30 GALLING. 



PTARMIGAN (Lagopus mutus). 



See Plate opposite, where the bird is represented in its 

 winter plumage, one-sixth of the natural size, in lineal dimen- 

 sions. It may save trouble and prevent mistakes, to observe, 

 that the surface is as the square of the lineal dimensions ; thus, 

 the figure of the ptarmigan, being one-sixth or two inches to 

 a foot, is one thirty-sixth of the natural surface of the bird ; 

 and if the bird is to be considered as a solid, the solidity will 

 be as the cube of the lineal dimensions, or the figure one two 

 hundred and sixteenth of the natural size. The proper under- 

 standing of the figure therefore is : the ptarmigan diminished 

 six times in line, thirty-six times in surface, and two hundred 

 and sixteen times in solidity or bulk. 



When, with weary steps, you have gained the summit of 

 one of our loftiest mountains, say of Ben-Nevis, which over- 

 looks the valley of Lochaber, the wide desolation of Rannoch 

 Moor, and the glittering Atlantic, spotted with its isles and 

 islets ; or of Cairngorm, to look down on the one hand on 

 the dark pine forests of Strath-Spey, and on the other to look 

 onward to the summits of the neighbouring mountains, 

 equally sublime, and even more cliffy and desolate than that 

 on which you stand ; when you have so ascended, (and if 

 the day is fine, wondered at so much of the earth being dis- 

 played at one view,) remarking the silence and the apparent 

 death which, on a tranquil and sunny day especially, appear 

 to reign there, you begin at last to feel alone, severed entirely 

 from the world of society, of life, and of growth, and com- 

 mitted 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 solsti- 

 tial heat. There is no plant under your feet, save lichen on 

 the rock, apparently as hard and stony as that to which it 

 adheres it can hardly be said to grow and moss in some 



