216 



PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



that he could make a bag which for numbers would rival 

 any formed of the grouse of the more southern prairies, or 

 of the nut-brown beauties that love our English stubbles. 



One drawback exists to ptarmigan -shoo ting in America : 

 the country the sportsman is compelled to seek them in is 

 far beyond the borders of civilisation, and freedom from 

 intrusion has rendered them recklessly tame. Time after 

 time I have seen them sit upon some bare exposed piece of 

 rock and refuse to be flushed, even after hurling stones at 

 them from less than a dozen vards' distance. 



PTARMIGAN. 



Again, their flight (in contradistinction to those of Scot- 

 land) is so short, that if the unfortunate bird have the luck 

 to be missed, it can again and again be put up, till even 

 the very worst of shots must ultimately bring it to bag. 



They are beautiful birds, either in their summer or winter 

 plumage, and the confidence which they exhibit in man's 



