78 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



branch of trailing birch, but is sometimes quite in 

 the open between two tussocks. The ravens get a good 

 many of the eggs of the Eock Ptarmigan (or used to, 

 when they were more abundant ; but their numbers 

 have been much reduced by sheep-farmers). The eggs 

 are exactly like those of the Red, or Willow Grouse, 

 that is to say, are spotted thickly with dark rich 

 brown upon a cream ground colour, and vary in 

 number from seven to twelve. The hen sits very 

 close indeed, and obviously trusts a good deal to her 

 colour to escape observation. I almost trod on a 

 sitting hen one day, and she sat as if she had been 

 cut out of wood. 



The changes of plumage in this species are very 

 interesting, and the male's dress is very unlike the 

 female's. These variations have induced a variety of 

 writers upon Iceland to publish some very erroneous 

 theories — as that there are two, or even three, species 

 of Grouse or Ptarmigan in Iceland ; for in their per- 

 plexity they have imagined the existence of the 

 European Ptarmigan (Z. midus) and the Willow Grouse 

 {L. alius) in Iceland, supplementing the list with 

 sundry hybrid intermediate forms besides. There is 

 only one gallinaceous bird found in Iceland, and that 

 is the Rock Ptarmigan (it is a true Ptarmigan and 

 grunts or croaks, instead of ' becking,' as the Red and 

 Willow Grouse do), and any differences in appearance 

 are caused by seasonal and sexual changes of plumage. 

 As the Rock Ptarmigan cannot be confused with any 

 other bird existim]^ in Iceland, I do not think it 



