CHARM OF SPORT AMID THE HILLS 
explanation of the intense enjoyment of ptarmigan 
shooting on the high tops after the close of the 
stalking season ? I have more than once heard 
this described as the most enjoyable of all kinds 
of shooting. As is well known, on a still clear 
day the ptarmigan is the easiest of birds to shoot, 
but on a wild windy day one of the most diffi- 
cult — twisting and turning with extraordinary 
rapidity. Neither this latter fact, however, nor 
the exhilarating and bracing air at the altitude 
where these birds are to be found wholly explains 
the enthusiasm of those who have had this 
sport. I have no doubt that the environment of 
the high hills and all that this means are largely 
the cause of this enthusiasm. The delights of 
grouse shooting, whether in the case of driven 
birds, or over dogs, are greatly increased by the 
same cause. Without entering upon the well- 
worn controversy as to the respective advantages 
and disadvantages of these two forms of sport, 
is there any one who has enjoyed both of them 
amid the hills who has not ineffaceable memories 
of the vistas of marvellous beauty which he has 
revelled in again and again while waiting in his 
butt for the first birds of the drive, and — to change 
the scene — of the pleasures of many a glorious 
