198 LAGOPUS CINEREUS. 



with. I have frequently chased it on Ronaval and other moun- 

 tains, in Harris ; and it is said to occur on Eachdla in South 

 Uist, on the Park and Uig hills in Lewis, on the Cuillin and 

 Strath mountains in Skye, as well as in Mull and Jura. On 

 all the elevated summits of the north of Scotland it is not un- 

 common ; and on most of those of the Grampians, but especially 

 the great granitic and slaty masses from which issue the sources 

 of the Dee, the Spey, and the Tay, it may be said to be even 

 abundant. Great numbers are annually killed, but as the 

 haunts of this Ptarmigan are not so easily accessible as those of 

 the brown species, it is not at all likely to be exterminated. 



To observe the manners of this interesting bird, let the stu- 

 dent betake himself to Castleton in Braemar, whence he is 

 ready to start early on a fine autumnal day ; — or if he is un- 

 willing to ascend one of those distant masses of rock, let him 

 accompany me in idea, which is by far the most comfortable 

 mode of travelling. Fording the Dee above the entrance of 

 the stream which passes the village, one day in September 1820, 

 I lingered a while on a small island, to gather the berries of 

 Rubus saxatilis, which I found to be of a somewhat acid taste, 

 and rather agreeable. On reachinor the bank, I obtained a fine 

 view of the valley of the Dee, with its ancient castle, its cul- 

 tivated patches, its scattered habitations, its beautiful river, and 

 its rounded hills covered with pine and birch. In one of these 

 woods I started a small covey of Black Grouse, which at the 

 time, being a noyice, I mistook for the Capercailzie, and proceed- 

 ing northward, came to a deep ravine or " den,"" in which were 

 some native trees of Pyrus aucuparia, Populus tremula, and Be- 

 tula alba. Following this stream for several miles up a heathy 

 valley, I entered a decayed forest of white birch. Few" objects 

 present a more melancholy picture of the ruin of a primeval 

 world than those blasted trunks, some prostrate and crumbling 

 into fragments, others scattered along the hills like an army of 

 giants, suddenly scathed by the wrath of heaven. On emerging 

 from among those ruins, I amused myself for a while with 

 picking the berries of Vaccinium Myrtillus, Vaccinium Vitis- 

 idsea, and Empetrum nigrum, the latter of which were much 

 larger than thev are usuallv found in the lower districts. But 



