THE COMMON PTARMIGAN. 173 



litary pairs remain on Skiddaw, or some of its preci- 

 pitous neighbours, the range of the Grampians will 

 be its most southern British station. Another bird 

 ias lately been found in this country, which was be- 

 fore thought to be an inhabitant of America only, 

 the Lagopus rupestris or Rock Ptarmigan. From its 

 close resemblance in plumage, it has been confounded 

 with the common ptarmigan ; but one or two spe- 

 cimens have lately been got in the more northern 

 Highland districts. In both birds the plumage is of 

 the most unsullied white during winter. In summer 

 they are mottled with tints of black ; in the first min- 

 gled with grey and yeilow, in the second with yel- 

 low alone. The size varies also, the last being about 

 two inches less than the Common Ptarmigan. The 

 chief distinctions to be seized upon at first sight, are 

 the less size, and the black feathers of the back be- 

 ing cut into upon the edges, with patches of yellow 

 only, contrasted with the larger size and grey plumage 

 of the other. 



They inhabit the most barren and rocky spots, 

 often where nothing is to be seen but an intermin- 

 able series of rugged rocks distributed in boulder 

 masses, varying in size, from huge lumps to pieces 

 of a few inches in diameter. Here, during spring 

 and summer, the pairs and their broods remain 

 the only inhabitants, and are discovered with the 

 greatest difficulty, the mixture of the colours of the 

 plumage forming a tint which harmonizes with that 

 of the grey rocks around. At this season they are 

 also tame and familiar, running before the intruder, 

 and uttering their peculiarly low wild call which -is/ 



