436 SHOOTING. 



THE PTARMIGAN. 



We have now for some time traversed, with the 

 reader, the highest hills that are covered with 

 heather, but there are heights beyond. The poet 

 says, 



For Liberty ! go seek 



Earth's highest rocks and ocean's deepest caves ! 

 Go where the Eagle and the Sea-snake dwell !* 



It may be admissible in poetry to give the highest 

 cliffs to the king of birds, but zoology assigns a 

 lower elevation to the " eagle's birth-place ;" yes, 

 you may ascend above the aerie of the eagle, where 

 the croak of the raven is never heard, where the 

 fox and the weazel but seldom disturb the lonely 

 habitants. You may ascend until, in the glowing 

 language of Mr. Mudie,-f " you begin at last to feel 

 alone, severed entirely from the world of society, of 

 life, and of growth, and committed to the solitude of 

 the ancient hills and immeasurable sky. The snow 

 lies thick on the side of the summit, and even peers 

 over the top, defying the utmost efforts of solstitial 

 heat. There is no plant under your feet, save 

 lichen on the rock, apparently as hard and as strong 

 as that to which it adheres it can hardly be said 

 to grow and moss in some crevice, undistinguish- 

 able from the dull and cold mud into which the 

 storms of many winters have abraded the granite. 



* Rienzi, a Tragedy. (1st edit.) London. 



f Tlte Feathered Tribes of the British Islands. By Robert Mudie. 

 2d edition. 1835. 



