THE PTARMIGAN 217 



When disturbed they separate in all directions, crouch on the ground, 

 squeeze between objects that seem to defy all passage, work their 

 way through the cover, or, if they fancy that an eye is fixed on them, 

 lie as motionless as stones When so far grown as to be able to 

 fly, they still prefer the shelter afforded by the cover ; but if hard 

 pressed the old cock usually rises first, with a cry which some com- 

 pare to the quack of a Duck. The hen and young birds show no 

 hurry in following his example, but take wing singly, and at unequal 

 intervals — not like Partridges, which always rise in a covey. This 

 is the period when they afford the easiest shot to the sportsman, 

 who often puts them up almost beneath his feet, or under the very 

 nose of his dogs. Later in the season a great change takes place, 

 and this, it is said, whether the birds have been much harassed or 

 not. Become cautious and wild, they no longer trust to conceal- 

 ment or swiftness of foot, but, discovering from a great distance 

 the approach of danger, they rise most frequently out of shot, so 

 that itrequires skill and patience to get near them. A slight and 

 early snow sometimes makes it more easy to approach them, at 

 least for a few hours ; but ordinarily, not even extreme cold, or 

 a covering of snow a foot thick, appears to tame them at all. Under 

 such circumstances, they collect in enormous ' packs ', and betake 

 themselves to some particular part of the moor from which the 

 snow has been more or less drifted. These packs keep together 

 during winter, and at the beginning of spring separate and pair, 

 not, however, without some previous altercations ; but these are 

 soon over, and they lose much of their shyness, venturing close to 

 the roads, and being little disturbed by the passage of the traveller. 



THE PTARMIGAN 



LAGOPUS MUTUS 



Winter plumage—pure white, a black line from the angle of the beak through 

 the eye ; outer tail-feathers black ; above the eyes a scarlet fringed 

 membrane ; bill and claws black ; tarsi and toes thickly clothed with 

 woolly feathers. Female — without the black line through the eyes. 

 Summer plumage — wings, under tail-coverts, two middle tail-feathers, 

 and legs white ; outer tail-feathers black, some of them tipped with 

 white ; rest of plumage ash-brown, marked with black lines and dusky 

 spots. Length fifteen inches. Eggs reddish yellow, spotted and speckled 

 with deep reddish brown. 



This beautiful bird is the Schneehuhn, ' Snow-chick ', of the Ger- 

 mans, the White Partridge of the Alps and Pyrenees, and the Gaelic 

 Tartnachan. Whilst most birds shrink from cold, the Ptarmigan, 

 on the contrary, seems to revel in it, and to fear nothing so much 

 as the beams of the sun. Not even when the valleys rejoice in the 

 livery of spring does it desert the snowy regions altogether, and, 

 when the mist- wreaths clear away, it avoids the rays of the sun by 



