GAME BIRDS 97 



what was once a royal hunting-seat as a con- 

 genial nesting place. It is a strange peculiarity 

 of the owls that they commence incubation with 

 the laying of the first egg ; so that we may find 

 a half-clad fledgling, a newly-hatched owlet and 

 a new-laid egg in the nest at the same time. 



Of game birds we have, in more or less 

 plenty, all the usual species ; chiefly perhaps 

 the red grouse, claimed to be peculiar to the 

 British Isles alone, but doubtless a very near 

 relative of the Scandinavian willow grouse, if 

 not indeed merely a varietal form ; one cannot 

 but suspect a common ancestry. On the bleak 

 tops of the highest hills the ptarmigan make 

 their home surely the hardiest of all our birds. 



What is the explanation of the initial *p' in 

 our writing of this word ? The Gaelic name 

 Scottish and Irish is ' Tarmachan ' ; and the 

 addition appears to be, in one sense of the 

 word, impertinent. 



The black grouse find entirely congenial sur- 

 roundings in the birch-covered slopes and glens, 

 and the giant of the tribe, the capercaillie, re- 

 appeared of late in the only locality where there 

 are pine woods sufficient for his needs. This 

 noble bird, as most people know, was at one 

 time extinct in Scotland, having finally dis- 

 appeared about 1760, but was reintroduced by 



