Wanderings of a Naturalist 



But it was only the lowest nesting ptarmigan that had begun 

 to brood as yet. Even at 3,000 feet the birds — and ptarmigan 

 were very plentiful on Cairngorm this still and sunny morning 

 — were still going in pairs, and throughout the whole of the 

 day, during a walk over many miles of ptarmigan country, 

 I came across no nesting birds until on the slopes of Creag 

 na Leacainn, under 3,000 feet, late in the afternoon. Just 

 below the summit of Cairngorm were several pairs of ptar- 

 migan together, sheltering from the strong south-east wind 

 which swept the summit, and enjoying the warm sunshine. 

 The summit cairn was reached shortly after midday, and 

 from it a wild scene of Arctic character extended. From 

 Cairngorm to the rounded summit of Ben MacDhui there 

 stretches a great plateau, which to-day was almost entirely 

 covered with enormous fields of snow. Beyond the plateau 

 the upper slopes of Cairn Toul and Braeriach rose up, spot- 

 lessly white, and with great cornices, in which rents and 

 cracks were appearing as a result of the rapid melting of the 

 snows fringing the summits. 



Though the sun shone warm, a thick haze blotted out any 

 distant view, but soon the wind shifted from south-east to a 

 point or two west of south, the haze cleared away to a con- 

 siderable extent, and the sun shone forth with great heat 

 from a cloudless sky. Each burn on the plateau was flow- 

 ing for almost the entire length of its course beneath the 

 snow, and one could thus cross the streamlets anywhere on 

 these snow bridges. Not a vestige of growth as yet was 

 stirring amongst the hill plants. The creeping azalea, 

 which should, before the first days of June, be showing its 

 beautiful crimson flowers in profusion, was as browned and 

 withered as in December, and the clumps of cushion pink 

 were dried and apparently lifeless. It was curious, on such 

 a day of summer warmth, to find the plateau still as in mid- 

 winter, and difficult to realize that only a day or two previ- 

 ously the first breath of spring had not penetrated thus far. 



On the snowfields were the roosting-hollows of ptarmigan 



52 



