining
a length of about 12 in. during the first year, and not capable
of maturing roe tiU about the thbd year.
Gen. Conger, Cuv.
Dorsal comraencing close over, or behind the pectorals ;
upper jaw longest.

576 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
155. A. CONGEE, Shaw. Hafs Al. The Conger Bel. D.
In form more reserabling the Ung, than the common
eel. Colour darker; the dorsal and anal, with a black-
brown edge. A speciraen taken here of 5 ft. long was
1 ft. 3 in. thick; head 8 in. long; weight 22 lb.
Is taken off the southern coast of Sweden, generally at a
great depth. A specimen which was taken off the Skagger
Rack, was about 9 ft. long, and weighed 60 lb.
LOPHOBEANCHII. TUFTED-GILL FISHES.
GiUs Uke smaU round tufts ; opercle large ; jaws com
plete and free. Are all smaU sea-fish.
Respecting the breeding habits of this fish, Nilsson re
marks — " Ekstrora has raade the singular discovery that the
female deposits her roe on the body of the male, where they
are fructified, and hatched out, and tended by the male, vrith
aU the care of a mother." This, however, appears to have
been noticed by Jenyns as far back as 1836.
Gen. Syngnathus, L.
Body covered vrith a series of plates ; seven-cornered
to the anus, six-cornered to the dorsal, and four-cornered
to the tail ; one short dorsal ; anal, ventrals, and pectorals,
all present vrith weU defined rays. Nose long, formed by
a prolongation of the bones of the head ; nose smaU, rather
corapressed or rounded.
156. Syngnathus Acus, L. Stora Kantnal. The Great
Pipe Fish. D.
Lateral plates from the opercle to the anus 21,
from thence to the tail 46. Colour : brown above, with
dark and paler transverse bands ; usual length 16 in. ;
nose corapressed, sraooth on the top.
Has never yet been detected on any Swedish coast, but
is not uncommon off Bergen in Norway. D. 42 ; P. 12 ;
A. 4.
157. S. RosTBLLATUS (N. Sp.). Lilla Kantnal.
Nose round, with a sharp edge along the top.

FISHES. 577
higher than m the last ; a smaU keel on the back of the
head; lateral plates frora the giU cover to the anus 16 ;
head shorter than the dorsal fin ; greatest length 5 to
6 in. D. 34; P. 10; A. 4.
Is not rare off the Gothenburg coast, appears not to be
known in Britain, unless it is the sarae as is considered
the young of 8. acus, which breeds when but 6 in. long.
Very few feraales of this little species have been taken.
Nose much compressed and high.
158. S. Typhle, L. Bred Nabbad Kantnal. The Deep-
nosed Pipe Fish. F. D.
Snout as broad vertically as the head ; forehead flat;
lateral plates 18 + 37 ; head much longer than the
dorsal ; taU fln angular ; usual length 9 in.
Is the commonest of all, both in the North Sea, Cattegat,
and Baltic. Goes into the deeps in May or June.
Gen. Scyphius, Riss.
No pectorals or anal fin ; taU rudiraentary or none ; male
bears the eggs in open cells under the abdomen. In the
last genus the eggs are carried in a pouch sirailar to the
marsupial animals. Forra and body covering as in the last.
Tail fin rudimentary.
159. Scyphius iEQUOEBUs, L. Stora Hafsnal. The .^quo-
real Pipe Fish. D.
The taU consists of sorae short strong rays, grown
together, resembUng that of the slow worm ; body
eight-cornered; nose round, straight frora the tip to
the middle of the eye, longer than from thence to the
edge of the opercle ; lateral plates to the anus, which
Ues under the hinder fourth dirision of the dorsal, 31;
dorsal, one and a half times as long as the head ; male
22 in. long; female 18 in.
Is common both on the south-western coast of Sweden
and Norway. 37

