PTARMIGAN. 209 



One drawback exists to ptarmigan-shooting in Ame- 

 rica : the country the spoilsman is compelled to seek 

 them in is far beyond the borders of civilisation, and 

 freedom from intrusion has rendered them recklessly 

 tame. Time after time I have seen them sit upon 

 some bare exposed piece of rock and refuse to be 

 flushed, even after hurling stones at them from less 

 than a dozen yards' distance. 



Again, their flight (in contradistinction to those of 

 Scotland) is so short, that if the unfortunate bird have 

 the luck to be missed, it can again and again be put up, 

 till even the very worst of shots must ultimately bring 

 it to bag. 



They are beautiful birds, either in their summer or 

 winter plumage, and the confidence which they exhibit 

 in man's good intentions towards them cannot fail to 

 endear them to him. Thus, I have never shot the 

 ptarmigan but with regret, for here you have no crafty 

 game, to accomplish whose destruction you must call 

 into play all the cunning of your nature. 



They unquestionably rank among the game of 

 America, or I should have left them unnoticed. So if, 

 the sportsman, through my instructions, should visit 

 their habitat, pray desist from useless slaughter. 



