PTARMIGAN IN S.W. SCOTLAND. 83 



to have been written in the earl}'^ part of last ceutuiy by Andrew 

 Heron, of Bargaly, a famous botanist in his day. Heron {op. cit., 

 p. 132), referring to the mountain of Meyrick, states : — 



"In the remote parts of this great mountain, are very large 

 Eed Deer; and about the top thereof, that fine bird, called the 

 Mountain Partridge, or, by the commonalty, the Tarmachan, 

 about the size of a Eedcock, and its flesh much of the same 

 nature : feeds, as that bird doth, on the seeds of the bullrush [?], 

 and makes its protection in the chinks and hollow places of thick 

 stones, from the insults of the eagles, which are in plenty, both 

 the large gray and the black, about that mountain." Further on 

 (p. 142), describing his own property of Bargaly, Heron says, 

 " The land extends to Cairnsmure,* whereunto the greatest part 

 of that mountain belongs, where there is good store of Bristol 

 stone of divers colours, very well cutt naturally : very large Red- 

 deer, with plenty of mountain partridges and other muirfowl." 

 No one who has ever been on the Minnygaff Mountains can doubt 

 their suitability as Ptarmigan-ground. The very name of tlie 

 parish, which is from the Gaelic vionadh geodli, signifying " the 

 mountainous expanse full of deep hollows and chasms," is 

 thoroughly descriptive of its aspect. Within the parish there 

 are twelve peaks from 1500 to 2000 feet in height, and no less 

 than ten peaks ranging from 2000 up to 2764 (Meyrick). There 

 can be no doubt, from the number of people to be met with who 

 have heard their forbears speak of Ptarmigan, that these birds 

 were in former times comparatively abundant in the parish. I 

 may name two individuals entitled to every credit, and their 

 statements correspond with those of many others who might be 

 cited if necessary. Mr. Erskine, gunsmith and game-dealer in 

 Newton Stewart, who has been connected with guns, game, and 

 gamekeepers all his life, as were his father and grandfather before 

 him, says he well remembers hearing his grandfather, William 

 Erskine, who died in 1820, tell of shooting Ptarmigan on Meyrick 

 and other hills in Minnygaff. Mr. Thomas Galbraith, retired 

 gamekeeper in Newton Stewart, who has been following his pro- 

 fession over these hills since 1827, informs me that no Ptarmigan 

 have been seen in his time, but that he had known older keepers 

 who had shot them; and that all the older keepers and shepherds 



* Cairnsmore of Fleet, not Cairnsmore of Carsphami, hereafter mentioned 

 in this article. — R. S. 



