BROWN PTARMIGAN. 183 



seen this hawk carrying a fowl through the air, holding it in 

 its talons close up to the body." 



The Brown Ptarmigan pairs early in spring. The male is not 

 polygamous, as some assert, nor does he at any time desert his 

 mate. When incubation is over, and the young run about, they 

 are tended by both parents, the female manifesting great anxiety 

 for their safety, and feigning lameness to induce a person w^ho 

 has approached them to follow her. Sometimes she falls a sa- 

 crifice to her solicitude, for I have known instances of herds and 

 other persons killing her with a stick under such circumstan- 

 ces. When surprised on the nest, she flies with a low un- 

 decided flight to a short distance, and runs off" among the heath. 

 The young are soon able to fly, and the flock keeps together 

 until the end of autumn, unless thinned and scattered by sports- 

 men and vagabonds. Towards the beginning of winter several 

 flocks often unite and keep together, forming what are called 

 packs. They are then generally more shy, and continue so until 

 the beginning of spring, when they separate and pair, without 

 manifesting any remarkable animosity, for although the cocks 

 may occasionally fight, they have not those regular periodical 

 battles described by authors as enacted by many species of the 

 Grouse genus. 



The diversion which " grouse-shooting'' aflbrds is well known, 

 few persons residing in districts where the Brown Ptarmigan 

 abounds not having to some extent engaged in it, in despite of 

 game laws and other impediments. In my opinion, it is a 

 pitiful and barbarous sport, as pursued by a regularly equipped 

 and legally qualified slaughterer, who, even without the labour 

 of charging his gun, still less of carrying home the produce of 

 his idle industry, destroys as much game in one day as might 

 serve for a dozen. But in a district where the birds are not 

 very numerous, and w^here, to procure half-a-dozen braces, one 

 is obliged to traverse a large extent of ground, he cannot fail to 

 find enjoyment, who, starting early with his dog, accompanied 

 by a friend, travels over mountain *id moor, inhaling the 

 balmy air of the heathery hills, and renovating his spirits by 

 vigorous exercise, until the declining sun warns him to retrace 

 his course, and he returns to his home, where the comforts of 



