The Annals 



of 



Scottish Natural History 



NO. II] 1894 [JULY 



ON THE CHANGES OF PLUMAGE IN THE RED 

 GROUSE (LAGOPUS SCOTICUS}. 



By W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT, 



British Museum (Natural History). 



PLATES V. & VI. 



No group of birds, as far as I am aware, go through so 

 many and such varied annual changes of plumage as the 

 members of the genus Lagopus, which includes the four 

 species of Ptarmigan, the Willow Grouse, and the Red 

 Grouse. The various seasonal plumages of the common 

 Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus], varying conspicuously from one 

 another in colour, long ago attracted the attention of ornith- 

 ologists, and have been more or less well described by earlier 

 writers ; but by far the most accurate and complete account 

 is given by Mr. J. G. Millais in his " Game Birds and Shoot- 

 ing Sketches," pp. 69, 70 (1892). This same author was, I 

 believe, the first to suggest that the Red Grouse goes 

 through similar but somewhat less conspicuous changes ; for 

 none of our standard books on British Birds make any 

 allusion to the very important alterations in plumage in this 

 species, the seasonal differences being probably referred to 

 individual variation. Mr. Millais was of opinion when he 

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