106 EEMIXISCEXCES OF A SPOETSMAX. 



gan sent to me by a friend from the north. One of 

 them is in its summer plumage, another half changed, 

 and the third a brilliant white. You at once see in the 

 ptarmigan and the mountain hare, which change their 

 colour in winter, the goodness of Providence in order to 

 protect them from their enemies; for by their becoming 

 white in the winter, and remaining during that season 

 in the sno'wy regions, they are not conspicuous objects 

 for the large birds of prey which hover over these 

 mountain heights. The female lays from eight to ten 

 eggs, about the size of a pigeon's, spotted with a reddish 

 brown. These are deposited in the earth amongst the 

 stones. The period of their breeding is about the 

 end of May, or beginning of June. Their food consists 

 of berries, buds of shrubs, young shoots of the pine and 

 heath which grow in these elevated situations. The 

 ptarmigan is found in great numbers in some of the 

 northern countries of Europe. The Greenlanders have 

 a singular way of taking the ptarmigan ; they catch 

 them in nooses hung to a long line drawn by men, who 

 drop them over the necks of old birds. Of their skins, 

 with the feathers placed next the body, a warm shirt is 

 made ; and the Greenland women used the black feathers 

 of the tail formerly as ornaments to their head-dresses. 

 In Eussia, the feathers of the ptarmigan were formerly 

 an article of commerce. This bird is fifteen inches in 

 length, and weighs about nineteen ounces. The plumage 

 is of a pale brown, or ash colour, elegantly crossed or 

 mottled with small dusky spots, and minute bars. The 

 head and neck are marked with broad bars of black, ash 

 colour, and white. The belly and wings are white, but 

 the shafts of the greater quill feathers black. In the 

 male the grey colour predominates, except on the head 



