THE PTARMIGAN 107 



disturbing a hen Ptarmigan from her nest without the 

 cock having apparently realised the proximity of danger. 

 He immediately flew down from the hillside above and 

 joined his mate, the two birds walking together a short 

 distance before me — the hen, sober and dejected, her 

 husband more erect and soldierly, with head thrown well 

 back, and tail spread fanwise. I have seen, on such occa- 

 sions, the male bird apparently in conversation with his 

 mate, and evidently remonstrating with her on her lack of 

 courage in leaving her nest. 



The young birds are able to move about actively from 

 the first few hours of their existence. They are said to be 

 able to fly at the age of eight days, but I consider this to be 

 an exaggeration, though they are strong on the wing when 

 only slightly larger than Larks. It is written that soon 

 after ttie young are hatched the cock birds betake them- 

 selves to the highest tops, where they join other bachelor 

 friends, returning to the brood when the young can fly 

 strongly, and my own observations especially during 1914 

 lead me to suppose that this is, sometimes at least, the case. 



No bird is so dependent on the weather during the 

 nesting season as the Ptarmigan, and a really satisfactory 

 year for them is an extreme rarity. I do not think I 

 exaggerate when I say that 50 per cent, of the higher- 

 nesting birds lose their eggs or young during an average 

 season, and probably this estimation is considerably short 

 of the mark. During no month in the twelve is the 

 possibility removed of a snowstorm descending without 

 warning on the high hills. Often the last days of June or 

 the first days of July see a north-easterly wind with driv- 

 ing snow squalls blotting out the higher hills, and these 

 storms have a disastrous effect on those younger Ptarmi- 

 gan which are not of a sufficiently mature age to fly to 

 lower levels. 



As I have mentioned, the hen PtarVnigan are in the 