578 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Tail fin altogether absent.
160. S. Ophidion, L. LUla Hafsnal. The Straight-nosed
Pipe Fish. P. D.
Nose round, straight frora the point to the middle
of the eye, just as long as from thence to the edge of
the opercle ; anus under the front division of the dorsal,
which is nearly double as long as the head ; length
6 to 8 in. ; number of side plates from the gill openings
to the vent 30 ; dorsal fin with 36 rays.
Coraraon on the coast of the Cattegat and Baltic.
161. S. LUMBEiciPOEMis, Yarr. Krum Nosade Hafsnal. The
Worm Pipe Fish (Pennant) . D.
Nose bent upwards at the point; length frora the
tip to the raiddle of the eye shorter than frora thence
to the edge o^ the gills; anus lies in front of the
raiddle of the dorsal, which is a Uttle longer than the
head; length 5 to 6 in. ; dorsal vrith 26 rays.
This is, no doubt, identical vrith YarreU's worra pipe
fish, but Nilsson's opinion is, that the ;S^. anguincus, Jenn.,
the snake pipe fish of Yarrell, is nothing raore than the
young of the asquoreal pipe fish.
The worra pipe fish is raet with both in the Cattegat and
North Sea off the coast of Norway.
Professor Fries has raade the foUowing interesting re
raark on the change which takes place in the young pipe
fish during theb growth, riz., that they are bom with
pectorals, the whole tail is encircled with a fin-Uke web,
and the gills are large as in other fish.
PLECTOGNATHI. FISHES WITH SOLDEEED JAWS.
MaxiUaries and preraaxillaries grown together.
Gen. Orthagoriscus.
Body compressed, short ; -vrith the taU so short as to
give it the appearance of a fish cut in two ; skin rough,
but not spinous; dorsal and anal fins high and pointed,
uniting vrith the caudal.

FISHES. 579
162. Oethagoeiscus Molva, Schneid. Korta Klump Fisk.
The Short Sun Fish. D.
Body about as high as it is long to the caudal fin ;
skin rough; colouring shiny sUvery blue or brown;
paler underneath.
Of the few examples which have been washed up on these
coasts, the largest was 23 in. long, and nearly 16 in. high.

IL— CHONDROPTEETGIL
Cartilaginous ganoid fishes.
1. Cartilaginous fishes, with free gills.
Gen. Acipenser, L.
Body long, mailed as well as the head ; longitudinal
rows of osseous tubercles along the body ; no teeth ; four
beards under the snout, which is long and tapering ; one
dorsal, placed far back as in the pike ; upper lobe of the
taU long and pointed, elevated, always much longer than
the lower lobe ; are large sea fish, but come up rivers, Uke
the salraon, to spawn.
163. AciPENSEE Stueio, L. Stor. The Sturgeon. F. D.
Five rows of tubercles on the body ; nose long, its
length from the tip to the mouth 3 or 4 times the
breadth of the gape. A sturgeon of 6 feet -wUl weigh
about 100 lb., of 8 feet, nearly 120 lb.
The nose of this fish becomes so broad and blunt vrith
age, that probably the broad-nosed sturgeon {A. latirostris,
Pam.), is nothing more than an older form of the coraraon
sturgeon. Is taken occasionally off all these coasts, but more
rarely in the Baltic and Sound than in the Cattegat and
North Sea. The largest on record was 8 ft. long.
Gen. Ghimcera, L.
Body long, without plates or scales, gradually diminish
ing, and ending in a long whip-like taU ; nose conical ; jaws

580 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
weaponed vrith hard bony plates instead of teeth; two
dorsals, the first very high, with a high spine in front ; the
second one, which is continuous, is low like the anal, and
both gradually diminishing, end in the thin-pointed tail ;
large sea fish; habitat North Sea and Mediterranean.
This family stands much nearer to the rays than the stur
geons,
164. Chimj]ea Monsteosa, L. Vanlig Hafmus. The
Northem Chimsera. D.
Body spotted vrith silver and brown ; a brown band
along the back, and a blackish rim along the dorsal ;
length 2 to 3 ft. ; is precisely identical with the Medi
terranean fish.
Is taken often off the coasts of the North Sea, Cattegat,
and Sound, in 40 to 100 fathoms of water, but never in the
Baltic. 2. Cartilaginous fishes, with fixed gUls.
The gills are grown up fast with the skin, so that the
water which is taken into the mouth goes out .between them
through several slits lying in a row. No gill cover.
SHAEKS.
Gen. Squalus, L.
Body elongated, rough ; taU thick, fleshy, and muscular ;
gills on the sides of the neck, not under ; eyes on the sides
of the head, and not above as in the rays ; teeth flat,
pointed or sharp edged, lie in several rows, usuaUy four
above and three below.
All the known Scandinavian species have two dorsals and
so-called spiracula (spout holes).
Sect. 1. — Plagiostomi. Broad-mouthed Fishes.
Fam. Squalid.^;. 1. Dog Fish.
A.^Sharks with an anal fin.
Fbst dorsal behind or over, never in front of the ven
trals; tail even on the edge; snout short; giU openings

