68 LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 



Then suddenly a stone appears to turn into a bird, and, 

 lo ! a ptarmigan is discovered not forty yards away ; 

 then another and another gradually dawn on the un- 

 initiated eye, for as yet they have not changed the 

 mottled stone-coloured plumage for the whiter one which 

 Nature provides for them to match the winter snow, 

 although even in the depth of the Scotch winter the 

 hen retains more of the grey plumage than the cock. 



The uninitiated may perhaps think it tame sport to be 

 able to get within range of birds sitting on the ground, 

 and that consequently they must be very easy to kill ; 

 but close as they occasionally sit, and prepared as the 

 shooter is, he will yet have to shoot well to get a brace, 

 for of all game birds ptarmigan are quickest off their 

 feet, for their bodies are light, their wings are long and, 

 accustomed to fly against the mountain gales, their 

 flight is extremely rapid. As the sportsman arrives at 

 the altitude where the grouse end and the ptarmigan 

 begin, both birds may at times be flushed simultaneously, 

 and though the former is the heavier, it can then be 

 seen the wings of each are as nearly as possible of the 



