districts, and those drained by the rivers disemboguing at Frederikshald). Extensive forests of Coniferous trees are also found in Throndhjem stift and the amt of Nordland. The Coniferous woods of Bergen and Tromsö stifts consist—with a solitary exception—of fir alone. The extreme limit of the fir belt in southern Norway is from 2200 to 3000 feet above the sea; throughout the Throndhjem region, from 1600 to 2000 feet; at Talvik in Alten (70° N. lat.) it does not exceed 700 feet. With the sole exception of the birch, none of the foliferous trees indigenous to the country form woods of great extent. The birch, reaching higher up the mountain sides than do any of the Conifers, forms a belt above them, which is, however, exceedingly narrow in southern Norway. Next come the dwarf birch (Betula nana) and various species of willows, and, last of all, between this and the snow-limit, the lichen belt. But the line of demarcation between this region and the willow belt is not distinctly traceable, the dwarf birch and some few of the willows—more especially the creeping rotundifolious varieties (Salix herbacea or polaris)—extending occasionally to the very edge of the snow-fields. Other plants also, such as the snow ranunculus, the Alpine heather, and numerous mountain plants, many of them distinguished by their beautiful flowers, grow abundantly here. The region of the Dovre is especially noteworthy, as the tract in which the alpine flora of Northern Europe is found in greatest variety, and within comparatively narrow limits. In the fertile and less elevated districts of Norway the forest growth, apart from Conifers, includes the ash, elm, lime, oak, beech, and black alder. The aspen, white alder, mountain ash, and bird cherry thrive at a considerable elevation, and are occasionally found even in the birch zone. The oak still grows abundantly on the south-eastern coast, from Jarlsberg-Laurvik amt to Christiansand, but is nowhere found in extensive forests. The only locality in which the beech can be said to thrive is Jarlsberg-Laurvik amt.
Fauna. The vast fir and pine forests are still the haunts of the largest of European carnivora—the bear, the lynx, and the wolf. The numbers of the last-mentioned, however, have, in southern Norway, been steadily and one may almost say unaccountably decreasing during the last twenty years; and the wolf may be now regarded as the most rare of all Norwegian beasts of prey. In Finmark it still abounds, constituting the worst enemy to the herds of reindeer. The bear also is less frequently met with, a fact to be accounted for by the immense quantities of timber felled of late throughout the country. The animal is most numerous now in Throndhjem, Nordland, and Romsdal amts; it occurs with comparative frequency in the amts of Bratsberg, Nedenæs, Buskerud, Hedemark, and Christian, and is not absolutely rare in Nordre Bergenhus amt. About 150 are annually killed throughout Norway; in 1849 the number was twice as great. The lynx does not appear to have suffered any diminution within the last twenty years; as many as 120 are annually killed. Nordre Throndhjem amt would appear to be its northern limit. This animal is most destructive to hares and all kinds of feathered game. In the great forests especially where the soil is marshy, and there is a mingled growth of ash, mountain ash, and willow (Salix caprea)—the elk occurs, and indeed appears to be increasing in numbers in some places, notwithstanding the vast quantities of timber felled, a fact chiefly attributable doubtless to the rapid decrease of its worst enemies, the wolf and the bear. It is most numerous in Hedemark and Buskerud, and in some parts of Akershus and Smaalenene, though considerable numbers have been met with of late throughout Nordre Throndhjem amt; in a westerly direction it has penetrated as far as Nedenæs amt. The elk is not found in the west of Norway, but its place is partially taken by the red deer, which selects as its haunts the largest of the wooded islands on the coast and the numerous semi-insular projections of the mainland. It is most abundant on the island of Hiteren, at the mouth of Throndhjem Fjord. The wild desolate wastes of the fjelds are the home of the glutton and the reindeer, the lemming and the polar fox. Large herds of reindeer still roam throughout the alpine region of the fjelds between eastern and western Norway, and on the Dovre mountains, the Rundane, and the highlands between Gudbrandsdal and Österdal, and Gudbrandsdal and Valders; but this noble animal has become scarcer of late years, owing chiefly to the numbers killed by peasant hunters, who fire their rifles into the midst of the herd, sometimes maiming at a shot half-a-dozen animals, which they cannot hope to secure, and which afterwards become the prey of the glutton. In some years, and in certain localities, the lemming makes its appearance in countless multitudes, to be attacked by its numerous enemies, particularly birds of prey, among which are the snowy and the short-eared owl; the common kestrel too, and the rough-legged buzzard, are seen in large numbers at such times, sweeping over the wastes of the fjelds. The lemming has an enemy among ruminants even, the reindeer crushing it with a stroke of his cloven hoof for the sake of the vegetable matter it contains. Hares are found all over the country up to the snow-limit. In Finmark occur several species of small mammals of Russian origin.
