392 



GROUSE 



Though the Red Grouse does not, after the manner of other 

 members of the genus Lagopus, become white in winter, Scotland 

 possesses a species of the genus which does. This is the Ptar- 

 migan,^ L. mutus or L. alpinus, which differs far more in structure, 

 station, and habits from the Red Grouse than that does from the 

 Willow-Grouse, and in Scotland is far less abundant, haunting only 

 the highest and most barren mountains. It is said to have for- 

 merly inhabited both Wales and England, but there is no evidence 

 of its appearance in Ireland. On the continent of Europe it is 

 found most numerously in Norway, but at an elevation far above 



the growth of trees, and it occurs on the Pyrenees, and on the 

 Alps. It also inhabits northern Russia, but its eastern limit is 



^ James I. (as quoted by Mr. Gray, B. W. Scotlaml, p. 230) AYi'iting from 

 Whitehall in 1617 spelt the word "Termigant," and in this form it appears in 

 one of the Scots Acts in 1621. Taylor the "water poet," who (in 1630) seems 

 to have been the first Englishman to use the word, has "Termagant." How the 

 unnecessary initial letter has crept into the name is more than is known to me. 

 I can only trace it to Sibbald in 1684. The word is admittedly from the Gaelic 

 Tarmachan, meaning, according to some, "a dweller upon heights," but 

 thought by Dr. T. M'Lauchlan to refer possibly to the noise made by the bird's 

 wings in taking flight. It has of course really nothing to do with the name of 

 the idol which early mediaeval writers supposed to be worshipped by Pagans. 



