26 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOIVL. 



digestion ; and according to Macgillivray, the bird eats its fill of 

 food and then goes off to some quiet nook to digest it. Early in 

 autumn, sometimes at the end of July or the beginning of August, 

 the Ptarmigan begins to pack, especially if the season is stormy 

 and unsettled, but during very mild and genial weather this 

 operation is somewhat delayed. These flocks keep to the lower 

 summits, and during winter birds are scarcer on the highest tops 

 and said to be smaller in size. Rough, stormy weather frequently 

 drives them to lower ground. Although subject to the same 

 disease as the Red Grouse, this is never so virulent, the sterner 

 conditions of existence probably doing much to stamp out its 

 tendency to spread and recur. 



Nidification. — The Ptarmigan is monogamous and pairs 

 early in the year, although the eggs are not laid before the 

 beginning or even the end of May, according to the state of the 

 season. The nest is little more than a hollow in the ground, 

 sometimes beneath the shelter of a bush or beside a rock boulder, 

 sparsely hned with twigs of heather, and perhaps a little dead 

 mountain grass and a few bilberry leaves. The eggs are from eight 

 to twelve in number, buffish white or buff in ground colour, spotted 

 and blotched with rich liver brown. They are, on an average, 

 17 inch in length by I'r inch in breadth. The hen-bird sits 

 closely, often allowing herself to be nearly trodden upon before 

 rising. The young chicks run soon after they are hatched, and 

 are very well able to take care of themselves, scattering and hiding 

 amongst the stones and vegetation the moment danger threatens, 

 or the more watchful mother sounds the note of warning. The 

 hen alone appears to incubate the eggs, sitting about three weeks 

 for the purpose. Only one brood is reared each season. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Lagofus, with the primaries white 

 with dark shafts, with the wing less than 8 inches , in length. 

 Length, 15 inches. 



