MORE ABOUT GAME-BIRDS. 



as a game-bird. He is, I believe, the only true red- 

 grouse that is known, and it seems a thing to be 

 proud of that such a fine bird should be indigenous 

 to Great Britain. His nest is made on the ground, 

 and is a slightly built structure. The eggs are 

 numerous, sometimes as many as ten or twelve, and 

 they vary greatly in colouring, some being very 

 richly tinted. Their general ground colour is some 

 warm shade of buff mottled and blotched with rich 

 brown. 



The nest of the ptarmigan is placed in some 

 hollow among the stones and rocks. A very slight 

 structure scantily strewn with twigs and stalks of 

 mountain vegetation seems to serve the birds' pur- 

 pose. The eggs, from eight to ten in number, are 

 laid on the bare ground, and their general colouring 

 is warm yellowish white blotched and spotted with 

 dark brown. 



This mountain-grouse is a true child of the mist, 

 and he has until, comparatively speaking, recent years 

 been to the general public a mysterious bird, owing to 

 his changes of plumage, which are caused by a moult 

 in one case, and by a direct change of colouring in 



