out elaborate legal process, of a substantial fine, if unable to prove that it was obtained from one of the freezing establishments, of which there are now a number throughout Norway.

3. The large tracts of forest belonging to the State in different parts of the country should be absolutely preserved (as used formerly to be the case), and no hunting of any kind or description, under any pretext whatever, should be permitted within their precincts. It is due in great degree to the non-existence of such sanctuaries that so many of the bulls now shot are immature animals, and that a really good head is such a rarity.

4. Hunting with the "loose" dog (that is, not in leash) is forbidden in several provinces; the prohibition should be made general, and should be applied to the whole country.

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5. The absolute prohibition of "driving" in any form would put an end to an immense deal of poaching and illegal shooting. present it is a common practice for a number of small owners to combine together in order to "drive," at one and the same time, the total extent of their holdings. On these occasions - the elk having been previously driven in from the neighbourhood as far as possible— everything is shot down, and the law which forbids the killing of more than one elk on each property is evaded.

6. Most unfair advantage is fre

quently taken of the right which a hunter now possesses to follow elsewhere an elk which has originally been put upon property where he is really entitled to shoot. This right should be greatly circumscribed and clearly defined.

7. Information resulting in a conviction should be rewarded. In a country so wild and extensive as is Norway, effectual enforcement of the game laws by officials is practically impossible; but the mere fact of knowing that they were at the mercy of any chance witness of their misdeeds would have a deterrent effect upon poachers.

The difficulties in the way of extending proper legislative protection to the monarch of the Scandinavian forests, however, are slight compared with those which surround the wild reindeer question.

During the period 1889-93, 591 of these fine animals were annually killed, and in 1894 no fewer than 7601 were accounted for. But as in the case of the elk, these figures are not necessarily favourable or indicative of an actual increase in the numbers of the deer which frequent the mountain fastnesses of Central Norway, and native stalkers (no mean judges) in some districts go so far as to prophesy their absolute extinction within a few years, if the state of things which at present exists is allowed to continue. On the other hand, again, it would appear from trustworthy sources that a comparative

ly large number of wild rein were seen on the high fjelds last season, and there is also no doubt that some very good sport was obtained. The fact is, that there are influences at work the ultimate effects of which it is impossible to determine. During the last few years, owing to natural causes, the stalkers have increased immensely in numbers, and their ranks were still further recruited through the sale in 1894 by the Government of several hundreds of magazine rifles at a very low price (less than 25s. apiece). Not only did these weapons account in a great measure for the exceptionally large number of rein killed during the year of their introduction, but, throwing as they do a solid bullet capable of passing through several animals, they undoubtedly caused the death of many more, which escaped for the time being in a wounded condition.

The Lapps, too, who wander from place to place among the mountains throughout the year, are great enemies of the wild rein. Many of these join the herds of tame deer by which the Lapps are accompanied, and are picked off by the latter, who of course can do what they please with their own property, and are entitled to kill animals presumably belonging to them quite irrespective of the season of the year. On the other hand, again, desertions from the herds of tame deer are numerous. Owing to the practical immunity which they enjoyed for some years from the attacks of their greatest enemy, the wolf, the Lapps grew careless, and did their watching in such a perfunctory manner that until he has examined the ears of his quarry and found no marks of ownership upon them, a successful stalker is never quite sure whether he has brought down a really wild

deer or what is called a forvildet tam Ren. In the latter case, of course, his triumph is somewhat marred; but when such an event occurs to a native hunter among the "Hardanger Vidder," he promptly destroys all evidence of proprietorship by removing the ears of the dead animal. That the vacancies in the ranks of the wild reindeer have been filled up to a great extent in the manner above indicated, and that those animals still exist in considerable numbers among the mountainranges of Norway, is no doubt the case; but complaints of inferior sport obtained by Englishmen long conversant with the country, of the extent to which the deer are persecuted during the close season, and of the impunity with which poaching is carried on, have been very numerous of late years, and a revision of the laws is undoubtedly required. Experts differ considerably as to the particular course which should be adopted in this connection; but we venture to suggest that whatever else may be enacted, it would be well to limit the territory over which the Lapps wander with their herds of tame deer, and that in view of the difficulty which attaches to enforcing the close-time, one of the most effective measures possible to adopt would be the reservation here and there throughout the country of considerable tracts of fjeld, where, if proper precautions were taken, the deer would be safe all the year round.

