BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 37 



are not much sought after for the table. A hen 

 bird with her brood is very courageous, and 

 often will fearlessly attack the intruder, rushing at 

 him with beak agape and tail widespread, in the hope 

 of scaring him from her chicks. (From " The Illus- 

 trated Sporting and Dramatic News.") 



THE PTARMIGAN 



No bird, perhaps, so appeals to the ornithologist as 

 the beautiful, confiding Ptarmigan. Far beyond 

 all traces of civilisation, on the lone mountain tops 

 and plateaux, the Ptarmigan has his home, and his 

 weird, croaking call as he rises at your feet is a 

 charming sound to the bird lover. 



In summer, when at last the huge snowfields 

 have disappeared from the mountain slopes, the 

 Ptarmigan have for their companions the mournful 

 Golden Plover, the Common Gull, the Wheatear, 

 Meadow Pipit, and Twite. The Snow Bunting, 

 too, remains to breed on a few of the highest 

 Scottish mountains, and his clear musical notes are 

 heard at their best on the precipitous rock-strewn 

 hillside, where his mate is sitting. But when 

 winter storms descend and the powdery snow 

 blows into drifts, perhaps 100 feet deep, then all 

 other bird life seeks more sheltered quarters, and 

 the Ptarmigan have the hillside once more to 

 themselves. Even when the ground above 3,000 

 feet is snow-covered and the lower hills quite bare, 

 they disdain to seek more sheltered grounds, and 

 seem to revel in the snow. Only when a 

 severe snowstorm comes on, unaccompanied by 

 wind, are the Ptarmigan put to sore straits, as the 



