CHAPTER X. 



Tlie Fjall-Ripa. Southern limits in Scandinavia. Pluni:ii;i-.- Moiiltinj.'. 

 Habite. Resorts. Food. Feeding at Night. The l.'k. 

 Breeding. The Male a Truant. Enemies. For the Tnl>]'. 



fT^HE Fjiill-llipa, in regard to size and habits, much 

 -*- resembles the Scotch Ptarmigan (Lagojms mufit*. 

 Auct.) ; but never having shot the latter, excepting in 

 its autumnal dress, I am not prepared t<> say tliey are one 

 and the same. There would, indeed, appear to be doubts 

 on this point, for if the Fjiill-llipa be really identical, as 

 Nilsson believes, with the Tetrao Islamlonim of Faber, 

 which both Yarrell and Faber seem to think a distinct 

 species from the Lagoon* /HII/HH, it may turn out that the 

 Fjiill-llipa is another species, or at least variety, of the 

 Ti-li-iiu Delias. Tliis matter, however, 1 leave to the 

 decision of the learned. 



The Fjiill-llipa abounds on all the alpine ranges of the 

 Seandinaviaii peninsula, as also mi those of the Lofoden 

 and other inlands lyini; oil' the western coast of Norway; 

 but only above the limits of arhorous vegetation, which 

 in the extreme north are not at any very considerable 



