324- TETRAONID.E. 



to the late Rev. Mr. Daniel, tliat nature seems to have 

 afforded them, is their alighting upon stones so exactly of 

 their own colour, as to render it difficult for the eye to 

 discern them. This sportsman killed forty-three Ptarmigan 

 in one day above Loch Laggan, which lies between Dalwin- 

 nie and Fort Augustus in this district ; but as the season 

 advances, and the ground becomes wet and cold, they are 

 much more difficult to approach. Mr. Macgillivray also 

 observes, that " these beautiful birds while feeding run and 

 walk among the weather-beaten and lichen-crested fragments 

 of rock, from which it is very difficult to distinguish them 

 when they remain motionless, as they invariably do should 

 a person be in sight. Indeed, unless you are directed to a 

 particular spot by their strange low croaking cry, you may 

 pass through a flock of Ptarmigans without observing a single 

 individual, although some of them n)ay not be ten yards 

 distant. When squatted, however, they utter no sound, 

 their object being to conceal themselves ; and if you discover 

 the one from which the cry has proceeded, you generally find 

 him on the top of a stone, ready to spring oflT the moment 

 you show an indication of hostility. If you throw a stone at 

 him, he rises, utters his call, and is immediately joined by 

 all the individuals around, Avhich, to your surprise, if it be 

 your first rencontre, you see spring up one by one from the 

 bare ground. They generally fly off in a loose body, with a 

 direct and moderately rapid flight, resembling, but lighter 

 than that of the Red Grouse, and settle on a distant part of 

 the mountain, or betake themselves to one of the neighbour- 

 ing summits, perhaps more than a mile distant. In winter 

 several families of Ptarmigan associate, forming a flock, and 

 fifty in number have been seen together." 



Our Ptarmigan is found on most of the elevated mountain 

 ranges of the continent of Europe, even to Italy. In Spain 

 it is found about the high rocky country of Aragon, where it 



