56 LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 



Once on our ground, we went at the " tarmigs " with a 

 will, and after securing forty- two of them, with forty-six 

 blue hares, we returned home delighted with a splendid 

 day's sport. 



To many sportsmen, the author amongst the number, 

 the pursuit of the ptarmigan is of all others the most 

 fascinating. It is the deerstalking, so to speak, of the 

 shot-gun, taking the shooter on to the same rugged 

 heights the stalker delights in, so that any one who can 

 walk a ptarmigan hill never need fear for his powers if 

 offered a day with deer. These hardy birds are seldom 

 found below an altitude of 2,000 feet, and where the 

 heather and grouse cease to exist, there they thrive. 



Ptarmigan ! As the word is penned, what pleasant 

 memories are recalled of stony hills in Sutherland, Inver- 

 ness, Ross, Perth, and Argyle — visions of rocky peaks of 

 dull grey stones splashed with black and yellow crottle ; 

 some, flat and standing out at right angles to the hill- 

 side, look like the giant slates of giant school-boys ; 

 others, nearly round, seem barely able to keep their 

 places, appearing as if a push would send them crashing 