FISHES. 581
partly over the pectorals ; the upper teeth three and the
lower ones five pointed. Gen. Scyllium, Cuv.
165. Scyllium Canicula, L. Sraa Flackig Dogg Fisk.
The SmaU-spotted Dog Fish. D.
Reddish above; body thickly strewed with small
round dark brown spots; below white; nose blunt;
ventrals obliquely cut off, grown together in the male ;
nostrils joined to the mouth by a furrow; usual
length 2 ft.
Is met vrith here and there, both in the Sound, Cattegat,
and North Sea.
The large-spotted dog fish {S. cutilis, MuU.), which
closely reserables this species, but is larger — the body covered
vrith large spots, and the nostrils not joined to the mouth
vrith a furrow — is not met with here.
166. S. Annulatum, Nilss. Ringlad Dogg Fisk. The Eyed
Dog Fish.
Body colour reddish grey, covered with lighter
rings ; nose tolerably long ; nostrils wide apart from
the mouth, which is inwardly black ; a row of serrated
teeth on the top of the tail.
Is very rare in the Sound and Cattegat, raore frequently
taken off the north-west coast of Norway, as far up as
Trondtheim. 2. Sharks.
The first dorsal placed far in front of the ventrals, the
second over the anal fin ; nose elongated ; teeth obliquely
triangular; in front convex, behind concave and serrated ; tail
pointed vrith different shaped lobes; the hinderraost gill
opening over the pectorals. Gen. Goleus, Cuv.
TaU pointed; teeth obliquely, three-cornered,, finely
serrated on one edge.

582 TEN YfiAES IN SWEDEN.
167. Galeus Canis, Rond. Gra Haj. The Common Tope. D.
Colour grey-brown above, without spots, below
white ; nose tolerably long, rounded, blunt ; tail with
a pointed lobe at the root ; hinder dorsal much smaller
than the anterior one ; length 4 to 5 ft.
Rare, and the few examples which have been taken in
the Cattegat and Sound were all small fish.
Gen. Lamna, Cuv.
Tail fin semi-lunate ; teeth fine, awl-shaped, vrith a point
at the root.
168. Lamna COENUBICA, Yarr. Habrand. The Porbeagle. D.
Body fusiform, rather resembling the porpoise ; first
dorsal large and high, far m front of the ventrals ; tail
very large, half-moon shaped, keeled on each side at
the root ; colour above blue-grey, below white ; usual
length 6 to 8 ft., often larger; spiracle scarcely per
ceptible.
Is not very rare off the south-west coasts of Sweden
and Norway. Is said to be less lively than the other sharks.
Gen. Seloche.
Teeth very sraall ; gill openings very long.
169. Sblache maxima. Gun. Brygden. The Basking
Shark.
Forra rather like the last, with a keel on the sides of
the tail, which, however, is much thinner and more
pointed ; the snout not so long or pointed ; the anals
larger, and the gill covers pass entirely across the
throat ; colour black-brown ; skin rough ; length 30 to
40 ft. ; spiracle very sraall.
This is one of the largest of all the European sharks, but
it is also one of the raost harraless, its principal food being
Crustacea, iifusoria, and the like. Has never yet been taken
off any southern Scandinavian coast; but off Hittern and
Nordmor, in the north of Norway, a regular fishery is carried

FISHES. 583
on in August. They are harpooned as they Ue basking on
the surface, for the sake of the oil — one bushel of liver leav
ing nearly one bushel of oU.

