THE PTARMIGAN 123 



miles distant and across the Dee Valley. In Labrador 

 great migrations of Ptarmigan have been chronicled, and a 

 specimen has been shot on St. Kilda, an island fifty miles 

 out into the Atlantic off the Hebrides. 



The flight power of the Ptarmigan is, I think, superior 

 to that of the Red Grouse ; and the birds can wing their 

 way up a steep hill face at a surprising speed. During 

 recent years Ptarmigan shooting has decreased in popu- 

 larity, and one rarely hears nowadays of really big bags 

 being obtained. The record shoot took place, I believe, 

 at Achnashellach, where 61 brace were accounted for in 

 a day ; but in 1886 as many as 27 brace were killed on the 

 Forest of Gaick, Inverness -shire, in the course of a single 

 drive. On this forest 60 brace have been shot during a 

 day. 



Doubtless the long and strenuous walks up to Ptarmi- 

 gan ground prevent any but the most enthusiastic sports- 

 men from decimating the ranks of the White Grouse, and 

 I have never heard a gun fired on the Cairngorm range of 

 hills, which holds, I imagine, the most extensive area 

 of Ptarmigan ground in these Islands. But I do not think 

 that there has been an increase in the number of the birds 

 since I first became familiar with the range, though on 

 the Forest of Gaick, some fifteen miles to the west, their 

 numbers have greatly decreased. 



Ptarmigan suffer attacks of the same disease as that 

 which causes such mortality amongst the Red Grouse. 

 In Iceland, according to Henry Slater, the rock Ptarmigan 

 are prone to epidemics similar to grouse disease. There 

 is the same emaciation, featherless legs and toes, and 

 inflammation of the viscera with abundant entozoa. 

 During 1913 grouse disease was more prevalent than for 

 a considerable time, and it is possible that Ptarmigan 

 were also sufferers. At all events, I have rarely seen so 

 few birds as during July of that year, when I was camping 



