THE PTAR>riGAN.* 



The common Ptamiigan Is not only a native of Scotland, but of tlie higher latitudes 

 of continental Europe, where the willow ptarmigan and the rock ptarmigan are also 

 abundant. In their manners the ptarmigans naturally resemble each other. But in 

 Scotland, a comparativelj' temperate climate, the bare and bleak mountains are the 

 permanent abode of the species there indigenous ; while, under the intense severity of 

 winter within the polar circle, they all quit the more exposed situations and seek tlie 

 willows and copse-woods which border the rivers, and stretch over the sheltered vales. 

 Mountain-berries and heath-shoots in summer, spring-buds and leaves in winter, consti- 

 tute their food, in search of which, as well as for the sake of shelter, they burrow beneath 

 the snow. 



Perhaps the changes of plumage in none of the feathered tribes are more worthy of 

 attention than those the ptarmigans undergo. Their full summer plumage is of a yellow 

 more or less inclining to brown, beautifully barred with zig-zag stripes of black ; tlieir 

 winter plumage is pure wliite, except that the outer tail-feathers, the shafts of the quills, 

 and, in our species, a streak from tlie eye to the beak, arc black. 



Now, in both these cases, there is a benevolent provision for the safety of these birds. 

 Thus, in summer the brown patches of heath on tlie rocky sides of the mountains 

 assimilate well, in their broken and blended tints, with the attire of the ptarmigans ; and 

 as concealment from their enemies is one of the laws of nature, tliis end is cftectuallv 



Lagopus MutuH.- Sclby. 