B. — Sharks without an anal fin.
1. No spine in front of the dorsal.
Gen. Scymnus, Cuv.
Teeth above lancet shaped ; below broad and flat, ob
liquely edged, vrith the point dbected backwards.
170. ScYMNus boeealis, Scoresby. Haskerding. The
Greenland Shark. D. F.
All the fins small; gill openings very short; shape
rather reserabUng the last, but the tail is shorter,
thicker, and rauch less pointed ; spiracle sraaU, at the
back of the eye ; skin very rough ; ventrals and anals
sraaU, pointed ; colour bro-wn, vrith a dull blue tinge ;
usual length 12 to 16 ft., but in the Greenland seas
often reaches 25 ft. Of aU the sharks this goes up
nearest to the North Pole.
Has been occasionally taken off the south coast of
Sweden, but never so large as on the north-west of Norway,
where they are far raore comraon. Off Bergen they are raet
vrith in 250 fathoras. Fabricius says that when they hear
voices, they corae up to the surface, so the fishermen always
talk low when approaching a school of fish. This is the most
voracious Of all the sharks. Gunnerus relates that he saw a
whole reindeer taken out of the belly of a basking shark ; and
,Fabricius found a seal, eight large cod, a ling four feet long,
a great head of a halibut, and several lumps of blubber in a
basking shark of fourteen feet long. It is the very tiger of
the north seas, and the whale and even seals are not safe
frora its attacks. This is the only species which is known
to come on the coasts of Finland east of the North Cape.
West of the Cape we find lamna cornubico, acanthias vul
garis, and selache tnaxima.

584 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
2. A spine in front of each dorsal.
Gen. Spinax, Bon.
Teeth above awl shaped, with a point on each side of the
root ; below flat, with the point dbected backwards.
171. Spinax nigee, Bon. Bla Kexa. D.
No anal fln ; nose blunt, vrith the nOstrils under the
side edges of the point; blue-grey above, below black ;
body covered with flne ciUated points. This is the
smallest of all our sharks; usual length 1 ft. The
largest specimen noticed by Nilsson was 18 in.
Is never taken in the Sound or south of the Cattegat,
but is not rare off the Bohus Land " Skargard," and the
deeps of the Norwegian coast.
There appears to be very little difference between this
species and the spinax acanthias, Elem., picked dog flsh of
the British coasts, but as Nilsson remarks, strange to say,
this spinax niger is never raet with in the British seas ; we
must, therefore, conclude it to be a distinct species. It is,
however, coramon in the Mediterranean.
Gen. Acanthias, Bp.
Teeth in both jaws, with the point turned obUquely back,
forming a saw above and below.
172. Acanthias -tulgaeis, Riss. VanUg Pigg Haj. The
Picked Dog Fish. D. F.
Fins like the last, but there is a difference in the
teeth, the shape of the nose, and the position of the
nostrils, which lie between the point of the nose and
the mouth; colour brown-grey above, below white;
length 2 to 3 ft.
That this is the picked dog flsh of British authors there
appears to be no doubt, although the length given by Nils-
son is double that given by Yarrell or Jenyns.
Is the comraonest of all the sharks off these coasts, and
is even occasionally taken in the Baltic. In the Sound they
are principally caught in winter. It is generally met -with

