The Life of a Ptarmigan 



near four thousand feet high. And then to the east the 

 ptarmigan's eye would, maybe, look along the quiet waters 

 of Loch Linnhe to where they reached the Lochaber 

 country, and there, shutting out all further view, she would 

 see Ben Nevis, the greatest of Scottish hills. Always in 

 June there would be great snowfields covering the upper 

 reaches of that mountain, and for days on end the ptarmigan 

 would look upon the hill deep under a fresh coating of snow 

 — for it is a rare season indeed that the month of roses does 

 not bring to Ben Nevis at least one heavy snowfall. Then 

 she would see the conical hills of Glencoe — the scene of the 

 great and never-to-be-forgotten massacre of a Scottish clan — 

 and the high tops of the Black Mount forest where 

 ptarmigan in numbers have their home. 



But the fine weather would soon end, and there would 

 come days when rain and mist would sweep the hilltop, and 

 with the lifting of the mist many burns would be seen 

 streaming down the hillsides of IMorvern, to where the hills 

 drop sheer to the waters of the Sound of Mull. And here at 

 such times a wonderful sight would be seen — the force of the 

 wind of so great strength that the burns would not be per- 

 mitted to fall in cascades to the sea as is their wont, but the 

 waters, caught upon the gale, would be hurled backwards in 

 clouds of spray. I have indeed seen these hills, after heavy 

 rain, when their waters, upward carried by the wind, had all 

 the appearance of the smoke of many heather fires rising, and 

 they have before now been mistaken for such. 



And then on dark nights the ptarmigan, were she awake, 

 would see the lights of passing ships, and also the flashing 

 beacon on Eilean Glas, and the steady orange glare of the 

 stout lighthouse on Lismore. 



And so, as she brooded her richly speckled eggs, she 

 would have much to occupy her. Yet I doubt if she saw any 

 of these things, or if indeed so, whether they were anything to 

 her. But one dark shape I know she recognized, and trembled 

 for her life as the eagle passed her by at his hunting. 



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