PfARMIGAKS. 189 



manner in which they lie to dogs, make them interesting 

 alike to the sportsman and the lover of Natnral History. 



The usual charge of a gun used for shooting ptarmi- 

 gans, and other members of the Tetraonidm, is three and 

 a half drachms of powder and one and one-eighth or one 

 and one-fourth ounces of No. 8 shot, but the quantity of 

 powder may be increased half a drachm in winter, when 

 the birds are wild. No. 6 shot may, however, be found 

 more effective than No. 8, on account of its greater size 

 and momentum. The coarse grain powder is better than 

 the fine, as it has more penetration and less recoil; but 

 good wood powder is the best of all, as it has three times 

 the strength of the ordinary black variety, causes no re- 

 coil, makes no smoke, keeps the shot well together, and 

 does not heat the barrels. 



The most interesting campaign that I ever made 

 against the ptarmigans was in the Rocky Mountains. 

 The party which I accomj^anied consisted of a squint- 

 eyed individual, whose face was as red as his hair, and 

 who earned his bread by ranching, or stock-raising; an 

 energetic young man, who loved the rifle and a life in 

 the forest more than he did gold; and a half-breed and 

 an Indian, who were to act as guides and compagnons de 

 chasse. We were also accompanied by two mongrels, be- 

 longing to the Venus-haired man, which he called a gun- 

 dog and a hound-dog, but which was which was a hard 

 matter to decide from appearances. As soon as we 

 reached tlie line of mosses and lichens on the mountains, 

 I put on a pair of green spectacles, to prevent snow- 

 blindness, but as the others had no such conveniences, 

 they were content with smearing the parts around the 

 eyes with wet powder, and that was equally effective. 



The scene which we beheld from the snow-fields was 

 grand in the extreme, for, stretching away as far as we 

 could see, were towering peaks, shrouded in eternal robes 

 of glowing white, while the vast and silent forests which 



