NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 107 



The nest of the Ptarmigan is extremely difficult to find. Many 

 a day I have spent " in the region of stones/' searching diligently, 

 and during the years I visited Assynt in the breeding season I, 

 unaided, found only one nest -with eggs. In 1869, at the end of 

 a long day, during most of which there was a close, " driving " 

 mist, I at last found one containing nine eggs, putting the female 

 off. These eggs were lighter-colom^ed than those of Grouse, and 

 considerably smaller. On the day tliis nest was found I had two 

 men assisting. "We flushed at least a dozen old cocks, and heard 

 many more cro"sving in the mist, and must have passed as many 

 hens at no great distance. I know of no nest more difficult to find 

 without a dog. There is a ventriloquistic sound in the crow of 

 the Ptarmigan, especially when heard on a misty day, which, with 

 the difficulty of observing the bird at rest, or sitting on the nest, 

 adds greatly to its safety. To ensure success in shooting these 

 birds in the season, a certain knowledge of the ground is required, 

 and note should be taken of the direction of the wind, as they are 

 almost as much influenced, in the choice of their ground for the day, 

 by the currents of air, as deer are; and where on one day a good 

 bag of Ptarmigan may be obtained, scarcely a bird can be found 

 on another. 



Ptarmigans are scarcer on the extreme tops, as far as my 

 experience goes, than at a lower elevation, and those which are 

 shot on the " barrens," or level deserts of stones in the higher 

 situations, are found to be considerably smaller-sized birds. I 

 know this to be the case, not only from information obtained 

 from gamekeepers, shepherds, and others who are continually 

 amid their haunts, but likewise from personal observation, and from 

 specimens which I possess. So remarkable sometimes is this 

 difference in size, that, when on wing, the smaller birds appear as 

 pigmies beside the lower-ranging ones. Moreover, these higher- 

 ranging and smaller birds assume the full-winter dress sooner than 

 do those which are found lower down, and in less bleak and 

 exposed situations. During a short correspondence I had with 

 Professor Newton of Cambridge on the subject of our Scotch 

 Ptarmigan, he informed me that the above facts fully bear out 

 similar observations made by him on the Ptarmigan in Norway. 



Obs. In 1834, Mr Selby was under the impression that Lagopus 

 nqyestris, the North American species, had been obtained on the 

 "Ben More ridge above Inchnadamph; " and Dr Richardson, when a 



