CHAPTER VIII 



THE LIFE OF A PTARMIGAN 



RISING steeply from the Sound of Mull, and overlooking its 

 quiet waters, is the hill known to the Gael as "Dun da 

 Ghaoithe," or, translated into English, the Hill of the 

 Two Winds. Few birds of any kind live their lives on 

 its wind-scarred slopes, but around the summit cairn two or 

 three I do not think so many as half a dozen pairs of 

 ptarmigan have their haunt. 



To a certain extent, I think, the ptarmigan of the 

 western coast differ in their habits from those which have 

 their home on the lonely plateaux of the Cairngorm Hills. In 

 the latter district they may be counted in their hundreds, but 

 within the sound of the Atlantic they are met with only as 

 stragglers. It is as though they were the last outposts of 

 the race, living in a country scarcely suited to them, and 

 maintaining a bare existence only. In these western hills of 

 the Island of Mull ptarmigan have many enemies. The 

 raven is often on the Hill of the Two Winds, and many 

 gulls of a summer's day sail backward and forward over 

 the 'high ground, on the eager look out for eggs. Then there 

 is the grey crow, that arch egg-stealer; and the golden eagle 

 and peregrine often visit the hill. But one enemy of the 

 ptarmigan is not present here namely, the hill fox for 

 curiously enough he is unknown on Mull at the present day, 

 though a couple of hundred years ago he seems to have lived 

 on the island. 



The lot of the ptarmigan on the Hill of the Two Winds 

 cannot in winter be a pleasant one. The climate here is far 

 different from that prevailing in their home in central 

 Scotland. There the white grouse live in snow from 



38 



