the Claws in the Ptarmigan ^c. 51 



specimen Dr. Bean remarks, in his " Notes on Birds collected 

 in Alasca/' &c., in the Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1882, p. 163, 

 as follows : — " This specimen (shot on July 21st) corresponds 

 very closely in most respects with No. 33,548, a female from 

 Norway, collected July 2, 1862 ; the claws, however, are 

 considerably shorter than in the Norway example and in all 

 other specimens of L. albus in the Museum.^^ Dr. Bean was 

 kind enough to show me the specimen, when it was apparent 

 that the extreme shortness of the claws was due to the fact 

 that the bird had shed them just before it was shot, except 

 on the right outer toe, on which the nail was so loose, how- 

 ever, that it dropped off, as I was a little too rough in 

 handling it. 



It will thus be seen that the shedding takes place in July 

 or August, according to locality and other circumstances, at 

 the time when the toes are most denuded, in fact, almost 

 wholly naked, and the dark summer plumage is most com- 

 plete. The claws grow very rapidly, however, and reach their 

 full length long before the white winter plumage with the 

 densely clothed toes is fully developed. 



So far as known, this process is confined to the members 

 of the family of Tetraonidae mentioned above, when in the 

 wild state ; but Collett, of Christiania, has mentioned a case 

 where a Quail {Coturnix coturnix) shed its claws in confine- 

 ment; but this may have been due to some pathological 

 process. 



I am not aware that this peculiarity has been observed in 

 any of the American Tetraonidae except Lagopus albus ; but 

 there seems to be no reason why it should not occur, at least 

 in species living under conditions similar to those in Northern 

 Europe and North-eastern Asia. It is to be expected that 

 we shall soon hear of instances from the Nearctic region also 

 when attention has once been directed to it. 



No histological investigation has been made to ascertain 

 the causes and the development of this unusual process (at 

 least I am not aware that any results of such an investi- 

 gation have ever been published), and consequently nothing 

 is definitely known. 



E 2 



