PTARMIGAN. 15
they come a little lower down, or take advantage of the shelter of
the clefts that are met with in some lonely glen, but never cease to
be birds of the snow. There the scanty vegetation, diminished from
even the stunted growth of the lower p a r t s , and barely nourished by
the sterile soil that has g a t h e r e d among the crumbling masses of fallen
rocks, seems shrunk into itself, s h u n n i n g the cold of the upper regions,
and the withered and blighted remains of the pine forest or the
birch wood tell a like tale of the curdling blasts that have frozen out
their life in years that are gone.
As you wander on, you suddenly come here and there upon a small
lake, of unfathomable depth, whose blue waters reflect the dark forms
of the surrounding craggy rocks and giddy precipices which tower over
the lonesome valley far below. Peak upon peak and range upon range
arise in the far distance, and here and there a silver stream trickles
down their hoary sides, t h r e a d i n g its devious way in some time-worn
gully among the wrecks of the mountain tops that have fallen or been
h u r l e d down from their primeval place. It is i n d e e d a ' s o l e m n silence'
that prevails, a n d mysterious, strange, and melancholy, but yet thrilling
with the pleasure that the deepest quiet gives is the feeling that swells
the heart. Abo\u, the clouds of heaven roll along, going you know
not whither, nor scarce can even your fancy guide you to tell, their
edges gilded with crimson and purple by the rays of the setting sun,
who yet shines below and through them on the hills in a thousand
different shades and lights ' p a s s i n g away.' Again, on the side of the
brow hangs a heavy mass of vapour, faintly p a i n t e d too on its western
border with the red of the a l p i n e rose; this n e x t is spread into wreaths
of grey mist, which seem to cling to the humid earth; and in the
far distance rises up a d a r k and l u r i d mass of cloud, the murky form
of which seems pregnant with the lightning, whose flash you seem
instinctively aware of, the foreboding of n a t u r e warning you to retreat
to shelter. Now the sun sets in glory and gorgeous splendour behind
the farthest peak, and now the black cloud lowers nearer and nearer,
silently moving np the v a u l t ; now the whispers of t h e r i s i n g gale come
on and on to the ear, and darkness unexpectedly begins to fall and
gather on all around. 'Away, Away to the mountain's brow,' if you
doubt the 'Omnipresence of the D e i t y ; ' there ' o n such a n i g h t ' you
must, like Moses, veil your face, and be ' a f r a i d to look upon GOD.'
' I h e r e is that in such a scene to awe the heart, and he is not worthy
the name of man who does not quail with fear before the presence
of the ALMIGHTY.
I n winter, as before noticed, the Ptarmigan descends somewhat
lower, but seldom ventures into the plain. He seems to revel in