PTARMIGAN SHOOTING. 



Ptarmigan are never shot for sport, but only for 

 food. Occasionally a few birds may be secured on the 

 wing, but usually the ptarmigan is not found in situa- 

 tions where the gunner is able to pursue it in a sports- 

 manlike manner. Commonly he is traveling, is with- 

 out a shotgun, and is thinking more of rilling his pot 

 for the night's meal than of giving the bird a chance 

 to escape. Practically the only exception to this rule 

 is Newfoundland, where, under the name of partridge, 

 the ptarmigan is commonly shot over dogs, and gives 

 excellent sport. 



Mr. Comeau, in his "Life and Sport on the North 

 Shore/' speaks most interestingly of the migrations of 

 the willow ptarmigan, and tells of the extraordinary 

 numbers of them that are killed. He says : 



"During the last two migrations, taking the best 

 years, 1895 an< 3 1904, I took some trouble to try and 

 find out, approximately, how many birds were killed 

 between certain points. During the first year men- 

 tioned, between Mingan and Godbout, 175 miles of 

 coast, 30,000 were killed; in the second (1904), 

 14,000; and I am sure that during 1885 nearly 60,000 

 must have been shot or snared. When a flight begins, 

 every man, woman and boy able to handle a gun is 

 out. To avoid accidents, which are very rare, indeed, 



392 



