mother, neither would my compassion for the mother allow
me long to detain her offspring, which I-xestored to her in
safety.,1-—(Vol. i. p. 291.) The mode^of catching thë Ptarmigan
is thus ^described, afpage^lQ ^ ‘‘They.take^lilfelorked:
birch twig, about a span long, which is .‘stuck/into the;snow
perpendicularly by. its* divided end, : forming ,a sort of arch,
A . snare, or noose, .made ' o f. packthread * or . horsehair, - is then
fixed to the twig byone end, and placed, in . the openT space
between the forks. The thin curling bark of the twig, being
carefully slit down at the. outer; side/ curls 'inward, • and: serves
both to^cpnfine and conceal th e . snarè, by drawihglit .close to
the branch on the inner side. Such traps as^ these are ranged
in a line); about a fathom from each ibjther, in- the/bfrch
thickets, brushwood being laid from one to anotherf*so.as to
form a low fence. Now as the Ptarmigans come runqipg along*
for they seldom fly, they haveuio • way! to go but through
these: snares, and forty or fifty of - them a re ; frequently- caught
at a time,” . Whether this precise mode instill practised,I
am unable to state, but I have more than once found the hair
noose round-the neck of Norway Ptarmigan in the London
market, and others have done the same. T . M. Grant., JÈsq«
of .Edinburgh,- who has been in Norway; andThassimplaed. me
with many interesting notes,\says the Ptarmigan. are all: taken
in snares made of -horse-hair,'-set, .-he- believes, amongst-.the.
twigs of a skreen of bushes, ^'erected: aboW the surfice_of the
snow, . Mr. Lloyd says, ohe^pèsasankurinftèefefrpm'fiyë,'hun-'
dred to a thousand of these snares. This is done in* the
winter season; r the birds are kept in a frozen state until the
arrival of the dealers who? make it a trade :to jpurchasé up
game: a single dealer will sómetimés purchase and dispose
of fifty thousand Ptarmigan in the course of the season'. , Sir
Arthur dè Capëll Brooke calculated that, in one large parish
in Lapland, sixty.:thousand7 birds were killed in .oneiwinter.
Mr. Grant says, I was assured, when in Norway, that the
number of Ptarmigan killed in that country every winter, was
beyond belief: ? two thsousand dozen was, if I remember right,
the quantity exported from Drammen in one ship for England
last year; and great- numbers are annually sent to the
Copenhagen market. I ? Besides those'received in this country
from Drammen, great quantities are-, also received'in London
during',^®‘months óf. February, March, April, and May,
'from Bergen, Drontheim, and other ports on the-west coast
ofrNérway,' from whence^conveyance is., obtained for them in
the boats whMfi bring constant > supplies of ; lobsters to the
London market. On. ohea.%,%sio.^late- in the spring of
1839/one,iparty shipped six thousand Ptarmigan for London;
- two .thousand' for .'Dull; and two* thousand for Liverpool; and
’at theuend; of February^ or.very early in Ma r c h , t h e present,
year,-1840, onei/s^Iesinap in Leadènhall Market received
fifteen-thousand Ptarmigan' that had been consigned to him;
-and during-ihë same; vfeek> another"salesman received seven
hundred . Capercaillies,: and five hundred and' sixty Black
grouse. The/prices*oil tbp së|birdsdn thé market of Dranimen,
as supplied meibyiMr. Grant, are in English monè'y'for” <&*-*
0 ,
A Capercaillie male, about >ot
■-v' „ female . 2. A Black Grouse, male' . 0 ' 8
A; Grey-Hen;*—the;.feinaj!e .J ■ ï z é
.A Ptaripigan, . . „ 4
In London the'Sasual price for these' birds, when in good condition,
is, for—
A Cap'e,r,c aillie fmemalaele . . . 7 0 1 AA BPtlaacrkm' iGgraonu_s e, m'.,fa le or female ‘ . >- .'*#23 ; 06
Of the Various species of Grdb.se; as articles' of food, the flesh
of the Red Grouse has perhaps the most admirers. The
Black Grouse-is remarkable for the dark colour of the outer