58 PTARMIGAN. 



time. was to be lost, as a fresh drift began to appear to windward; so in we went, and 

 dashed through the stream, which was not much above knee-deep, excepting in certain 

 spots, which we contrived to avoid. The poor dog was most unwilling at first to rise 

 from his resting-place, but followed us well when once up. We soon made our way to 

 the house, and got there just as another storm came on, which lasted till after dark, 

 and through which in our tired state, we never could have made our way. Donald and 

 the shepherd's family were in a state of great anxiety about us, knowing that there 

 would have been no possible means of affording us assistance, had we been bewildered 

 or wearied out upon the mountain. The shepherd himself was fairly knocked up, and 

 could scarcely be prevailed upon to take either food or drink, or even to put off his 

 frozen clothes, before flinging himself ou his bed. For my own part I soon became as 

 comfortable as possible, and slept as soundly and dreamlessly as such exercise only can 

 make one do. I must candidly confess, however, that I made an inward vow against 

 Ptarmigan shooting again upon snow-covered mountains." 



The Ptarmigan is readily taken by snares, and a curious habit Avhich it has, in common 

 with many other birds, of running alongside of any little obstacle instead of leaping over 

 it, has been taken advantage of to ensure its capture in some countries. In Lapland 

 it is said that the inhabitants take them in large numbers, by making little hedges of 

 birch boughs, with openings at intervals, in each of which is placed a snare. The birds 

 come up to feed on the catkins of the birch, run along the hedge, attempt to go through 

 the openings, and are taken in the snares. 



"Their flesh is much esteemed," says Daniel, "by the Europeans at Hudson's Bay; 

 they are as tame as chickens, especially in a mild day (in winter:) in their Avildest 

 state, by being driven about and fired at with powder, they grow so weary by those 

 short flights, as very soon to be tame. If the hunters see the birds unexpectedly likely 

 to take a long flight, they imitate the crying of a Hawk, which so greatly intimidates 

 them, that they instantly settle. Nets, twenty feet square, fixed to four poles, and 

 supported in front in a perpendicular direction with sticks, is the usual mode adoj^ted 

 to take them ; a long line is made fast to these props, the end of which a person holds, 

 who lies concealed at a distance : several people are then employed to drive the birds 

 within reach of the net, which, when pulled clown, often covers fifty or sixty. At this 

 time so plentiful are they, that ten thousand are taken for the use of the settlement, 

 from November to the end of April. 



The time of pairing is, like the other Grouse, early in the spring, and incubation is 

 mostly completed by the beginning or middle of June. 



The nest is of the simplest kind, and hardly deserves the name. It consists merely 

 of a slight depression in the ground, with a few scanty twigs or bits of grass and 

 sedge. It is generally by no means easy to be found; for placed, as it often is, under 



