93 
able to the nature of this bird. The nest (scarcely 
deserving that appellation) consists of a few wi- 
thered stems that line the shallow cavity wherein 
the egos are deposited, and is placed on the ground 
in a.tuft of heath. The female begins to lay in 
March or April. Her eggs, from eight to twelve 
in number, are of a greyish white, blotched with 
umber brown. 
GROUSE, WHITE. 
PTARMIGAN. 
TerRAo Lagopus, Temm. 
This species is found in all the Alpine districts 
of Central Europe, and northward as far as Green- 
land. In this country it is only to be met with in 
the Highlands of Scotland, or m the Hebrides and 
Orkneys. Formerly it was occasionally observed on 
the mountainous ridges of Cumberland and Wales. 
It is fond of lofty situations, where it braves the 
severest cold, and lives on the highest mountains, 
particularly those of which the summits are covered 
with fragments of rock, by its close resemblance in 
colour to which it is enabled to escape its nume- 
rous inferior enemies in autumn. At the approach 
of winter they collect into large flocks, and descend 
