93 PTARMIGAN SHOOTING. 



says, he shot a batch of them on the top of some 

 momitain near Loch Ennoch. Mr. Blaine, in his 

 Encyclopaedia, also deals mth it veiy cavalierly. 

 Now, there is no doubt but that it is a bird admi- 

 rably in keeping with the districts in which it is 

 fomid. Perched among the grey rocks, of which it 

 seems a broken fragment, its wild look contrasts 

 strangely T\ith the disregard it manifests of man's 

 presence. You cannot roam over the savage soli- 

 tudes it inhabits, and look on the absence of all 

 knowledge of civilization its demeanour denotes, 

 mthout being strongly reminded of the stanza in 

 the stoiy of Alexander Selkirk: — 



" Tlie beasts that roam over the plain, 

 My form with indifference see ; 

 They are so miacquainted with man — 

 Their tameness is shocking to me I" 



Like deer- stalking, and a visit to Corinth, it 

 isn't eveiybody who has had a turn mth the white 

 bird of the mountains. We therefore take the 

 liberty of borrowing 'Mr. Colqidioun's description of 

 a day with the ptarmigan ; it is his second day : — 



" When we got to the foot of Ben-Voirla, we 

 found that there were two packs, on what is called 

 the second top, and were thus saved the trouble of 

 scaling the highest. So, taking two young farmers 

 as guides, we reached the ground after a stiff climb. 

 On ranging one side of the mountain, just as we 

 were turning round to the other, the dogs ran into 



