PTARMIGAN SHOOTING 
a shot. As a matter of policy it is better to creep round the hill on the 
level, instead of trying to follow the birds up or down, for this is very 
exhausting work, and holds out scanty hope of reward when the birds 
are wild. The climax comes if the birds depart over the valley to a neigh- 
bouring top ; or a thick mist, or snow-storm settles down on the hill ! 
So far as the British Islands are concerned, ptarmigan shooting at the 
present day is confined to the higher mountains of Scotland and the 
Hebrides. There is a tradition that Ptarmigan were formerly to be found 
in Cumberland, as well as in Wales, but while there is some evidence of 
the former existence of these birds in the Lake District there is none to 
warrant the conclusion that they once existed in the Principality. Nor 
were they ever to be found in Ireland. The best hills in Scotland for 
Ptarmigan, in the opinion of Lord Walsingham,are in Ross-shire around 
Loch Maree, and in the forest of Auchnashellac ; Sutherland, Caithness, 
and parts of Perthshire also afford good sport on their highest peaks and 
ridges. Mr J. G. Millais writing in 1909 from long experience says;— 
“ On the mountains of Scotland the Ptarmigan is most abundant in West 
Ross-shire, especially on Coulin, Dundonald, Inverewe, Braemore, Loch 
Maree district, and I have seen large numbers in the Auchnashellac 
deer forest. South of this they are very plentiful on Kintail, Applecross, 
and the high peaks of Branlen. In fact, all the mountains of over 2,000 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, Dalnaspidal, Athole, and the whole range of the 
Grampians. This line they follow into Aberdeenshire where they are still 
numerous from Rothiemurcus and Mar to Ballater. In West Sutherland 
they are not nearly so common as they used to be, and seem to be dying 
out there ; 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 the Ptarmigan is a disappearing species. Ben 
Lomond may be considered the southern limit in Scotland.” 
For those who enjoy mountaineering, the pursuit of the Ptarmigan is 
always attractive, but once their haunts are fairly reached, the tameness 
of the birds rather militates against sport. In some places it is possible 
to carry out a ptarmigan drive, and Mr Millais has heard of as many as 
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