PTARMIGAN 263 



in the strange and unfamiliar surroundings 

 in which the scene is laid. 



The wild scenery spread out like a 

 map beneath — on one side a sere waste of 

 moorland, studded with gleaming silver 

 lochs, on the other a confused jumble of 

 mighty peaks and ridges ; the cold, clear 

 sunlight and heady mountain air ; the 

 ever-changing effects of drifting cloud and 

 clinging mist, cannot fail to rouse some 

 feeling of exhilaration in the most 

 unimaginative of mortals before ever a 

 shot has been fired. 



The usual way of pursuing the 

 ptarmigan is simply by walking after 

 them ; but little organisation of the day 

 is necessary, or indeed feasible, and the 

 chief qualifications which make for 

 success in this sport are a sure foot and a 

 sound wind. 



Pointers and setters are rarely likely to 

 be of much assistance, for the tops usually 

 swarm with blue hares, which prove very 

 distracting to the best of dogs, and the 

 nature of the ground and absence of 



