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62
I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SWEDEN.
breasted sheldrake (Mergus serrator), the great snipe and the common
snipe (Telmatias major and gallinago), the golden plover (Charadrius
apricarius), the dunlin (Tringa alpina), the wood-sandpiper (Totanus
glareola), the common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucus), the white wagtail
(Motacilla alba), the wheat-ear (Saxicola ænanthe), and the willow
warbler (Phyllopseustes trochilus).
Many more are distributed over the whole of the land which lies
below the woodless mountain district. This is the case with the squirrel
(Sciurus vulgaris), the common shrew (Sorex vulgaris), the lesser or
pigmy shrew (S. pygmæus), and the water-shrew (Crossopus fodiens), the
common fox (Vulpes vulpes), the most common bat in Sweden — Nilsson’s
bat (Yesperugo borealis) — the mallard or wild duck (Anas boschas), the
great spotted woodpecker (Picus major), the cuckoo (Cuculus canorus),
the common swift (Cypselus apus), the hooded crow (Corvus cornix), the
magpie (Pica caudata), the yellow bunting (Emberiza citrinella), the
chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), the sand-martin (Cotyle riparia), the
house-martin (Chelidon urbica), and the swallow (Hirundo rustica), the flycatcher
(Muscicapa ficedula), the great titmouse (Parus major), the garden-warbler
(Sylvia salicaria), the common redstart (Luscinia phoenicurus), the
fieldfare ’ (Turdus pilaris), and, as far as cultivation has reached, the
house-sparrow (Passer domesticus). The following reptiles and
batra-chians are also widely distributed in Sweden: the common viper
(Vi-pera berus), the ringed snake (Tropidonotus natrix), the scaly or
common lizard (Lacerta vivipara), the blind-worm (Anguis fragilis), the
common frog (Rana temporaria), and the common toad (Bufo vulgaris).
If we now proceed to the various fauna districts which may be
distinguished in our country, it will be most suitable to begin with the
mountain regions situated above the tree-limit. There, amongst the
mammalia, we meet, besides the hare, the field-vole and the weasels, a number
of boreal voles, such as Arvicola rufocanus, ratticeps, etc., the lemming
(Myodes lemmus), well known for its peculiar migrations, the arctic fox
(Vulpes lagopus), and the glutton or wolverene (Gulo borealis). "We
ought also to include amongst the fauna of our mountainous districts
the wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), although it is nowadays very
seldom met with on the Swedish side of the mountain slopes. The
common bear (Ursus arctos) and the common wolf (Canis lupus), which
properly belong to the deep forests, are often met with on the mountains.
Amongst the more characteristic birds belonging to this fauna, the
following deserve to be specially mentioned: the ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus)
and the willow-grouse (Lagopus albus), the latter of which, however, is
widely distributed through the northern forests right down to the coast,
the whistling swan (Cygnus musicus), the white-fronted goose (Anser
erythropus), the long-tailed skua or parasitic jaeger (Lestris parasitica),
and the red-throated diver (Colymbus septentrionalis), which, together
with a number of ducks, breed in the waters of the alps, the dotterel
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