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THROUGH FINLAND. 279
us the moft agreeable fport in fhooting them: it is a diverfion,
however, but of fhort duration, lafting only from the middle of
May to the middle of June.
_ This is a period when a moft furprifing change takes place in
this country. All nature feems to awake almoft at once. That
folitude, that filence, that lethargy of creation, gives place to uni-
verfal and unceafing motion. The birds feem to arrive from all
quarters of the earth, and people the woods, the fields, the fens
and marfhes, which re-echo their melody all around. The nights,
equally fine and clear as the day, enabled us to prolong the plea-
fures of the chafe. We ufed to dine, have our party at mutfic,
fup, and at ten o’clock in the evening fet out, and continue our
fports in the fields till about two o’clock in the morning. The
light of the night was even more friendly to our purfuit than that
of the day. The folar rays did not make the fame ftrong impref-
fion on our eyes, and ftill we had light enough for the purpofe of
fhooting. The birds in the courfe of the night were much more
- quiet, the wild ducks flocked from the fea on their way to the
lakes and rivers, and fometimes pafled directly over our heads.
The rivers and lakes, as well as the marfhy ground in their vici-
nity, {warmed with ducks and fnipes of all defcriptions. Our
pleafure as fportfmen was not greater than what we enjoyed asi)
naturalifts, from the great variety of different {pecies to which the
inhabitants of Italy are total {trangers.
The chafe of the bird, which Linnzeus calls tetrao urogallus,
was perfectly new to me. ‘This bird is of the fize of a turkey,
and
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