THE PTARMIGAN 111 



is not unlike the winding of a clock or the ticking of 

 a fishing reel. The note of the Ptarmigan has been 

 compared to that of the Missel Thrush, but a more 

 inappropriate comparison would be difficult to discover, 

 as the two cries are totally unlike. An interesting 

 habit of this mountain Grouse is its descent, during the 

 earliest hours of the day, to comparatively low levels, 

 the birds returning to their haunts on the high grounds 

 after the rising of the sun. No satisfactory explanation 

 has been advanced to account for this fact, although it 

 has been suggested that a search for more abundant 

 food supplies may cause this vertical migration. That 

 this migration does occur was made evident to me a short 

 while ago while crossing the road leading from Braemar 

 to Perth in the early morning of an April day. The road 

 even at its highest level is only 2200 feet above the sea, 

 yet Ptarmigan in pairs were met with on the roadside at 

 an elevation of under 2000 feet, at a point where during 

 the day I have never seen them anywhere in the vicinity. 

 The food of the Ptarmigan consists largely of the young 

 shoots of the blaeberry {Vaccinium myrtillus) and the 

 crowberry {Empetrum nigrum). Authorities on the bird, 

 including Mr. Millais, are inclined to be somewhat sceptical 

 as to the truth of the statements that the Tarmachan is a 

 heather eater, but from my own personal observations 

 I have no doubt that such is the case ; for I have not 

 infrequently watched the birds actually at work on the 

 young shoots of the ling, and have afterwards walked up 

 to the spot to examine the heather. I have noticed, 

 however, that the shoots of the club-moss are avoided. 

 In the autumn months the food is varied by the berries 

 of the blaeberry and of the red cranberry. The birds 

 also swallow large quantities of quartz grit. The young 

 are said to be fed upon tender grass tips and Juicy blae- 

 berry leaves. I am inclined to think that Ptarmigan 



