ch makes it just as
difficult to detect amidst the snow, as it was in summer when it nested
among the grass and stones. With the return of warmer weather it resumes
its darker colour. The bird moults, in fact, twice and sometimes thrice
in the year. It is impossible to tell the exact cause of these changes,
but it is quite certain that they help to protect the bird from its
enemies. The change from its winter plumage to its summer one is
sometimes delayed for some little time after the winter snows have
disappeared, and it has been noticed, in Norway and Sweden, that large
numbers of ptarmigan are killed at this time, when their white feathers
make them so conspicuous.

The enemies of the ptarmigan are the larger birds of prey, and animals
of the weasel kind. One of the largest of the latter is the pine marten,
which is still found in remote and uninhabited parts of our country. It
is a fierce and active animal, ever on the look-out for game and eggs.
It is, in fact, a great poacher, and for this reason it has been
practically exterminated by gamekeepers, in all the districts where game
is carefully preserved. In other countries the marten is hunted for its
skin, the fur of which is scarcely less valuable than that of the sable.
It is found in all the northern countries, especially in North America.

ANSON'S COOLNESS.

Commodore Anson, while his ship, the _Centurion_, was engaged in close
combat with a Spanish man-of-war, was told by a sailor that the
_Centurion_ was on fire near the powder magazine.

'Well,' said the Commodore quietly, 'go and help to put it out.'

H. S. B.

ROUND THE CAMP-FIRE.

II.--DENISON'S HALL-MARK.

(_Concluded from page 37._)

My brain recovered its power after a moment or two, and I began to
reflect, though, I own, my reflections were somewhat interfered with by
the rough treatment to which I was being subjected; for the great brute
in whose jaws I lay dragged me without ceremony over stones, roots,
scrub, hard knife-like grass, and other obstacles. I felt my clothes
tear here, there, and everywhere; I was being gradually torn and bumped
into a jelly--still, I reflected, where was I being taken to, and why?
Why not eaten at once?

The latter question was easily answered. The lion had had his dinner
already, or her dinner--it might, of course, be a lioness--I had as yet
had no opportunity of seeing the beast; if so, she might be the mother
of a family of cubs, and i