PTARMIGAN. 85 



of Scotland, and their descendants still maintain a footing 

 on Goatfell and Ben Noush. There appears to be no 

 satisfactory evidence that this species ever occurred in the 

 Orkneys, or in the Shetland Islands. It is found in Jura, 

 and even on Islay, within sight of the coast of Ireland ; 

 but although many of the northern summits of the sister 

 island are of considerable elevation, and similar in their 

 character to those frequented by the Ptarmigan elsewhere, the 

 species has never been known in Ireland even as a visitant. 



The alleged former existence of the Ptarmigan on the 

 mountains of Cumberland and Westmorland, and also in 

 Wales, has been carefully investigated by Mr. A. G. More 

 (Zoologist, 1881, pp. 44—47). It appears that Pennant, in 

 his 'British Zoology,' Ed. 4 (1766), stated that "a few 

 still inhabit the lofty hills near Keswick," to which Latham 

 (1783) added the words " as well as in Wales," — a locality 

 which Pennant, although a Welshman, had nowhere men- 

 tioned. Dr. Heysham, in Hutchinson's ' History of Cum- 

 berland ' (1794), quoted Pennant, without adding a particle 

 of independent evidence, and later writers have merely 

 amplified or paraphrased these statements. Mr. More has, 

 however, learnt from Capt. W. K. Dover, residing at Keswick, 

 that, although he has not succeeded in finding any tradition 

 of the former existence of the Ptarmigan in the Lake 

 district, yet there is a highly white-mottled variety of the 

 Red Grouse found upon Skiddaw, and also on Shap Fells, 

 in Westmorland ; the latter being so white that two Scotch 

 gamekeepers who saw them called them Ptarmigan. It is 

 easy to understand that more than a century ago, when 

 statements were less critically examined, and the Ptarmigan 

 was only just known to be a British bird, any " white- 

 mottled " Grouse seen on the mountains would be assumed 

 to be the alpine species. 



In Scandinavia, the Ptarmigan is resident in the Lofoden 

 Islands, and on the Fells above the limits of the tree- 

 growth, as far as the Nore-fjeld, in 58° 40' N. lat., from 

 whence it descends in small numbers to the western districts. 

 Stretching across the northern portions of Finland, it is 



