674 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



barrels and transported to other countries as an article 

 of commerce. 



The weight of the Ptarmigan is about 24 ounces, the length 14 to 

 15 inches ; of a pure white, with a band of black proceeding from 

 the angle of the bill through the eyes. The lateral feathers of the 

 tail black, terminated with a white border. Feet and toes thickly 

 clad in woolly feathers A red dentellated cicatrice over the eyes. 

 Iris grey. 



WILLOW GROUS, or LARGE PTARMIGAN. 



(Tetrao saliceti, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. ii. p. 475. [Ed. alt.] T. alhus, 

 Gmel. I.ath. Ind. ii. p. 639. White Partridge, Pennant, Arc. 

 Zool. i. p. 360. No. 183. Museum. Acad. Nat. Hist. Phil.) 



Sp. Charact. — The bill short, strong, blunt, and depressed towards 

 the point; nails long and white, but little curved; no difference 

 between the sexes in winter. — Summer plumage above reddish 

 cliesnut with waving black lines and spots, except on the fore 

 part of the neck beneath and wings pure white. — Female and 

 young orange rufous, with larger black spots. 



This larger species, called the Willow Grous by Hearne, 

 the Wood Grous of the Norwegians, is another inhabi- 

 tant of both continents, extending its residence to the 

 eternal limits of the polar ice. In Europe, they are very 

 rarely seen in the high mountains of central Europe. 

 They are abundant in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Green- 

 land, Karntskatka, and Iceland, always frequenting the for- 

 ests in the elevated valleys, or the declivities of the highest 

 mounains. They are seldom seen further south than Li- 

 vonia and Esthonia ; and very rarely as far as Prussia. In 

 America they abound around Hudson's Bay, where they 

 are said to breed along the coast, making their nests on 

 dry ridges on the ground. In the ancient continent, they 

 shelter their nests in the high tufts of the heath, and in 

 the dwarf willows. Their eggs, 10 to 12, are longer than 



