ms of
locusts. The farmers try to destroy them, but they soon give up the
attempt, as for days and days the lemmings come on in great waves,
eating up the grass and the crops wherever they pass. Except the sea,
nothing will stop them when once they have made a start; they come
down the mountain-sides, swim the rivers and streams, rush through the
forests, and, eating as they go, devastate the farm-lands. They do not
wander hither and thither, but keep to the same direction straight
ahead, until they eventually reach the sea. Whether they think that
it is only another river to be crossed, or whether they think that
they have done enough damage for one lifetime, nobody knows; but into
the sea they all plunge madly, and, of course, are soon drowned.

This, however, does not end the nuisance, for thousands of them
die as they sweep over the country, leaving their dead bodies to
poison the water, and thus making the people ill with what they term
"lemming fever." So the pretty little lemmings are on occasions
more to be dreaded than are even bears and wolves, but fortunately
"lemming-years" do not come round very often, and the whole country
is not visited by the pest at the same time. They made their last
big raid in several districts in 1902, and they may come swarming
down from the mountains again any summer.

I must now say something about the wild animals which are helpful
to the people in that they provide them with food and bring money to
their pockets. Foxes and other fur-bearing animals will always fetch
good prices. There are also the hares, especially the white ones,
which are shot and snared in winter-time in great quantities, and
sold all over Europe. You may see them hanging up in the poulterers'
shops in London. Then there is that huge beast, the elk, almost as
big as a small horse, who roams about the forests like his Canadian
brother, the moose, and is hunted and shot for his flesh, skin, and
massive flat horns. Red deer there are also in some parts of Norway;
but the animal of greatest interest is undoubtedly the reindeer.

Up on the great mountain plateaux there are still plenty of wild
reindeer roaming about in large herds, and numbers of them are shot
every autumn by the farmers, who sell the skins, and dry the meat
to be eaten in the winter months. It is, however, the so-called tame
reindeer which are so invaluable to the people of the North. Without
them it would be difficult, if not impossible, for