ty, if she would let him sit with her. He liked that best, as
she never minded what mess he made, or how untidily his toys were
scattered about. (_Continued on page_ 70.)

[Illustration: "Peet stopped to lock the door."]

[Illustration: THE BOY DOCTOR.]

[Illustration: The Egg Poacher.]

THE PTARMIGAN AND PINE MARTEN.

Every one must have observed how many animals escape notice by the
similarity of their colours to those of the ground upon which they lie,
or of the foliage in which they hide. It is not easy to see rabbits, at
dusk, as they sit quietly nibbling the grass upon their sandy warrens.
It is difficult, at times, to distinguish a toad from a piece of broken
bark or a dead leaf. Moths and butterflies frequently escape pursuit by
hiding among twigs and flowers which resemble them in colour. And it is
almost impossible to see a shrimp upon the sand of the sea-shore, or a
little sandy-coloured fish at the bottom of a sea-side pool. We can
hardly doubt that the colours of these animals serve them as a very
useful protection. They are all naturally helpless creatures, and their
safety depends almost entirely upon their escaping the notice of their
enemies.

The examples just given are familiar to us all. But there are few better
illustrations of this curious fact than that afforded by the Ptarmigan,
a bird which is found in the northern parts of Europe and America,
including the north of Scotland. It is a game bird, nearly related to
the grouse, the partridge, and even to our domestic fowls, and it is
protected, like the other game birds, by Acts of Parliament, which
render those who shoot it, during certain months of the year, liable to
a fine. The ptarmigan frequents wild, mountainous districts, and builds
its nest upon the open hillsides, among the coarse grass and mossy
rocks. The nest is a little cluster of twigs and grass, and in it the
ptarmigan lays ten or a dozen reddish eggs spotted with brown, which are
not easily distinguishable from the twigs and grass among which they
lie. The summer plumage of the bird itself is a brown tortoiseshell, so
similar in colour to the ground upon which it makes its nest that it is
very difficult to see.

In winter-time, however, when the hillsides are covered with snow, the
ptarmigan would be easily discovered, if it retained its summer dress.
But, upon the approach of colder weather, the bird changes its plumage,
and takes on a winter robe of pure white, whi