262 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



range of fox, mountain-cat, and martin, and of its 

 four-footed enemies in general. 



The bird is in every way adapted for the situa- 

 tion it inhabits ; being compactly and firmly 

 built, and its feet and toes, down to the very 

 claws, are so completely and closely feathered that 

 they are proof against almost any degree of cold. 

 The bill is black and strong (black bills and claws 

 always are firmer than those of any other colour), 

 and well adapted for crushing the hard berries, 

 heath-tops, mosses and lichens on which it feeds. 

 Nature or, rather, the God of nature, has pro- 

 vided this bird with an additional safeguard in the 

 tints of its plumage. In summer they are a mix- 

 ture of black and yellow, white and grey so exactly 

 resembling the mossy lichen-covered rocks and 

 stones among which it lies concealed, that only 

 the practised eye can detect it. As the season 

 changes, its hues gradually become whiter, until 

 at last it becomes like the snows of winter. 



During that season the ptarmigan congregate in 

 family parties. The packs live peaceably together, 

 and shelter themselves in holes in the earth or 

 snow, through which they contrive to scrape 

 down, till they can subsist on the scanty vegeta- 

 tion which it covers. For, true to th'e- mountaineer's 

 instinct, this mountain-bird is the last to quit his 

 home, be it never so barren, and not even winds 



