PTARMIGAN. 327 



number of Ptarmigan killed in that country every winter was 

 beyond belief: two thousand dozen was, if I remember right, 

 the quantity exported from Drammen in one ship for Eng- 

 land last year ; and great numbers are annually sent to the 

 Copenhagen market. Besides those received in this country 

 from Drammen, great quantities are also received in London 

 during the months of February, March, April, and May, 

 from Bergen, Drontheim, and other ports on the west coast 

 of Norway, from whence conveyance is obtained for them in 

 the boats which bring constant supplies of lobsters to the 

 London market. On one occasion, late in the spring of 

 1839, one party shipped six thousand Ptarmigan for London ; 

 two thousand for Hull ; and two thousand for Liverpool ; and 

 at the end of February, or very early in March, of the pre- 

 sent year, 1840, one salesman in Leadenhall Market received 

 fifteen thousand Ptarmigan that had been consigned to him ; 

 and during the same week another salesman received seven 

 hundred Capercaillies, and five hundred and sixty Black 

 Grouse. The prices of these birds in the market of Drammen, 

 as supplied me by Mr. Grant, are in English money for — 



In London the visual price for these birds, when in good con- 

 dition, is, for — 



Of the various species of Grouse, as articles of food, the flesh 

 of the Red Grouse has perhaps the most admirers. The 

 Black Grouse is remarkable for the dark colour of the outer 