FISHES. 585
in shaUower water than any other shark, and in mid
sumraer coraes nearly to the surface in chase of viriparous
blennies. This is the only species which is eaten here,
and in West Finmark they not only eat the fish but use
the eggs for pancakes. Fam. Raieda-eisso.
Body very much fiattened, resembUng in shape a disk,
the two sides which meet to form the lateral angle, forraing
the pectoral fins ; mouth, nostrils, and giU openings on the
under side ; eyes and spbaculse on the upper side ; tail long
and thin, vrith the dorsal fin almost always upon it, gene
raUy very near its end.
These fish, in many respects, stand very near to the
sharks. Gen. Raia, Cuv.
Body rhomboidical; nose more or less elongated; the
long pectorals encircle the whole of the sides of the body
and head; tail small, vrith two smaU dorsals on the top of it,
and one sraall caudal fin at the end ; the bodies of aU are
more or less covered vrith small spines.
1. Blunt nosed.
Nose forming, with the exception of perhaps a small tip,
a blunt angle.
Professor Fries draws a straight transverse line through
the eyes, and another longitudinaUy between the eyes to
the tip of the nose ; if this last is as long or longer than the
first, the ray is sharp, if on the contrary, blunt nosed.
173. Raja clavata, L. Knaggrocka. The Thornback. D.
Body above and below, covered with large spines ;
three rows of thick thoms along the ridge of the tail, of
which the middle row are the largest, extending more or
less to the body ; dorsals distinct, with one or more thoms
between them ; usual length 2 to 3 ft. ; colour variable,
generaUy reddish grey-brown above, sparingly spotted
with whitish dots, beneath white.

586 ' TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Common from the north of the Sound to far up on the
west Norwegian coast.
174. R. eadia'tA, Don. Klorocka. The Starry Ray.
D.F.
Form and ^.ppearance siraUar to the last, but the
pectorals are not nearly so angular, and the skin is
sraooth, except that it is studded above here and there
vrith many conical spines, a row of which runs all along
the back and the tail ; smaller than the last ; dorsals
close together, with no spine between them.
Next to the last, is the commonest of the rays on these
coasts, frora the north of the Sound, up to the North Cape.
Is the sraallest of all the northern rays. The largest Nils-
son has seen, measured but 21 in. in length, and about 12
in. in breadth. This is the only ray which is met vrith off
the coast of Finland. 2. Sharp nosed.
{a) . Body underneath quite white, without black spots
or streaks.
176. R. chageinea, Cuv. Nabb Rocka. The Shagreen
Ray. D.
Snout long and sharp ; pectorals raore rounded than
in the thornback ; body above covered vrith very smaU
spines ; two rows of larger ones along the sides of the
tail, but none along the middle ; a single row along the
front of the back, and round each eye ; colour cinereous
brown above, white underneath; reaches a length of
3 ft. 6 in. ; the breadth of such a fish wiU be about
2 ft. 3 in.
Rare and only accidental on these shores ; has been
taken on the west coast of Norway as well as in the Cat
tegat. 176. R. LINTEA, Fries. Bla Gams Rocka. The Sharp-nosed
Ray ; the "White Skate. D.
Nose longer and raore pointed than in any other of
the rays ; body above smooth, except a few rows of

FISHES. 587
spines on each pectoral, and a few raore on the sides of
the head. Colour always Ughter, and pectorals rounder,
than in the last ; a row of spines along the lower part of
the back, running down the middle of the taU, and
another row on each side of the tail. Colour ash grey ;
belly pure white. Although the largest of all the rays
(on account of its great thickness), the ScancUnavian
specimens have all been sraall, 20 in. long, with a
breadth of about 20 in. between the tips of the pectorals.
Not uncoraraon off the Bohus Land coast, where the
fishermen always distinguish them by their pale or whitish
colour ; whence their Swedish name.
{b) . Body underneath -vrith black spots and streaks.
177. R. BATis, L. Slatt Rocka. The Skate. D.
Have been taken here as long as 4f ft. ; breadth 3 ft.
3 in. Colour above dusky brown ; under surface grey,
streaked with black ; body lozenge-shaped; back with
out thorns, but three rows set along the tail ; dorsals
divided, vrith one or two spines between them. Differs
from sorae members of the faraily in the colour of the
under parts; from others by the shorter snout, and
from others by the absence of prickles on the body.
Next to the starry ray, has the widest northerly range of
aU. Comraon in the Cattegat and North Sea. That they
reach an imraense size on these shores is proved by the fact,
that on one occasion an egg-shell was fished up from agreat
depth, which was 13 in. long and 5f iri. broad.
178. R. voMBE, Fries. Plogjems Rocka. The Long-nosed
Skate. D.
Nose very long and pointed, nearly six times as long
as the distance between the eyes ; body above and
below rough ; no row of spines down the middle of the
taU, but one on each side.
Is occasionally taken at a great depth off Jutland Reefs.
Is the rarest of aU the rays here, but, as the fishermen say,
the largest.

