84 TETRAONID^. 



name, derived, with a slight and inexplicable modification, 

 from the Gaelic word Tarmachan, occurs as far back as 

 1617, in a letter, dated at Whitehall, from James I. of 

 England to the Earl of Tullibardine, commanding that a 

 provision of " Capercaillies and term'ujantis'' be made for 

 the royal sustenance between Durham and Berwick. As 

 mentioned when treating of the Capercaillie (p. 46), Taylor, 

 the water-poet, speaks of " termagants " in 1618, and, to 

 judge by old Acts of Parliament, the latter seems to have 

 been the usual Lowland form of spelling the name. 



Kespecting its distribution, Mr. Harvie-Brown says that 

 in Sutherlandshire it especially frequents the stony moun- 

 tains of Assynt, on the ridge of Ben Chaorin (commonly 

 called Harran) and the heights and corries of Glashven, 

 Ben Mhor, and Braebag, being less numerous on the 

 curiously-shaped and isolated peaks of Quinaig, Canishp, 

 Soulbhein (the " Sugar-loaf "), Coul Mhor, and Coul Beg, 

 lying nearer the sea. In Ross-shire it is abundant on Ben 

 Wyvis in the east, and on the range of Ben Deraig in the 

 west, but again becomes scarcer towards the coast. South- 

 ward, through Ross-shire and Inverness-shire, in all suitable 

 localities, it is met with abundantly, preferring, as a rule, 

 the larger masses of mountain land to the isolated peaks. 

 In Aberdeenshire, on Lochnagar and Ben Muich-dhu, it is 

 tolerably numerous, although comparatively scarce on the 

 western mountains of the same range, owing to the summits 

 being less stony, deeply covered with moss, and not bearing 

 mountain-berries in such quantities. In Skye it is found 

 among the Cuchullin Hills, but not in great numbers ; nor 

 is it abundant in Harris or Lewis. In Inverness-shire the 

 Editor observed a covey of nine birds on Ben Nevis in 

 August, 1879. Southwards, through Perthshire, a fair 

 number of Ptarmigan may be met with in certain localities ; 

 and Mr. James Lumsden, of Arden, states that, although 

 in decreasing numbers, birds are still to be found breeding 

 on Ben Lomond and in its vicinity. In Arran the species 

 became nearly, if not quite, extinct about the year 1856 ; but 

 in 1867 a few young birds were introduced from the north 



