2i8 THE PTARMIGAN 



seeking the shady sides of the mountains. Only when the northern 

 regions or lofty mountains are so thickly covered with snow as to 

 threaten it with starvation does it repair to districts where the cold 

 is someN\'hat mitigated, but never lower into the valleys than where 

 it may quench its thnst with snow. ' The male bird ', says a field 

 naturalist, ' has been seen, during a snow-storm in Norway, to 

 perch himself on a rock which overtopped the rest, and to sit 

 there for some time as if enjoying the cold wind and sleet, which 

 was drifting in his face ; just as one might have done on a sultry 

 summer's day on the top of the Wiltshire downs, when a cool air 

 was stirring there.' ^ The same writer observes : "I have generally 

 found the Ptarmigan concealed among the grey, lichen-coloured 

 rocks on the summits of the fjelds, and so closely do they resemble 

 these rocks in colour that I could scarcely ever see them on the 

 ground ; and sometimes when the practised eye of my guide found 

 them, and he would point out the exact spot, it was not until after 

 a long scrutiny that I could distinguish the bird within a dozen 

 yards of me. Frequently we would find them on the snow itself, 

 and many a time has a large circular depression in the snow been 

 pointed out to me, where the Ptarmigan has been lying and pluming 

 himself in his chilly bed. He is a noble bird, free as air, and for the 

 most part uninterrupted in his wide domain ; he can range over the 

 enormous tracts of fjeld, seldom roused by a human step, and still 

 more seldom hunted by man. When the winter clothes his dwelling 

 in a garb of snow, he arrays himself in the purest and most beautiful 

 white ; when the summer sun melts away the snow, and the grey 

 rocks appear, he, too, puts on his coloured dress, and assimilates 

 himself once more to his beloved rocks. But the young Ptarmigans 

 are my especial favourites : I have caught them of all ages ; some 

 apparently just emerged from the egg, others some weeks older ; 

 they are remarkably pretty little birds, with their short black beaks 

 and their feathered toes ; and so quickly do they rim, and so nimble 

 and active are they in escaping from you, that they are soon beneath 

 some projecting stone, far beyond the reach of your arm, where you 

 hear them chirping and calling out in defiance and derision. The 

 call of the old Ptarmigan is singularly loud and hoarse ; it is a pro- 

 longed grating, harsh note, and may be heard at a great distance.' 

 This has been compared to the scream of the Missel Thrush ; but 

 jMacgillivray says it seems to him more like the croak of a frog. 



Ptarmigans pair early in spring, and build their nest of grass, 

 bents and twigs in a slight hollow behind a stone or bush, and lay 

 from seven to twelve eggs. The young are able to run about as 

 soon as they are hatched, and, as we have seen, are most expert 

 and nimble in concealing themselves. The hen bird when surprised 

 ^vith her young brood counterfeits lameness, and runs about in 



' Kcv. A. C. Smith, in the Zuolo^isl, vol. viii. p. 2977. 



