170 AVES RASORES. [TETRAO. 



(2. LAGOPUS, VieilL) 



150. T. Scoticus, Temm. (Red Ptarmigan.) The 

 entire plumage chestnut-brown, variegated with black : 

 tail of sixteen feathers ; the six outer ones on each side 

 dusky. 



T. Scoticus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 465. Red Grous, Mont. 

 Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 427. pi. 59. f. 1. Bew. Brit. 

 Birds, vol. i. p. 341. 



DIMENS. Entire length sixteen inches : length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) nine lines and a half, (from the gape) eleven lines; of the 

 tarsus one inch five lines ; of the tail four inches ; from the carpus to 

 the end of the wing eight inches three lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) The whole plumage of a deep chestnut-brown, 

 nearly plain on the head and neck, but marked on the back and wing- 

 coverts with black spots of different sizes, and beneath the body with 

 numerous undulating black lines : orbits, and a small patch at the base 

 of the lower mandible, white : naked space above the eyes fringed, of a 

 bright scarlet colour : frequently some of the feathers on the abdomen 

 tipped with white : tail of sixteen feathers ; the four middle ones reddish 

 brown, with transverse black lines ; the rest of a uniform dusky brown : 

 bill black, half concealed by the nasal feathers : irides chestnut-brown : 

 tarsi and toes thickly clothed with grayish white feathers ; claws light 

 horn-colour. (Female.) Colours not so dark as in the male ; the brown 

 varied with reddish yellow, and marked with a greater number of black 

 spots and lines : naked space above the eyes less conspicuous. (Egg.) 

 Reddish white, nearly covered with blotches and spots of umber-brown : 

 long. diam. one inch nine lines ; trans, diam. one inch three lines. 



Peculiar to the British Islands. Found plentifully in Scotland, as well 

 as in some of the mountainous parts of England and Wales. Frequents 

 moors, heaths, and extensive uncultivated wastes : never resorts to woods. 

 Feeds on berries, and the tender tops of heaths. Is monogamous, and 

 pairs in January. Commences laying in March or April. Eggs eight 

 to twelve in number, deposited on the ground. 



151. T. Lagopus, Sab. (Common Ptarmigan.) Cine- 

 reous, with transverse undulating lines and spots of black, 

 (summer) ; or wholly white, (winter) ; shafts of the quills, 

 and lateral tail-feathers, always black. 



T. Lagopus, Sab. Supp. Parry s First Voy. p. cxcvii. Richards. 

 App. Parry's Second Voy. p. 350. Ptarmigan, Mont. Orn. Diet. 

 Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 430. pi. 59. f. 2. & pi. 60. Shaw, Gen. Zool. 

 vol. xi. p. 287. pi. 21. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 343. 



DIMENS. Entire length fifteen inches : length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) eight lines, (from the gape) ten lines ; of the tarsus one inch 

 four lines ; of the tail four inches three lines ; of the wing seven inches 

 six lines: breadth, wings extended, twenty-four inches six lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male in winter plumage.) A streak from the corner of 

 the bill across the eyes, lateral tail-feathers, and shafts of the quills, 

 black ; the rest of the plumage pure white : above the eyes a scarlet 

 fringed membrane : tarsi and toes thickly clothed with woolly feathers : 



