THE PTAEMIGAN. 



LAGOPUS VULGARIS. 



Winter plwmage— -pure white, a black line from the angle of the beak through 

 the eye ; outer tail-feathers black ; above the eyes a scarlet fringed membrane ; 

 bill and claws black ; tarsi and toes thickly clothed with woolly feathers. 

 Female — without the black line through the eyes. Slimmer plumage — wings, 

 under tail-coverts, two middle tail-feathers, and legs white ; outer tail-feathers 

 black, some of them tipped with white ; rest of plumage ash-brown, marked 

 with black lines and dusky spots. Length fifteen inches. Eggs reddish 

 yellow, spotted and speckled with deep reddish brown. 



This beautiful bird is the Schneehuhn, " Snow-chick," of 

 the Germans, the White Partridge of the Alps and Pyrenees, 

 and the Gaelic Tarmachan. Whilst most birds shrink 

 from cold, the Ptarmigan, on the contrary, seems to revel 

 in it, and to fear nothing so much as the beams of the 

 sun. l^ot even when the valleys rejoice in the livery of 

 spring does it desert the snowy regions altogether, and, 

 when the mist-wreaths clear away, it avoids the rays of 

 the sun by seeking the shady sides of the mountains. 

 Only when the northern regions or lofty mountains are 

 A A 2 



