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Show 1903.] THE ELK IN NORWAY. 137 South Trondhjein are mountainous, barren, and thinly populated except on the coast and in some inland valleys and fiords, and are covered with forests of birch, spruce, and Scotch fir up to an elevation of about 2000 feet, wherever the ground is not too rocky or swampy for these trees to grow. Above that elevation there are fjelds or bare mountainous uplands, the lower slopes and sheltered dells in which are more or less clothed with birch, willow, mountain-ash, and alder, mixed with stunted firs. There are many large lakes and large areas of peat-bog; but these bogs are rarely so deep and soft as to be impassable, and even after long periods of rain a man can cross them by picking his way. The country is divided into so-called farms, most of which consist of small patches of oats and potatoes, with from 10 to 30 acres of meadow-land which is mown for hay, and the produce of which is eked out by small ricks which are put up wherever a sledgeload of grass can be got together in the forest. A large area of forest and mountain is attached to each farm, and there are usually one or two steters 1 on the mountain, to which the cows are driven for about three months in summer. Though most of these farms belong to the occupiers there are some large private properties, belonging to timber companies and public institutions, and much of the higher fjeld and barren mountain remains in the hands of the Government. In the wilder and less populated districts the Elk are hardly disturbed during eleven months of the year except by the occasional attacks of bears and wolves. Though the bear has become rarer of late years, the wolf, on the contrary, has appeared in districts where it was until recently almost unknown ; but at present they have confined their attacks rather to the semi-wild reindeer, which are kept in some numbers by the Lapps all along the Swedish frontier, from Roros northward, and to the sheep, of which every farmer has from 10 to 30. It seems to be doubtful whether bears can kill full-grown bull Elk2, but during my last hunting-season I found the remains of no less than three Elk calves which had been killed by them. The favourite food of the Elk in summer consists almost entirely of the twigs and leaves of birch, willow, and mountain-ash, and in winter of the branches and bark of the same shrubs. Wherever there is a grove of mountain-ash, Elk will live almost entirely on it so long as they can get it, and in districts where Elk are abundant the tree is constantly eaten down, so that it seems likely to become much scarcer than at present. Scotch-fir twigs are also largely consumed during the winter, but do not seem to be eaten so long as mountain-ash can be easily procured. Though I have never actually seen Elk eating grass, I am assured by the native hunters and by Capt. Ferrand that they do so in summer to some extent, and also bite off the flower-heads of Ejnlobium and other plants. Water-lily roots, 1 " Saeter" is the Norsk terra for a shieling. 2 Capt. Ferrand has known a bull Elk beat off the attack of two bears in company. |