93 



able to the nature of this bird. The nest (scarcely 

 deserving that appellation) consists of a few wi- 

 thered stems that line the shallow cavity wherein 

 the eggs are deposited, and is placed on the ground 

 in a tuft of heath. The female begins to lay in 

 March or April. Her eggs, from eight to twelve 

 in number, are of a greyish white, blotched with 

 umber brown. 



GROUSE, WHITE. 



PTARMIGAN. 

 TETRAD LAGOPTJS, Temm. 



The White Grouse is found in all the Alpine 

 districts of Central Europe, and northward as far 

 as Greenland. In this country it is only to be met 

 with in the Highlands of Scotland, or in the He- 

 brides and Orkneys. Formerly it was occasionally 

 observed on the mountainous ridges of Cumberland 

 and Wales. It is fond of lofty situations, where it 

 braves the severest cold, and lives on the highest 

 mountains, particularly those of which the summits 

 are covered with fragments of rock, by its close re- 

 semblance in colour to which it is enabled to escape 

 its numerous inferior enemies in autumn. At the 

 approach of winter they collect into large flocks, and 



