THE PTARMIGAN. 85 



of the low and rainy counties of England. They of 

 course feed within the range of vegetation, buds and 

 young shoots of heath and other alpine plants, with 

 mountain berries and insects, being their food ; but 

 they re-ascend during the night. In winter and spring, 

 they live in parties ; but during the breeding season, 

 they separate in pairs, descend lower, and spread over 

 a greater range of surface. 



The season for their pairing is as late as June, 

 which offers another argument in favour of their 

 moulting in the spring. The nest is a circular hole, 

 scratched at the root of a bush, or at the foot of a rock, 

 with hardly any other preparation. Each female lays 

 from six to twelve eggs, larger than those of a partridge, 

 and of a reddish colour, mottled with black. The 

 young are produced in three weeks, and are of a 

 reddish mottled colour. The male is very attentive to 

 the defence and feeding of the female while she is 

 sitting ; and both birds defend their young with great 

 boldness ; but the eagles and larger hawks are too 

 powerful for them, and commit great havoc. As their 

 chief safety is in concealment on the earth rather than 

 in flight, they are much better adapted for running than 

 for flying ; and that their legs may not get numbed by 

 the cold, they are thickly feathered. Ptarmigans are 

 rarely found in England, except upon some of the 

 highest mountains in the north, and they are not very 

 frequently met with in Wales ; the part of Scotland 

 where they are most abundant, is the great ridge of 

 the Grampians, on the confines of Perth, Aberdeen, and 

 Inverness shires. 



It is generally supposed, that the animals upon 



