66 The Natural History of British Game Birds 
him that it was " not uncommon " near Tarbert, but evidence points to the fact that 
it no longer exists in the Outer Hebrides. In Mull it still occurs in small numbers. 
In Islay and Jura it is now rare, and a covey is said to exist in Rum, where it 
was introduced by Mr. Bullough. 1 In Skye it is resident in the mountains above 
Broadford, and the Macleod informs me that the best Ptarmigan ground is above 
Sconser. 
On the mountains of Scotland it is most abundant in West Ross-shire, especially 
on Coulin, Dundonald, Inverewe, Braemore, Loch Maree district, and I have seen 
large numbers in the Auchnashellach deer forest. South of this, too, it is very plenti- 
ful on Kintail, Applecross, and the high peaks of Braulen. In fact, all the mountains 
of over 2000 feet south of the Caledonian Canal are inhabited by Ptarmigan ; and I 
have seen them in every high deer forest in which I have stalked in Argyll, Ross, 
Inverness, and Perthshire. They are particularly numerous on the western tops of 
Blackmount, and on the hills on the east side of Glencoe. In eastern Perthshire 
there are a fair number, on the highest hills about Pitlochry, Dunalastair, Dalna- 
spidal, Athole, and the whole range of the Grampians. This line they follow into Aber- 
deenshire, where they are still numerous, from Rothiemurchus and Mar to Ballater. 
In west Sutherland they are not nearly so numerous as they used to be, and seem to 
be dying out ; but on the eastern mountains throughout the property of the Duke of 
Sutherland they still hold their own in small numbers. On the borders of Caithness 
it seems to be a disappearing species. Ben Lomond may be considered the southern 
limit in Scotland. 
In Dunn's time (fire. 1870) Ptarmigan were said to still exist in Hoy, in the 
Orkneys ; but Mr. Moodie-Heddle informed Harvie-Brown that the last were killed 
about 1831 by a Lieutenant Monro, then living in Stromness. 2 In the Shetlands it has 
not existed at any period. 
Habits. — The rocky boulders of the mountain sides above 1800 feet, and the stony 
tablelands on the tops, are the home of the Ptarmigan at all seasons, except in the 
severest weather, when the whole stock on the summits are driven to seek shelter 
on the lee side at a somewhat lower altitude. I witnessed a very interesting example 
of this from the door of my tent in Norway, in September 1907. Two days of ordi- 
nary snow made no impression on these hardy birds ; but a blizzard from the north on 
the third day made all the Ptarmigan, to the number of, I should say, 800 or 1000, 
leave the tops and north faces, and come flying in coveys to a sheltered corner. They 
kept arriving for about two hours in a continuous stream. Next morning I passed 
through this sheltered hollow and moved hundreds of Ptarmigan, which only flew for 
a short distance, and as I did not wish to disturb the deer I did not fire at them. In 
the evening, however, I shot ten brace in about a quarter of an hour, and if I had had 
the wish and the cartridges I could easily have bagged forty brace. Next day all the 
Ptarmigan had returned to the high tops, and I did not again molest them, as I had 
a plentiful supply. Ptarmigan seem to like the snow, provided it is accompanied by 
a wind. No matter how cold the temperature or heavy the fall, if bare patches are 
swept clear they will stay up at the 3000 feet level all the winter. But a big snow- 
1 A Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, p. 153. ' A Fauna of the Orkney Islands, p. 193. 