Red-deer are not numerous in Norway, the only place where they can be described as plentiful being the island of Hitteren, in the South Trondhjem Amt. Here 43 were shot in 1894 (out of a total for the whole country of 84), while last year 94 were killed, 28 stags falling to the rifles of a party of

sportsmen within a month on one of the three best " 'forests" or "beats." Not only in Hitteren, however, would the red-deer appear to be flourishing, for in one of the valleys in the neighbourhood of the Nordfjord they are said to have increased to such an extent as to have caused a considerable amount of damage, herds of 10, 20, and upwards having been observed.

Before concluding this portion of our subject, a brief reference to the wolves may not be inappropriate. There is no doubt that recently these creatures have increased in number considerably throughout Norway, coming, it would appear, from across the Russian frontier. In Finmarken's Amt, during the last two years, they have been particularly troublesome; while farther south-more especially in Vaerdalen, Selbo, and in the Faemund country between Osterdal and the Swedish frontier -they have done a considerable amount of damage, not only among the farmers' flocks and herds, but also among the elk and reindeer. On one occasion, when making our way across a dreary tract of fjeld to a certain famous trout-lake in the North Trondhjem Amt, we came across a small pack which were watching the movements of a herd of reindeer. As a matter of fact, our only weapon was a fishing rod; but although we of course sorely regretted not having a rifle handy, we doubt very much whether it would have been of any use, so wary and agile were the brutes. Even in winter it is very difficult to get a shot at them: in the far north the Lapps occasionally run them down on ski, but poison is the means usually employed for their destruction.

While the legislative protection accorded to the Norwegian elk and reindeer leaves a good deal to be

desired, that which is extended to the smaller kinds of game can hardly be described as more satisfactory. Thus, with a few local exceptions, it is perfectly lawful to shoot cock capercailzie up to the end of the month of April, and the result is that in many districts where these fine birds used to be numerous, they have practically ceased to exist. Shooting capercailzie paa spil (literally, at play) is one of the oldest forms of Norwegian sport, and one which not only possesses considerable attractions, but also requires a good deal of skill on the part of the performer; nevertheless, it is a cruel amusement, and very destructive.

The finest cocks are naturally enough the first victims, and as a consequence many hens remain barren; and although the closetime for the latter commences somewhat earlier, there is little distinction made between the sexes, and they also are shot without mercy.

The same remarks may be said to apply to the blackgame, which are destroyed in similar fashion, and for which the same protection (?) is afforded by the law.

Long before the close-time comes to an end the natives in many of the forest districts commence the abominable practice of lokskytteri. The locale of a covey of capercailzie or black-game is ascertained, and the finder conceals himself in the neighbourhood: he then proceeds to imitate the call either of the parents or of the young birds, which are thus easily attracted within range, and are potted one after another, old and young alike. This method, although quite illegal, is very common throughout the country, but an instance is seldom reported, and hardly ever punished.

The willow-grouse or dalryper is treated in very similar fashion.

The law allows these birds to be snared during the winter months by the thousand in the valleys where they have taken shelter from the storms then prevalent on the higher fjelds, and to be shot-like the capercailzie and black-gamein the pairing season.

The willow-grouse are very migratory in their habits, and it may be that the stock will be replenished from other northern countries where they are less persecuted; but the fact remains that there are many tracts of fjeld in Norway, where formerly the birds used to be very numerous, which are certainly not worth shooting over nowadays, and where one may walk for miles on the 15th of August and not see a bird. Efforts innumerable have been made to induce the authorities to put an end to these ruinous proceedings, but hitherto without success: the Norwegian Gamaliels do not appear to appreciate the position. From time immemorial the farmers have exercised sporting rights upon the vast extent of wild country which belongs to the State; on the fjelds they have hunted the reindeer, and snared the willow-grouse and the ptarmigan; and in the woodlands they have shot the capercailzie and the black-game. So long as these pursuits were indulged in for the purpose of providing food to their own households, they were of course perfectly legitimate; but things are now completely altered. Owing to improved means of transit new markets have been opened up, to supply which, in addition to the home demand, some £20,000 to £30,000 worth of game is annually killed and despatched abroad; while all kinds of sporting property have risen immensely