588 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Gen. Trygon.
Body form Uke the other species, but the taU is armed on
the top vrith one long-pointed spine, serrated on both edges;
no dorsal fin; caudal ends in a point like a whip.
179. T. PASTiNACA, L. Spjut Rocka. The Stingy Ray. D.
Body smooth ; above grey-brown ; below white ; nose
short but pointed; attains a length of 2 ft. to 3 ft.,
rarely more.
Has only once been taken on any Scandinarian coast
and this was an example 15 in. long, from the tip of the nose
to the spine on the tail, and about 13 in. broad between the
points of the pectorals ; the tail spine was 3f in. long, of
which 2f in. was free. This specimen was taken off the
southern coast in July, 1849.
Sect. 2. — Cyclostomi. Round-mouthed Pishes.
Gen. Morsipobranchii, Bp.
Gills fixed, purse-shaped, opening outwards by several
apertures. Geoup 1. — Hyperoortia, Mull. Nostrils lie on the upper
part of the head, and lead to a blind bag without a hole
through the gums. Gen. Petromyzon, Art.
Body like an eel ; gill openings, seven small holes in a
row on each side of the neck, at the back of the eyes ; mouth
round, encircled vrith a fleshy skin, and furnished with teeth .
no pectorals or ventrals, and no true anal fin; two dorsals.
180. P. maeinus, L. Hafs Nejonogon. The Lamprey. D.F.
Dorsals close together, the hinder one not joined to
the tail. Colour, marbled black, and yellow-red;
dorsal distinct. The largest taken on these coasts have
not been more than 2 ft. long, and about 2 in. high,
weighing about 2 lb. ; but they are taken much larger
in southern seas.

FISHES, 589
Is met vrith in the North Sea and Cattegat as well as in
the south of the Baltic. Has only once been taken in
Finland. This fish has the peculiarity of attacking other fish,
attaching itself to their sides by its broad mouth, and suck
ing out their blood. This is often observed on these coasts
in the rays ; and old Bishop Gunnerus tells us that they vrill
even do so with the basking shark, never learing the body
until the fish is dead.
The sea lamprey come up rivers in spring, to spawn in
fresh water.
181. P. Fluviatilis, L. Vanlig Nejonogon. The River
Lamprey. D. F.
Dusky blue above; silvery beneath; dorsals wide
apart, the hinder one joined to the tail. General form
like the last, but more elongated; rarely exceeds 12 in.
in length, vrith a height of f in. and a breadth of f in.
Much rarer in the rivers of the south than in the raiddle
and north of Scandinaria, where, especially in the east, they
are very comraon. Is noticed by Widigren, in his " Fish of
Lulea Lapland," as very common off that coast, so it does
not appear that it is entirely confined to fresh water.
182. P. PLANEEi, BL Igel Nejonogon. Planner's Lamprey.
D.F.
Length 6 in. to 8 in. Differs from the last, which it
resembles in colour, shape of the mouth, etc., in haring
the two dorsals placed close together, and the body
being proportionably thicker; colour more blue; the
Up is broad and fringed, and there is a difference in the
arrangement of the teeth. Derives its Swedish name
from its similarity to a leech (igel) .
Is far commoner than the last, at least in the south of
Wermland. Gen. Ammocoetes, Dum.
Body, gills, and fin as in the last, but the mouth is only
semi-circular, with no teeth ; only a few smaU cirri on the

