6 CHAEADEIID^. 



seen me, or suspected my presence, as she soon ran rapidly away in another 

 direction, over the sky-line, and was lost to view. I waited again, and in about 

 ten minutes she returned from the same direction in which she had last dis- 

 appeared, and repeated the manoeuvres above described, also picking up flies, and 

 endeavouring to put on an appearance of supreme indifference. As if not quite 

 certain of my presence, she sometimes perched on the top of a mossy hummock 

 and looked round, jerking up her head ; but, finally, she again ran swiftly over 

 the sky-line. From these movements I, somewhat too hastily, concluded that the 

 nest must have been in that direction, and I accordingly left my place of conceal- 

 ment, and carefully stalked, on hands and knees, after her. I peeped over the 

 crest just to see her take wing from the succeeding sky-line. 



" Feilden and the keeper then joined me, and we searched carefully around, 

 beating up every foot of a large square which we had first marked out. We found 

 3i false nest, which gave us hopes. Had the real nest been within that square, 

 we feel convinced it could not have escaped us, and the sequel will show how 

 closely we must have passed it. Once more we went to the east end of the range. 

 Here, amongst some loose stones on the side of a hill, we found a Ptarmigan 

 sitting on her nest. Feilden put down his hand, and the poor bird did not move 

 off her eggs until his forefinger was within three inches of her bill. AVhen at last 

 she scuttled off, we found that she had been sitting hard on only three eggs. 



" After an hour or so, Feilden started, this time alone, and we lay still. In 

 about half an hour from the time he left us we heard him shout, and we sprang 

 to our feet and ran. The keeper said, ' Can he have found it \ ' and I answered, 

 as we ran, ' Not a doubt of it.' Sure enough, Feilden had the nest safely and 

 surely marked with a red pocket-handkercliicf, and had come away to meet us. 

 As we now approached we again saw the bird run, this time directly off the nest. 

 It was not fifteen yards from the side of the big square we had before so carefully 

 searched. We sat down beside the nest and feasted our eyes upon the contents ; 

 and the poor bird, still exercising her cunning, ran round and round us, here and 

 there picking at the flies, or pretending to do so, or watching us from a hummock 

 of moss. 



" There were the three eggs, lying in a shallow saucer-like depression in the 

 deep moss, close to a small grey stone, behind which Feilden had seen her lie 

 down. There was no lining to the nest whatever ; it was simply a shallow hollow, 

 pressed down (not scraped) by the bird, and the eggs lay points inwards. 



" Feilden had seen the bird run from the nest, or from its vicinity, and had 

 remained and watched. At my suggestion he had come up over the crest of the 

 ridge instead of going down from the top. The bird came running from one 

 direction, and then, as she had done when I watched, ran down the hill in 



