140 PTARMIGAN. 



Meyer says, 'It is reported that the male Ptarmigan 

 behaves very remarkably during the time when the 

 female sits on her eggs, and that under these circum- 

 stances 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 move.' But the male, it would appear, 

 leaves the education of the young to the hen bird, 

 re-joining them all again later in the season, and then 

 several families pack together. 



The eggs, from seven or eight to twelve in number, 

 of a regular oval form, are of a white, yellowish white, 

 greenish white, or reddish colour, blotted and spotted 

 with brown and brownish black. 



The ground part of one is pale yellowish white, 

 covered all over with small brown spots and large dark 

 brown blots, chiefly about the middle and towards the 

 smaller end. 



A second is of a dull whitish colour, spotted with 

 very small dark brown spots, and marbled over with 

 larger ones. 



The ground of a third is chiefly composed of minute 

 yellowish orange spots, with a few large blots of dark 

 brown upon it, and several smaller ones. 



A fourth is of a very dark grey, marbled with 

 dark reddish brown all over. 



