A PTAKMIGAN DAY. 225 



point where I was headed by the fog, when, cast- 

 ing my eyes over the heights above, there was the 

 pack, some perched on the granite boulders and 

 the rest on the ground, only a few gunshots off. 

 The dogs were instantly "heeled in," and, slipping 

 softly up, I was almost within reach when my 

 game looked scared and flew. Only six, however, 

 rose, and the seventh was no doubt in hiding 

 among the stones. When laid on the scent, the 

 dogs instantly stood firm, and at the same moment 

 the ptarmigan flew, and was as quickly brought 

 low. 



The pack of six made straight for the first 

 ground, and their pertinacious visitor followed, in 

 the hope that if he obtained a third meeting they 

 ought to be less shy of his advances. The rocks 

 between me and the hollow where they were at 

 feed when first discovered were rather hurried 

 over than hunted, but all my vigilance and the 

 utmost pains of my careful dogs found no trace 

 of them there. My plan, therefore, was to take 

 a wide circling cast both up and down the hill, 

 and, gradually contracting it, leave " no stone un- 

 searched " where they could possibly have hidden, 

 p 