590 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
opening. On this account they cannot attacl themselves by
suction to any foreign object.
183. A. beanchialis, NUss. Linal. The Pride. D. F.
Dorsals low, very wide apart ; upper lip ends in a
skin flap; tail pointed; colour blue-green; length
4 in. to 5 in.
Is very similar in general appearance to the young of the
river laraprey, vrith which it was forraerly confounded. Is
met with in Finland, where it is considered as the young
of the river lamprey. Is found in small streams both
in the south and north of Scandinavia, but nowhere so
common as the last. I have taken them commonly in North
Wermland. Geoup 2. — Hyperotreta, MuU. NostrUs lying on the top
of the nose, and leading into a canal which opens backwards
into the gums, over the guUet.
Gen. Myxine, L.
Body eel-shaped; encbcled vrith a fin around the taU, but
no other fins on the body ; gill openings two, placed be
neath ; mouth encircled with beards.
184. Myxine glutinosa, L. Vanlig Pbal. The Myxine. D.
Red, tinged vrith riolet; eight barbs around the
mouth, of which four are on the tip of the nose. Gene
ral length 12 in. to 16 in. No outwardly apparent eyes.
Is very coraraon in shoals on the Scandinavian coast,
from the south of the Cattegat up to the Polar circle. Off
the Gothenburg coast they live in twenty to fifty fathoms.
The myxine is produced from eggs which lie on the edge of
a tolerably broad web, along the right side of the bowels.
Geoup 3. — Amphioxini, Mull. No nostrUs ; mouth oblong,
without jaws or tongue.
Gen. Branchiostoma, Costa.
Body long; compressed on the sides, transparent; pointed
alike at each end ; has neither pectorals nor ventrals. On

FISHES. 591
the head rudiments of eyes are to be distinguished. The
only species known to us is about 2 in. long.
186. B. LANCBOLATUM, PaU. Lansett Pisk. The Lancelot. D.
Is certainly the lowest type of vertebrate animals.
Seems to have been first described by Pallas in 1774.
It is occasionally, but very rarely, taken off the sandy
shores of the southern coast of Scandinavia.
Addenda to the Scandinavlan Fish.
Since completing this Ust, I have seen in the last
number of the " Kongl Vet. Acadam. Forhandlingar " for
1863, that two new species of thunny have just been added to
the Scandinavian fauna.
Auxis VULGAEIS, Cuv. and Val. The Plain Benito.
One specimen, 17 in. 2 1. in length, was caught in 1863,
off the coast of Scania, and deposited in the Lund Museum.
The other, which has hitherto never been taken north of
the Mediterranean, is the —
Thynnus thunnina, Cuv. and Val.
One specimen, 2 ft. 9f in. long, and weighing 22^ lb.,
was caught near Malmo in 1857.
If we now add these two new species, the Scandinarian
fish will reach 187, and the above list wiU be correct up to
1864. It wiU be seen that the fish of Sweden and Norway
are . . . . .187 species.
Denmark . . . . . 139 „
Finland . . . . . 80 „
Seven species are included in the Danish fauna, which
are not known in Sweden or Norway —
Gobius microps, Kroy.
Julis vulgaris, Cuv. The Rainbow Wrasse.
Platessa laxicolo. A species of flounder which I can
not make out.
Clupea schoneveldii, Bloch.

592 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN.
Borbus fluviatilis, Cuv. The Barbel.
Leuciscus dobula, L. A doubtful species.
Cobitesfossilis, L.
And they have five species in the Finland waters un
known in other parts of Scandinavia —
Lipa/ris lineatus, Lepech. From the coast of Lapmark.
Anarrhichas pantherinus. Pall. Probably only a variety
of the comraon wolf fish.
Gadus havaga. Pall. ~| SraaU species of cod peculiar to
G. saida, Lepech. / the White Sea. The first is easily
distinguished frora the young of the common cod, which it
otherwise resembles, on account of its peculiar transverse ,
processes. Platessa divinensis, Lilj. White Sea.
Old Artedi, in his description of the Swedish fish, in
1738, appears to have known only fifty-eight species ; but
he includes the whale. And Linnaeus, in his " Fauna
Suecica," notices eighty-five species. Old Jonas Kolding,
who wrote on the Danish fishes in 1694, appears to have
known only thirty-five species in the Danish waters.
That the Finland fish fauna should be so poor in the nura
ber of species, as compared with that of Sweden and Norway,
may be accounted for by the fact, not only that it has a much
less extent of coast, but that its principal seas, the Bothnia
and the White Sea, are far less rich in even the comraon
species of sea-fish, than either the Sound, the Cattegat, or
the North Sea.

the end.

HABEILD, FBIfilER, LOIfSOX.

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