PTARMIGAN. 363 



nuptial dress of the male is chestnut-red, barred with wavy 

 black lines ; the markings are least conspicuous on the coppery 

 red throat and neck. The bill is blue-black, the irides are brown, 

 and above the eye is a vermiHon erectile wattle or comb. In 

 summer the bars are wider and more pronounced, and there is 

 more buff in the general plumage. The female is often a more 

 spotted bird, but when barred shows strong buff and black 

 markings, and often a good deal of white. Length, 15 ins. 

 Wing, 8*25 ins. Tarsus, i"8 ins. 



Ptarmigan. Lagopus mutns (Montin). 



The mountain ranges of Europe, from Scandinavia to the 

 Pyrenees, are the home of the Ptarmigan (Plate 159) ; with us 

 it only occurs in the highest mountains of Scotland and some 

 of the western islands, seldom breeding below the 2000-foot 

 contour. 



There is no difficulty in distinguishing the Ptarmigan from 

 other grouse, although its zone overlaps that of the Red Grouse 

 occasionally, for at all ages it is not only a whiter bird, but 

 when mature has white quills in each of its three seasonal 

 phases. It is not a bird of the heathery moor but of the rocky 

 summits, where lichens and mosses replace more luxuriant 

 vegetation, and where, on northern slopes, the snow will linger 

 through the summer. In July, when its blue-grey autumnal 

 dress was nearly complete, I have heard its low croaking, and 

 seen it crouching on the lichen-clad rocks, head and breast 

 low, ready to spring up and fly. When running on snow these 

 grey birds look very like the stones in motion, and in winter 

 dress it is almost invisible, even to the keen eye of the Golden 

 Eagle or the hill fox. It runs and hides rather than take wing, 

 but in flight is wonderfully swift ; it will cross at a great height 

 from peak to peak. Its food is on the whole similar to that of 

 the Red Grouse, though naturally of a more alpine nature ; 



