108 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



habit of taking their broods to the highest plateaux dur- 

 ing fine summer days, and on one occasion while walking 

 across the summit of Braeriach (4248 feet above sea-level) 

 I disturbed a hen Ptarmigan with her brood near the edge 

 of a precipice over 1000 feet high. Though the young 

 were incapable of powerful or long-sustained flight, a 

 number of the family made straight for the rocks, dis- 

 appearing from view in the corrie beneath, while the 

 parent bird betrayed signs of great alarm. I have often 

 wondered what is the procedure on the part of the mother 

 bird on such occasions. It is obvious that those of her 

 family already at the foot of the precipice or clinging 

 to ledges some distance from the top are quite unable 

 to regain the summit, so the mother of the chicks must 

 either induce those of her brood still remaining above 

 to make the exacting flight, or else must leave a number 

 of her progeny for good and all. 



It is a matter of interest how rarely one comes across 

 coveys of young Ptarmigan even approaching the number 

 of eggs laid by the birds. At comparatively low eleva- 

 tions — ^that is, from 2500 to 3000 feet — broods are of 

 good size, consisting perhaps of six or seven birds, but 

 above 3000 feet, I doubt whether the number of young in 

 a family would average four. This is the more worthy 

 of notice since Ptarmigan are excellent mothers, and can 

 invariably be called up, when they have a brood in the 

 vicinity, by the imitation of the alarm note of a chick in 

 distress. On many occasions I have deceived the mother 

 Ptarmigan by this method, and have repeatedly called 

 her to within a few yards of me. Once I remember a 

 Ptarmigan, which I realised from her behaviour must have 

 young, climbing a rocky hillside above me. Here, stand- 

 ing on a narrow ledge of rock, she remained quietly till I 

 used the distress cry of one of her family. The parent 

 in her anxiety over-balanced herself, falling several yards 



