350 



INTEODrCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



Fig. 275.— Ptarmigan. 



or Ptarmigan {Lagopvs muhis, Fig. 275), is only found on 

 some of the high mountains of Scotland and the adjacent 



islands. It is celebrated 

 for its change of colour. 

 The legs and toes are 

 so thickly covered with 

 woolly feathers, that they 

 have been compared to 

 the legs of a Hare.* In 

 summer the plumage is 

 speckled, consisting of an 

 ashy brown, with waving 

 blackish lines ; as winter 

 approaches, this becomes 

 changed to the purest 

 white. In the one sea- 

 son the plumage resem- 

 bles in colour that of 

 the surrounding rocks and lichens ; in winter, that of the 

 snowclad mountains. Sir Yt^'alter Scott attributes, there- 

 fore, acute powers of vision to Malcolm Graeme, when he 

 says :— 



" Trained to the chase, his Eagle eye 

 The Ptarmigan in snow could spy." 



Lady of the Lake. 



The Common Partridge (Perdix cinerea) is another member 

 of the same family ; so that in this one group we have an 

 assemblage of birds possessed of peculiar attractions to the 

 " sportsman." 



To the Quail (Perdix coturnix) a different kind of interest 

 attaches. This bird is believed to be identical in species with 

 that which, under the providence of God, furnished a supply 

 of food to the Israelites in the wilderness. It abounds in 

 countries adjacent to the Red Sea, and migrates in immense 

 multitudes. Temminck says that they ari'ive in such numbers 

 on the western shores of the kingdom of Naples, that so many 

 as 100,000 are taken in a day. Nor are they less numerous 

 on the shores of Provence. Above three thousand years have 

 rolled by since the Quails " came up and covered the camp of 



* Hence the generic name Lagopm, signifying a " Hare's foot." 