in value. Were reasonable means of protection adopted, they would not only neutralise to a considerable extent the effects of this greatly increased demand, but would induce a much larger revenue from foreign sportsmen, few of whom care to pay the 200 kroners licence in order to stalk reindeer upon ground swarming with local hunters, or to shoot ryper upon territory which has in all probability been severely snared during the preceding winter.

Although under no circumstances, however favourable, could Norway-owing to climatic and other conditions ever be SO heavily stocked with game as are the British Isles, it is infinitely better adapted for wild sport; and we venture to think that, within three or four years at most of the passage of a law which accorded a proper position to the wild animals and birds, and reasonable facilities to foreigners, the shooting rights over two-thirds of the country would be taken up by the latter, and by sportsmen resident in Christiania and other Norwegian towns. Last year may be described as having been a fair year for birds in the northern and eastern parts of the country, and as a wretched one in the west. Presumably owing to the mildness of the weather in early spring, lemmings swarmed nearly every where, attracting as usual immense numbers of foxes and birds of prey.1 This year it is probable that few if any of the little rodents remain; and in the absence of their favourite food, the eagles, hawks, and snowy owls will no doubt devote their attention to the young ryper and ptarmigan, which will suffer accordingly. "SNOWFLY."

ALMOST a quarter of a century has passed since there appeared in 'Maga' a short series of papers under the title "In my Studychair." It is an accident of our good fortune that we are privileged to take an affectionate and hereditary interest in those papers, written as they were by one who not only could appreciate to the full the worth of other men's books, but also had himself the pen of a ready and a graceful writer. His was one of those rarely cultured minds to which nothing appealed more strongly than the treasured works of the old-world writers, and the volumes on which his eye loved to dwell as he sat in his study-chair were those Ancient Classics with which he himself kept up a lifelong friendship, and into the contents of which, in his later years, he so ably contrived to give "unlearned readers" some insight. Dear to his heart were the books themselves, and dearly cherished the associations connected with the early study of the prose and poetry of what to the modern advocate of a purely utilitarian education are indeed dead languages, but which, as an appreciative student justly remarked, "must continue to be the key of our best English literature."

That only a very moderate portion of that spirit has fallen to our lot is the misfortune of a less intellectual nature. We have indeed a warm admiration for many though not quite all the Classics, but it is the admiration only of a passing acquaintance as distinct from the constant affection of a familiar friend. A passage from Homer, dullard though we are, we acknowledge to sound to us

more full of poetical fire than anything ever written in our own language; and we readily believe that in the 'Odyssey,' "be its authorship what it may, lie the germs of thousands of the volumes which fill our modern libraries." Certainly in our early school-days it was impressed upon our memory in more ways than one by a somewhat Draconian ruler, that between the works of Homer, Shakespeare, and Walter Scott there existed a close relationship; and many a sin in the way of failure to construe our 'Iliad' was covered by a timely recollection, real or feigned, that something very like the passage was to be found in one or other of the Waverley novels. It was as well, be it remarked, not to be too accurate on such occasions; for welcome indeed then the command, "Fetch me all my Waverleys, my boys," and the last half of that awful hour, which fortunately came but once a-week, was spent by the whole class in looking for the parallel passage. Had we failed to strike that chord, the order-so painful experience taught might have been, "Fetch me the blackbook and the cane. I'll flog ye all." And what a load of anxiety was rolled off from our young minds when the rumour ran round the school that the Warden had gone off for a change in the company of his Homer and his Shakespeare. For then we small fry, who heartily feared, though it was our creed to say we loved, his presence, felt that for a few days at any rate life was indeed worth living.

Or, again, we can read with pleasure passages in the Greek