name, derived, with a slight and inexplicable modification,
from the Gaelic word Tarmachan, occurs as far back as
1617j in a letter, dated at Whitehall, from James I. of
England to the Earl of Tullibardine, commanding that a
provision of “ Capercaillies and terndgantis ” be made for
the royal sustenance between Durham and Berwick. ' As
mentioned when treating of the Capercaillie (p. 46),, Taylor,
the water-poet, speaks of p termagants ” in 1618, and, to
judge by old Acts of Parliament,'the latter seems to- have
been the usual Lowland form of spelling the name.
Bespecting. its distribution, Mr. Harvie-Brown says that
in Sutherlandshire it especially frequents the stony mountains
of Assynt, on the ridge of Beh Ghaorin (commonly
called Harran) and the heights and cörries 'of Gltóhven,
Ben Mhor, and Braebag, being' less numerous'' Onjkthe
curiously-shaped and isolated peaks of Quinaig, Ganishp,
Soulbhein (the “ Sugar-loaf”), Coul Mhor, and Coul Beg,
lying nearer the sea. In Ross-shire it is abundant ’op Ben
Wyvis in the east, and on' the range of Ben Deraig in the
west,' but again becomes scarcer towards the coast.-/ Southward,
through Ross-shire andHnverness-shire, in all suitable
localities, i | ^ . met with, abundantly,, preferring, as a rule,
the larger masses of mountain land to the isolated peaks.
In Aberdeenshire, :pp Lpchnagar and Bén Muich-dhu, it is
tolerably numerous, although /comparatively scarce on tbs
Western mountains of the same range, owing to -the Summits
being less stony, deeply covered with moss* .and not bearing
mountain-berries in such quantities. In Skye- it is found
among the Cuchullin Hills, but not in great numbers j^nor
is it abundant in Harris or Lewis. In Inverness-shire the
Editor observed a covey of nine birds on Ben Nevis in
August, 1879. Southwards, through Perthshire, a fair
number of Ptarmigan may be met with in'certain localities;
and Mr. James Lumsden, of Arden, states that, ralthough,
in decreasing numbers, birds' are still tó be found b id in g
on Ben Lomond and in its,- vicinity!1 In Arran the‘species
became nearly, !! not quite,'extinct about the' ye|r l856 ;' but
in 1867 a few young birds were introduced from the north
of Scotland, and their descendants still maintain a footing
on Goatfell and -Ben Noush.. There appears to be no
satisfactory evidence that this species ever occurred in the.
Orkneys, or in the Shetland Islands.. It is found, in Jura,,
and even on Islay, within sight of the coast, of Ireland ;
but although many of the northern summits of the sister
island are of considerable elevation, and similar in* their
character to those frequented by the Ptarmigan- elsewhere, the
species has never been Tmown in Ireland even as a visitant..
The alleged, former"-existence.- of the Ptarmigan on- the
mountains of Cumberland and Westmorland,, and also, in
Wales, has been.carefully investigated by Mr.: A. G. More-
(Zoologist, 1881, pp. 44^-47),; It. appears that Pennant, ip
his ‘British Zoology,’ Ed. 4 (176.6-),. stated that “ a few
still inhabit the lofty hills near Keswick,” to which Latham
(1788) added the-words “ as well as in Wales,”—a locality
which Pennant, although a Welshman, had nowhere mem
tioned.. Dr; Heysham, in Hutchinson’s. ‘ History of Cumberland’
(1-794)7 quoted Pennant,: without adding a particle
of independent evidence, and later writers have merely
amplified or paraphrased: theise statements. Mr.. More has,
however, learnt from Capt.W. K.. Dover, residing^ Keswick,
that, although he has not succeeded in finding any tradition,
of the former existence of the Ptarmigan in the. Lake
district/yet -there is a highly-white-mottled variety of the-'
Red Qrouse found upon Skiddaw, and algo on Shap. Foils,
in Westmorland ; the latter being so white that two Scotch
gamekeepors who saw them called them. Ptarmigan, It is
easy to-understand that more than a.century ago,' when
statements were' less critically; examined, and the Ptarmigan
was only jtist known to be a British bird, any “ white-,
mottled P Grouse seen on the mountains would be assumed
to be the alpine speeie$i:-r?
In Scandinavia, the Ptarmigan is resident in the Lofoden
Islands, and on the Fells above the limits of the tree-,
growth, as far as the NSfe-fjeld, in' S88 40* "Ny lat.y/from
whence it descends i 2 small numbers to. the western districts,
Stretching across the northern portions of Finland, |^ /is