OX THE ORNITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND. 331 



male watches in the vicinity of the nest, like the 

 willow grouse ; but as soon as the young are 

 hatched off, he leaves them to the care of the 

 mother, and joining a lot more " bachelor friends," 

 they seek the tops of the highest fells (leaving the 

 female and young brood lower down in the fell 

 valleys). Here we used to find the old males in 

 small packs (I rarely saw more than nine together) 

 throughout the whole of July, generally basking 

 on the sunny sides of the fells on the bare patches 

 which the snow had left. They were then by no 

 means shy, especially if the day was hot and 

 damp, and the easiest birds in the world to find; 

 for as soon as the shooter enters their territory, 

 one or more would perch on a large boulder of 

 rock and commence a hoarse crow. This could 

 hardly be for the purpose of warning the others, 

 for they do not seem to rise at this challenge, only 

 to squat closer, and it is by no means difficult to 

 creep up to the sentinel himself and shoot him 

 from the perch. But whun the weather is bois- 

 terous they are the shyest of the shy, always rise 

 out of shot (and you cannot hear them crow), and 

 if they only get the wind in their tails they will 

 often take a flight of two English miles before 

 they drop. Early in August the young will be 

 strong flyers ; the old female then takes them 

 higher up on the fells, they are joined again by the 



