THE PTARMIGAN 163 



well-known bird. Its fliglit is rapid, and performed by quick 

 beatings of the wings. Sometimes the wings are held arched 

 and stiff, and the bird skims with great rapidity along the 

 mountain sides, or over a ridge or heap of rocks. Its note, 

 however, is very different. It is not nearly so loud and 

 startling, being much more hoarse and guttural ; and for the 

 greater part of the year the bird is a singularly silent species. 

 I have heard Ptarmigan make a low grunting kind of sound 

 when a flock of these birds have been crouching low amongst 

 the stones. The food of this Grouse is almost entirely 

 vegetable in its character. In summer the bird may catch a 

 few insects, but at all seasons it seems to prefer buds and 

 tender shoots of the mountain vegetation. In autumn seeds 

 are eaten, and also vast quantities of the small ground fruits 

 which grow so abundantly in its mountain home. I have 

 known it wander lower down the hillsides at this season in 

 search of fruit; and in winter it often descends to lower 

 ground, provided it is covered with snow, when the mountain 

 tops are too deeply buried for it to reach its accustomed food. 

 The Ptarmigan swallows a considerable quantity of pebbles 

 and grit to aid it in the digestion of its food. 



Ptarmigan, like Grouse, pair rather early in the season, but 

 do not begin nesting duties until winter is finally banished 

 from the mountain tops. If the season is a forward one, the 

 eggs are usually laid early in May; but if the winter has been 

 unusually long and severe, the end of that month is reached 

 before the nest is made. This is a simple affair — merely a 

 hollow in the scanty soil on the mountain top, lined with a 

 few bits of dead heath or bilberry wire, or a little dry grass. 

 The nest is rarely placed beneath the shelter of a bush, but 

 it is sometimes protected on one side by a big stone or a piece 

 of rock. The eggs are from eight to twelve in number, and 

 considerably different in general appearance from those of the 

 Eed Grouse. They are buffish-white in ground colour, spotted 



