PTARMIGAN. 89 



a few mottled brown feathers appearing ; chin white ; throat 

 mottled brown and white ; breast dark mottled brown ; flanks 

 yellowish-brown; abdomen and under tail-coverts white; legs 

 and feet greyish- white. In a Perthshire specimen, killed June 

 2nd, the short mottled feathers of the head shewed abraded 

 white tips with dark bases ; the larger feathers of the neck 

 and breast had dark bases, followed by a bar of white edged 

 with buff, and tei-minating with black tips undergoing abra- 

 sion ; back mottled with black, grey, and bufi". In very old 

 males, and especially in examples from Scandinavia, a much 

 larger proportion of the feathers on the upper parts and 

 breast are often of very dark colour. 



The female, which is slightly smaller than the male, has 

 the head and upper parts of a rufoas buff, broadly mottled 

 with black, and slightly tipped with grey ; the quill-feathers 

 white, with more dark markings about the shafts than in the 

 male ; the tail-feathers blackish, but freckled with grey on 

 the outer web, especially in Pyrenean examples ; breast and 

 flanks buff, mottled with black and grey ; lower breast and 

 belly mottled white ; under tail-coverts buff, barred with 

 black ; under wing-coverts white. 



The whole length of a male is fifteen inches. From the 

 carpal joint to the end of the wing, eight inches : the first 

 quill-feather an inch and a half shorter than the second ; 

 the second rather longer than the fifth ; the third and 

 fourth nearly equal in length, and the longest in the wing. 

 The wings of the old birds killed in autumn are seldom 

 perfect, as this is the season for moulting the flight-feathers. 



Early in autumn both males and females moult into 

 a freckled grey plumage on the upper parts ; the quill- 

 feathers, and some of the wing-coverts, with those on the 

 middle of the belly, being white ; by the end of October this 

 l)lumage changes to pure white in Continental specimens ; 

 and to white with slight mottlings about the bases of the 

 feathers, in some Scotch examples ; the tail-feathers remain- 

 ing black, but being nearly concealed by the long white 

 coverts. The fur-like feathers on the legs and feet increase 

 in length and thickness. In this winter plumage the 



VOL. III. N 



