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424 ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS.
provided the keepers would let them devour them ; fuch, indeed, voracity and malig-
nity is oblervable in this kind of bird, as is no where elfe obferved throughout Nor-
Way.
A great number of crows is found in this tract alfo. Birds of this kind, which by
their nature deferve to be called rapacious and plundering creatures, carry off the very
hih, which according to the cultom of this people, is fufpended to dry in fith houfes,
and alfo the ptarmigans taken in nets.
The magpye called in Lapland Ruo/b-Karanas, in Norwegian according to the dif-
ferent dialects of the places Stiuur, Stiuul, Stivor, and Stieer, is feen fometimes in Fin-
mark, yet very feldom beyond the parifhes of Alten, and Hammerfeft in the weftern
Finmark. If it happens, as in Wardoea, an ifland fituated in the eaftern Finmark,
this garrulous bird fhould be feen near the place of worfhip, is taken as an omen, either
portending death to the paftor of the congregation, or certainly fome change ; but if it
{hould appear on the caftle it was thought to prefage inftant death ; or the hopes of a
new appointinent to the royal governor refident there.
In Finmark, as in moft other tracts of Norway, a certain wild bird, the male of which
is named in Norwegian Tiuur or Tedder ; in Lapland Zhiufzia, in Latin the Urogallus
yiajor. tis about the fize of the eagle, a hoarfe and fcreahing voice, of a pale afh
colour, with black and white feathers on the brea{t and under the belly. It ufually
{wells and ftruts, with its feathers proudly expanded, like a peacock. ‘Lhe female of
this bird, in Norwegian Roy, in Lapland called Goaappel, is lefs than the male, of a dark
colour inter{perfed with fpots. ‘The flefh of thefe birds very much refembles the fleth of
birds in common, as well in colour as in tafte.
A certain bird of extraordinary fize, neck and feet of an ell long, called by the Lap-
janders Guorga, is met with in Finmark, very feldom it is feen.
Iinmark abounds in a great number of ptarmigans. Birds of this kind are grey in
fummer, mixed witha pale yellow, white in the winter, when they fometimes fo bury
and cover themfelves with the fnows, that they cannot be feen, by the paflengers in the
place, where for a time they were hid under the fnow, which after their departure
is yet fufliciently vifible. But there are two kinds of the ptarmigan, one of
which comprehends thofe which in Lapland are called Riew/ak, in Norwegian Stov Ryper
or Lie Ryper, becaufe they frequent the woods and hills; to the other clafs belong
thofe called in Lapland Giron, in Norwegian Tield Ryper or Stare Ryper, that is moun-
tain ptarmigan, becaufe they are found on the fummits of the loftieft mountains.
Thefe differ a litle from the former in the fize of the body, which isa little lefs, and
alfoin the voice. ‘The Laplanders catch the ptarmigan in the following manner ;_ they
cut down birch trees, and difpofe them when cut in the fhape of an inclofure through
the plain, different doors opening on this fide and that, by which birds of a moderate
fize can creep in commodioufly. At each opening isa loop, in the form of the fingers
extended, fixed at each end inthe ground. The ptarmigan alighting accidentally on
the faid inclofure, whilft fleeting freely up and down, they come to the tops of the
brich trees, of which this hedge is made, for catching them, to the openings where the
loops are put, through which, when wifhing to get to the nearer fide of the inclofure,
they are entrapped.
The wood-pigeon is fometimes feen in the eaftern Finmark ; in the-Ruffian terri-
tories, if report is true, much more frequently.
There is a certain bird, which from the creft it carries, is called in the Norwegian
Bruus Kopper, to be met with in fome of the traéts of this region. Such of thefe kind
of birds, as are to be found in thefe countries, are either grey, with white neck, or dark
13 with
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