AMONGST THE PTAUHIGAN. 4S 



valley runs the brawling burn, sparkling in the sun- 

 light as it leaps from ledge to ledge. Now a mountain 

 hare steals slyly away, but quite out of reach. Then I 

 traverse the bed of old gray boulders, amongst which 

 the ptarmigan are found ; up rises a covey of six brace, 

 mounting high in the air and wheeling away never 

 within shot. Then a second lot takes wing before I 

 get within three hundred yards of them ; next comes 

 another hare on foot which gives me a wide berth. At 

 length I have a long shot at a single bird, which, how- 

 ever, escapes scot free. All this was rather dis- 

 heartening; but, at any rate, I was clearly amongst 

 the ptarmigan. My companion, however, who was on 

 a lower level, was more successful, bagging a brace in 

 addition to a lot of grouse. One of the charms of this 

 part of Scotland is the varied nature of the game you 

 meet with. Looking at the place where the game 

 hangs I noticed grouse, ptarmigan, snipe, wild duck, 

 hare, rabbit, venison, and trout from the loch, with 

 lesser ones from the burn ; golden plovers are also met 

 with occasionally. Rabbits are very numerous in places, 

 choosing positions, however, difficult for the sports- 

 man to reach. The hares at present are " merry brown 

 hares," but will soon be changing to their winter 

 colour white. By the time I reached the place 

 agreed upon for that pleasant and much-needed re- 

 fection, luncheon, the weather had become exceedingly 

 cold, unusually so for the month of August. The ice 

 had been as thick as a shilling in the early morn, and 

 it seems that at some period of every month since 

 October last there has been frost. The crops are quite 

 green, and I should imagine that very little, if any, 

 corn will be harvested in the Highlands this year. The 