The sea that washes the shores of Norway abounds in fish; and hence the coast, with its numberless islands, holms, and skerries, is a favourite haunt for such birds and mammals as prey upon fishes and other marine animals. When the herring approaches the coast to spawn, it is hotly pursued by the whale; and in Finmark when shoals of capelan make for the coast in spring, accompanied by cod, which gorge themselves with this their favourite food, the fin-whale (Balænoptera musculus) and the blue-whale (Balænoptera sibbaldi) are also exceedingly numerous, and their presence has given rise to a most important branch of the fishing industry. The waters of the fjords, and the holms and islets of the coast, abound in the spotted seal (Phoca vitulina), and the Phoca barbata is not uncommon in some localities on the outermost skerries.
Avifauna. Feathered game—capercally, black-cock, hazel grouse—is still abundant in the forests, though less plentiful now than formerly, owing to the reckless manner in which they have been destroyed by amateur sportsmen. The woodcock is distributed pretty equally over the whole country; besides the lynx, it has enemies in the marten, fox, and weasel, the birds of prey most destructive to it being the sparrow-hawk and the great eagle owl. The finest ptarmigan are found in the birch region of the fjelds; but in southern Norway they often prefer the more elevated tracts of the willow zone during summer, though even then they are most abundant in the birch zone. The “rype” must be regarded as the most important of Norwegian game birds, on account of its numbers no less than of its flavour. It is extensively snared in winter, and of late years dogs have been used to hunt it. On the numerous islands lying off the northern coast, where the vegetation is strikingly similar to that of the birch belt and willow region of the fjelds, ptarmigan are plentiful. The treeless island of Smölen, in the bailiwick of Nordmöre, where they occur in great numbers, is the most southerly of the insular localities they frequent. The marshy tracts of the fjelds are the breeding-grounds of numerous varieties of fen-fowl, the lapwing (Charadrius apriciarius) and the dotterel plover (Charadrius morinellus) occurring in great numbers. The double snipe and the teal, which also breed in the willow belt, are frequently shot by sportsmen when in pursuit of ptarmigan. In the numerous mountain tarns various species of divers are met with, for instance the Fuligula marila and the Fuligula clangula. The partridge, which has strayed across from Sweden, is now pretty evenly distributed throughout the amts of Akershus, Buskerud, Hedemark, and Christian; but in severe winters, when the fall of snow is exceptionally heavy, nearly every bird perishes, and several years elapse before the stock is recruited by immigration from the neighbouring kingdom. Almost every species of sea-fowl occurring in northern Europe that prey upon fish is found along the coasts, some of them breeding together in countless thousands in certain localities. The coast north of Stad is their chief haunt. The so-called “fugleberge” (bird cliffs) are chiefly frequented by the Mormon fratercula, the flesh, eggs, and feathers of which provide the owners of these preserves with some of the chief necessaries of life. The great black-banded loom occurs in tarns and mountain-lakes all over the country.
Fish. Of the various species of freshwater fish the Salmonidæ are beyond comparison the most important to the inhabitants. In the more extensive of the lakes, which are generally of great depth, trout attain almost the size of salmon, weighing up to 30 ℔. In some lakes the red charr attains a weight of 12 ℔, as does also the Finmark variety of this fish, which, in common with the sea-trout, remains during most of the year in deep sea-water, ascending the rivers in the spawning season only. Mountain-trout are found to thrive best in certain lakes and tarns within the birch and willow belts; but, owing to the abundance of food they can obtain, do not readily take the fly, hence they must be fished for with live bait or netted. As a rule, however, the great mountain-lakes yield excellent sport to the angler. The Mjösen abounds in grayling and charr; there is good grayling fishing too in the Tyrifjord and Randsfjord. Next to these species the perch, pike, bream, and eel are found in greatest numbers; but the eel is met with almost exclusively in a few rivers of southern Norway. Norway, notwithstanding the great number of its rivers which empty their waters into the sea, will not, owing to their inaccessible character, bear comparison with Great Britain or Ireland as a salmon-producing country. The most destructive enemies of freshwater fish in Norway are the otter, the loom, the duck, and the osprey.
The sea being very deep, both in the fjords and off the coast, such fishes and marine animals as affect great depths are there abundant. Some species are of great economic importance. On the banks off the coast of Finmark, at a depth of 150 to 200 fathoms, large numbers of the Greenland shark (Scymnis glacialis) are annually captured, their livers yielding a large quantity of oil. During the first half of the present century the sun fish, or basking shark (Selache maxima), abounded on the coast, its capture forming an important branch of the fishing industry. It is now but rarely met with; and the fishery has been discontinued. No species of fish can compare in point of importance with the herring and the cod, which, taken in immense quantities on the western coast, constitute one of the chief sources of national wealth.
