PTARMIGAN. 217 



compauied by so useful an auxiliary, I have no doubt that 

 he could make a bag which for numbers would rival any 

 formed of the grouse of the more southern prairies, or of 

 the nut-brown beauties that love our English stubbles. 



One drawback exists to ptarmigan-shooting in America : 

 the country the sportsman is compelled to seek them in is 

 far beyond the borders of civilization, and freedom from 

 intrusion has rendered them recklessly tame. Time after 

 time I have seen them sit upon some bare, exposed piece of 

 rock and refuse to be flushed, even after hurling stones at 

 them from less than a dozen yards' distance. 



Again, their flight (in contradistinction to those of Scot- 

 land) is so short, that if the unfortunate bird have the luck 

 to be missed, it can again and again be put up, till even the 

 very worst of shots must ultimately bring it to bag. 



They are beautiful birds, either in their summer or 

 winter plumage, and the confidence which they exhibit in 

 man's good intentions toward them can not fail to endear 

 them to him. Thus, I have never shot the ptarmigan but 

 with regret, for here you have no crafty game, to accom- 

 plish whose destruction you must call into play all the cun- 

 ning of your nature. 



They unquestionably rank among the game of America, 

 or I should have left them unnoticed. So if the sportsman, 

 through my instructions, should visit their habitat, pray de- 

 sist from useless slaughter, 



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