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PTARMIGAN. 



PLATE CXLI. 



Layopus vulffaris, FLEMING. 



Lagopus mutus, SELBY. GOFLD. 



Tetrao lagopus, PEDANT. MONTAGU. 



THE Ptarmigan pairs early in the spring, and the eggs are begun 

 to be laid in June, and to be sat upon by the beginning of July, 

 incubation lasting three weeks. The hen alone brings up the brood, 

 and has been known to do so even when the male had been taken, 

 and so also if one of the young had been picked up, to go close to 

 the person taking it, as if to demand it back again; she gathers them 

 under her wings in cold and stormy weather. 



The nest, if any be formed, for sometimes the bare earth is laid 

 upon, is composed of a small portion of heather or grass, placed in 

 some slight hollow under a rock, stone, or plant, and is very difficult 

 to be detected, 'for/ says Sir William Jardine, 'the female, on perceiving 

 a person approach, generally leaves it, and is only discovered by her 

 motion over the rocks, or her low clucking cry/ The male on the 

 first sign of danger has flown off, and she thus follows him, the young 

 dispersing m all directions, hiding themselves and laying still under any 

 stones, tufts, or bushes. Meyer says, f lt is reported that the male 

 Ptarmigan behaves very remarkably during the time when the female 

 sits on her eggs, aud that under these circumstances he will sit 

 immoveable in one spot for hours together, even on the approach of 

 danger; and when stationed thus near the nest he has been known 

 to remain there, looking around on the landscape quite unmoved. As 

 soon as the young are hatched, both parents become alert and busy, 

 and towards autumn more careful, and finally very shy in the winter. 

 If the weather is fine and sunny in winter, they are all again slow to 



