ORDER GALLIN.E. 255 



provided them with long and broad claws, which answer the 

 purposes of a pickaxe. It is certain, however, that these birds 

 are very fond of scraping in snow that has newly fallen. 



Their aliment consists of all kinds of berries which grow in 

 their Alpine haunts — in the buds of such plants — in heath, and 

 in Alpine grass. They will also eat various other vegetable 

 substances ; and in winter their aliment consists of the buds 

 and leaves of the rhododendron and the pine. The female 

 makes her nest in some secluded place, and lays from eight to 

 fifteen eggs, of an oblong form, and an ashen-red, marked 

 with spots and points of a blackish-brown. 



The ptarmigan is a very wary bird, and therefore is gene- 

 rally pursued with the fowling-piece, as it will seldom get 

 into snares of any kind — at least so says M. Temminck ; but 

 Dr. Latham tells us that it is a " silly bird, suffering itself to 

 be caught by any stratagem, however slight." Opposing 

 statements of this kind are no novelty among natural histo- 

 rians. It would seem, however, to be no easy matter to pro- 

 cure this bird during the summer season, if we may judge by 

 the comparatively few specimens of it, in the peculiar plumage 

 of that time of the year, to be found in the cabinets of 

 natural history. 



All attempts to hatch and educate the ptarmigan in a 

 domestic state have proved utterly fruitless. To say nothing 

 of its wild nature, it is probable that the difference of the 

 pure and elastic atmosphere, which it respires in its native 

 mountains, from that of the plains and valleys, will always 

 render any undertaking of this nature entirely abortive. 



In the season of reproduction, which commences about the 

 end of May or beginning of June, the ptarmigans are seen in 

 pairs ; but in autumn many coveys unite and form bands 

 more or less numerous. 



The flesh of the ptarmigan is good, and not tmlike that 



