CHAPTER X 



PTARMIGAN 



The home of the ptarmigan, most grace- 

 ful and beautiful of our native game-birds, 

 lies among the high tops of our Highland 

 hills, where the winter snows linger 

 through the summer, — bleak solitudes of 

 bare rock, scattered boulders, and pre- 

 cipitous slopes of shifting mountain 

 debris. 



Far above the region of heather, the 

 only vegetation is a scant growth of wan 

 grass, mountain berries and moss ; and it 

 might well baffle any but a naturalist to 

 say how this fine bird contrives to pick up 

 a living in these inhospitable wastes. 



The charms of a day after ptarmigan 

 lie not so much in the actual shooting, as 



262 



