Length, total 17 6
,, of tail ,, of wing • 7 9 . 7 4
„ of bill above . 0 6
Dimensions
Of the male.
Inch. Lin.
Length of bill to rictus . 0 11
. „ of tarsus . . 1 4$
,, of middle toe . . 1 4
Length of middle nail .I0nc h.. L5in.
,, of hind .toe . 0
,, of its nail . . 0 3
—R.
Male.
[126.] 5. T etrao (Lagopus) mutus. (Leach.) The Ptarmigan.
G e n u s , Tetrao, L i n n . S w a in s . Sub-genus (2 ), Lagopus, R a y .
Ptarmigan. P e n n . Brit. Zool., i., p. 350, pi. 57; upper figure.
Lagopus mutus. L e a c h . Brit. Mus. I d em , Gen. Zool., ii., p. 287 5 omitting synonymes.
Tetrao lagopus. Sa b . (Capt.) Suppl. Parry's First Voy., p. cxcvii. S a b . (J.) Frankl. Joum., p. 682.
R ic h a b d s . App. Parry's Second Voy., p . 3 5 0 .
According to Captain Sabine, this bird inhabits the islands lying on the southwest
side of Baffin’s Bay, as well as the loftiest mountains in Scotland. I have
never had the fortune to meet with it myself in the fur-countries; but a specimen,
in summer plumage, sent to Sir John Franklin from Churchill River, was identified
by Joseph Sabine, Esq., with the Scotch Ptarmigan,—thus establishing it
as an inhabitant of the American continent. I have not been able to trace that
specimen; and I am informed that the only authentic examples from the New
World are now in the possession of Lord Stanley, to whom they were presented
by Mr. Sabine. The Ptarmigan is an inhabitant of high hills, where it keeps
near the snow line : the Rock Grouse frequents sub-alpine districts and more
level stony tracks and moors*.—R.
| * Scpttfi specimens, killed on the 1st of October on the mountains of Cairngorm, and presented to me by Sir George
Sitwell, Bart., have the whole dorsal plumage, scapulars, tertiaries, neck, breast, and sides under the wings, marked
with very fine zig-zag lines of pitch-black and brownish-grey ; a few reddish-orange bars appearing on the neck only
[127.] 6. T etrao (Lagopus) saliceti. (Swains.) Willow Grouse.
G e n u s , Tetrao, L i n n . Sub-genus, Lagopus, V i e i l l o t .
The White Partridge (Lagopus). E d w a r d s , pi. 72 ; male in spring*.
T e tra o lag o p u s. F o u s t . Phil. Trans., lx ii., p. 39 0.
White Grous. P e n n . Arct. Zool.',ii., p . 3 0 8 , No. 183. Rehusak Grous. I d e m , p. 316; E.
Willow Partridge. H e a u n e , Joum., p. 411.
Tetrao saliceti. T e m m ., ii., p. 471. SAS.Frankl. Joum., p. 681. R ic h a r d s . Append.
Parry's Second Voy., p. 347, No. 7»
Wawpeethaeo, C r e e s . Kasbah, C h i p e w y a n s . Akkai-diggaeuck, E squimaux.
The Willow Grouse inhabits the fur-countries from the fiftieth to the seventieth
parallels of latitude, within which limits it is partially migratory; breeding in
the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, the barren grounds, and Arctic coasts ;
collecting in flocks on the approach of winter, and retiring southward as the
severity of the weather increases; considerable bodies, however, remaining in
the woody tracts as far north as latitude 67°, even in the coldest winters. It is
tolerably abundant in the sixty-fifth parallel all the year, and assembles in vast
flocks on the shores of Hudson’s Bay in the winter time. Mr. Hutchins has
known ten thousand captured in a single season at Severn River, and Sir Thomas
Button and other navigators speak of still greater multitudes. In the year 1819,
its earliest appearance at Cumberland House, lat. 54°, was in the second week
of November; and it returned to the northward again before the beginning of
spring. The species seems to be identical with the Willow Grouse of the
Old Continent, which inhabits the greater part of Scandinavia, Kamtskatcha,
Greenland, and Iceland, and also the valleys of the Alps. In America,
these Grouse shelter themselves in the winter in thickets of willow and
dwarf-birches, on the banks of marshes and lakes, the tops and buds of the
shrubs constituting the principal part of their food at that season. Denuded
of the males, but more generally towards the base of the plumage in the females. The wings (with the exception
of the tertiaries and deep black quill shafts), the whole belly, posterior flanks, under tail coverts, and legs, are snow-
white ; and there are also two or three scattered white feathers on the back. The tail consists of sixteen feathers, the
lateral ones greyish-black, slightly tipped with white, more distinctly as they are nearer the middle. The middle
pair are inserted a little above the plane of the others, and consequently are somewhat incumbent; they have much
broader white tips, and in some specimens are otherwise nearly black, in others they are marked like the dorsal
plumage. The coverts, two pairs of which equal the tail in length, are coloured like the back. Nails black.
Dimensions.
Length, total Inch. Lin.
. 16 6 Length of bill to rictus ,
Inch. Lin.
0 10 Length of middle nail Inch.
. 0
Lin
„ of tail 4 3 „ o f tarsus . 1 4 ,, -of hind toe . 7 „ of wing 7 6 ,, , of middle toe . 0 2 . i ,, of its nail . 0 4
„ o f bill ab ove . . 0 7 § __ R .
* As it appears in the beginning of May, lat. 65°, or towards the end of March, lat. 50° N.—R.