188 THE PTARMIGAN-GROUSE. 



the summer, these birds select spots which are 

 sheltered from both sun and wind ; as it seems 

 wind is ungenial to them, though they delight in 

 cold. 



When the snowy season is past, they are no 

 longer clothed in white, but their feathers as- 

 sume a light brown, or ashen colour, which so 

 closely resembles the hue of the rocks, in the 

 midst of which they dwell, that the keen eye of 

 their watchful enemy, the kite, cannot without 

 difficulty detect their retreat. They make their 

 summer abode amid the rocks, and on the moun- 

 tainous platforms which are found at various 

 stages of the alpine regions, above the wooded 

 tracts that cover their base. During the heat of 

 the day they conceal themselves beneath the 

 tufts of rhododendrons and other shrubs, and are 

 neither seen nor heard by the traveller until his 

 foot almost touches them ; then they suddenly 

 escape, with a loud whirring noise of the wings, 

 perfectly startling to the solitary wanderer. In 

 the winter they descend somewhat lower ; but 

 never appear in the plains unless the season is 

 unusually severe. When the mountains are 

 wrapped in mist, and the heavy atmosphere in- 

 dicates the approach of snow or rain, the shrill 

 cries of the ptarmigans are incessantly heard. But 

 when the air is light and pure, and the sky se- 



