18 1*1'A RMIGAN.
by her motion over the rocks, or her low clucking cry.' The male
on the first sign of danger has flown off, and she thus follows him,
the young dispersing in all directions, hiding themselves and laying
still under any stones, tufts, or bushes. Meyer says, ' I t is reported
that the male Ptarmigan behaves very remarkably during the time
when the female sits on her eggs, a n d that under these circumstances
he will sit immoveable in one spot for hours together, even on the
approach of danger, and when stationed thus near the nest he has
been known to remain there, looking around on the landscape quite
unmoved. As soon as the young arc hatched, both parents become
alert and busy, and towards autumn more careful, and finally very
shy in the winter. - I f the weather is fine and sunny in winter, they
a r e all again slow to move.' But the male, it woidd appear, leaves
the education of the young to the hen bird, rejoining them all again
l a t e r in the season, and then several families pack together.
The eggs, from seven or eight to twelve in number, of a regular
oval form, are of a white, yellowish white, greenish white, or reddish
c o l o u r , blotted and spotted with brown and brownish black.
The male in winter is pure white, except the space between the
bill and the eye, the feathers of which, and a few behind it, are
black, the shafts of the quills, and the outer feathers of the tail, which
a r e also deep black. Length, one foot one inch and a half to three
incites and a half; bill, blackish brown; iris, yellowish brown, and
the membrane over it vermilion red. In spring the forehead, head
on t h e crown and sides, neck on the back, and nape, arc marked with
bands of brownish black and reddish yellow alternately, the former
the broader, and all slightly tipped with white, the bands narrower in
a u t u m n, and t u r n i n g to g r e y , followed by the white of winter. Throat,
d e e p brownish black; breast, excepting its fore part and sides, which
a r e also d e e p brownish black, with a few i n t e r r u p t e d , narrow, i r r e g u l ar
bars of reddish yellow, and a white spot on the tip, below, chiefly
w h i t e in summer, all white in winter; back, i r r e g u l a r l y barred in
summer with brownish black and reddish yellow or bluish grey marks,
narrower in a u t u m n , and changing to g r e y , then to w h i t e ; the tips of
t h e feathers white.
The wings extend from the width of two feet one inch to two feet
t w o ; t h e first quill is an inch and a half shorter than the second, the
second rather longer than the fifth, the t h i r d and fourth nearly equal,
a n d the l o n g e s t ; g r e a t e r and lesser w i n g coverts, white, some of them
in summer minutely waved with yellow or greyish white and brownish
black, the bars narrower in autumn, and fading into grey before the
w h i t e ; primaries, secondaries, and tertiarics, white, the shafts black,
PTARMIGAN. 19
some of the first-named minutely waved with yellow or greyish white
and brownish black, the bars narrowing in autumn. The tail, of
eighteen feathers, in summer has the two middle feathers b a r r e d minutely
with yellow or greyish yellow and brownish black, more narrowly in
autumn, the rest brownish black, the two middle ones white towards
winter; the two middle tail coverts are very l o n g ; under tail coverts,
white. The legs, white, feathered, as are the toes on their upper
parts "and sides, but the soles b a r e ; the first toe is very short and
elevated, the third much longer than the second, which is of about
the same length as the fourth; the front toes are webbed at the base,
and have three terminal scales; the hind toe has two scries of scales:
their shape well fits them for scratching in the snow. The claws are
rather long, and arched, the hind one the most so, but smaller,
brownish black, pale towards the end.
The female, in the white jjlumage of winter, is sometimes most
delicately tinged with faint rose-colour. Length, one foot two inches
and a half to one foot two and three q u a r t e r s ; bill, black; the membrane
over the eye, pale red, and there are no black feathers before
and behind it. The wings are in extent from one foot eleven inches
to two feet or two feet one; primaries, with their shafts brown. The
tail, black towards the end for two thirds of its length, but the tip
white; the two middle feathers white, or in some minutely waved and
dotted with grey and reddish brown, and in summer barred with
yellow and black. The winter plumage continues white until the
spring, when the white feathers become b a r r e d with yellowish and black,
and changed into blackish, barred with greyish white on the back.
The young are at first covered with a light yellowish grey down;
the head on the crown with a light chesnut mark, edged with a
darker shade; the back patched with brown. The plumage soon
changes, the upper parts becoming spotted and barred with pale
grey and brown, and the wings and the under parts white. They
acquire the white plumage the first winter, but the spots and bars
are larger than in the second.
The Ptarmigan of this country rarely become so beautifully and
perfectly white as those of more n o r t h e r n countries.
These birds vary greatly in their summer plumage, some being
most elegantly banded and mottled, and others more or less dotted
and even patched and spotted with black; in old birds the dark
markings dwindle to mere slender waved lines, or even a series of dots.
I t would appear from Macgillivray's measurements that these birds
differ occasionally in the proportionate lengths of their several parts.
The plate is taken from a design by the Rev. 11. P . Alington.