black; distributed among the plumage were several feathers
in which the ground colour was of a bright yellowish-brown;
all the quill-feathers dark umber-brown; theI secondaries
and the tertials edged on the' outside, and • freckled with
lighter brown; the tail of sixteen feathers: the seven on
each outside dark umber-brown }:tjie four , middle feathers
chestnut-brown, varied - with black. On the breast; vthe
plumage was darker than on'the sides, almost black, and
tipped with white ; the chestnut-brown feathers’on the sides,
flanks, belly, vont, and under tail-coverts, tipped with white ;
legs and toes covered with short greyish-white cfeathers;
claws long’, bluish-horn colour at the base, nearly white: at
the end. In the breeding-season the red skin over the* eye
is partially erectile, but droops at the', edges and doesnnot
stand up firmly like thé comb :of ‘ the Black-cock.-^
The whole length is sixteen inches.': From the-earpal
joint to the end of the wing, eight inches andr;three-eighths :
the first quill-feather shorter than the sixth, but longer-than
the seventh; the'.second shorter than'the fifth/but • longer
than the sixth ; the third and fourtif’néarly :equal in Terigth,
and the longest in the wing.
The old male in summer-has i many of *ithe*body feathers
tipped with yellow, and the red colour is of a lighter, tint.'
. The female'is. rather, smaller than' the male ; the patch
óf red skin over the ëye is also smaller; the red and brown
tints of the feathers are. lighter hoB colour, and"givda ihórë
yariegated' appearance.^»''the.ptomageV generally-/ 3fin* heir
summer plijmage. all | tire feathers of the. headland upper
part of the heck are yellowish-chestnut', with a'few black
spots: those" of the .lower neck/'breast, back, wing, and
tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers/ transversely^ barred
with hlack, and tipped with yel’l'O^ ;Tthe' long;featHers ?.On
the sides tand flanks also barred across'with black and
yellow,? very much ^resembling-the~-feathers' homer’on. the
same parts at the same'seasohi by thè female Ptarmigan,
shewing-its affinity t'tb th a tr bird;' amisome "authors have
called ^our .Rpd Gr©us^ the Bed Grouse Ptarmigan, the
Red Ptarmigan, and-the Brown Ptarmigan. -
In the young in down of a day or two old, are yelloWiSh-
buff banded with brown above, and yellowish-brown below ;
darker on the breast; a dark brown streak runs from the
base of the bill to the centre of the-crown, where it widens
out into a broad ruddy-brown patch with darker margin.
With increasing age the down becomes duller; rufous-brown
feathers with darker bars appear on the side of the breast
and flanks; the feathers of the wing-coverts and back are
rich rufous with black centres tipped with black and white;
the quill-feathers dull brown, with tawny mottlings.
The young of both sexes resemble the adult female, bug
by the middle of -winter, when the first moult is completed,
the young male's are very similar to the old ones,
excepting that the head and neck are barred and spotted.
Not being polygamous, it does. not often hybridize with
other species. The rare instances of its having done so
with the Black Grouse have already been noticed. The following
are the remarks made by Professor Newton |P . Z. S.
1878, p. 793)Von exhibiting a supposed hybrid between
the Red Grouse and the Ptarmigan {L.-mutusf:—'“-This
remarkable ^specimen was lately givenVto/me for the museum
of the University of Cambridge, by Captain Houston of Kin-
tradwell, in, Sutherland, having been shot there oufcof a covey
of Grouse on the 1st of Sept. 187$. . As.^ill be seen; it bears
some - considerable resemblance, a hem Ptarmigan
in summer plumage, but its generjd, appearance is much
darker. Beneath, there is a greater resemblance I d the
young of the Red Grouse; and the primaries are much as
in that bird, being, however, partially edged with' white to
a much greater extent than is commonly found in the latter.
I have shewn the skin to several ornithological friends,
none of whom have heen able offer any pth,er suggestion
concerning; jt ./than that originally made by the d.onor,
namely, that it ig'a hybrid between the two species named;
and in confirmation thereof,-paptain Houston told me, that
the part of his ground on which it was shot, is close to; a
locality frequented by the Ptarmigan. Without-having
made an exhaustive search, I may say that I am not aware
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