PICTORIAL MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



17C5. 1766.-Th« Ptarmigan 

 {Ltiijopui mutut). Gclinote blanche, TAttaees 

 blaiic, orthc French; Pertiice, alpestre and I^gopo 

 biniicu of the Italians; Schiieehuhn and Hassen- 

 tiis^it;e Waldhiilui of the Geinian*; Rype of the 

 Norwegians; Uiiipkaiie (male) tlic Kitipa (female) 

 oflhe Ii-elanders ; Tarinaclian ofihe Ilii^lilandGael ; 

 Coiiar vr Aiban cf the Welsh. In this genus the 

 legs ana toes are complete!}' clothed with hair-like 

 feathers to the very claws, and in winter so thick 

 and deep does this rovi>ring become, as to give to 

 the leg the ai>|>earancc of a "hare's foot." Small 

 closely-set feathers also invest the buse of the beak, 

 which increase, dnrins; the colder season, till little 

 more than the point of the latter is visible. A naked 

 skin rises above each eje. 



The Itarmi^an is a native of the dreary mountain 

 regions of the north of Europe, the Alpine districts 

 of central Europe, and the northern parts of America, 

 including the islands lying to the sotilh-west of 

 Baffin's Bay. It is found in the British Islands, 

 being common on the Grampians, where great 

 granite and slaty masses afToid it concealment. It 

 is found also in tolerable abundance on the elevated 

 summits of the mountains in the norih of Scotland, 

 and the adjacent islands. Mountuin berries and 

 heath-shoots in summer, buds and leaves in winter, 

 constitute the food of the ptarmigan ; and at this 

 season the binls are ollen obliged to burroiv under 

 the snow, partly perhaps for shelter, but principally 

 in quest of food. Alter the breeding-seasim the 

 various young coveys and their parents associate in 

 lari;e flocks, consisting of forty or fifly individuals, 

 which separate info pairs early in the spring. The 

 nest, if it desei ve the name, consists of a few twij^s 

 and stalks of ?rass, loosely arranged in a slight 

 depression on the giound; the eegs, fourteen or 

 fifteen in number, are ofa pale reddish white, spotted 

 with dark brown. The young run about as soon as 

 they leave the shell, and are quite on the alert, 

 concealinsr themselves with great skill on the ap- 

 pearance of danger. The alarm-call of the ptarmi- 

 gan is a strange croaking cry, and so well do the 

 mingled colours of these birds blend with the frag- 

 ments of out-cropping rock, weather-stained and 

 covered by many tinted lichens and mosses, that 

 a person may pass very near a covey without per- 

 ceiving them, unless one utters his call, or they rise 

 8udde:ily upon the wing. 



One of the most remarkable facts connected with 

 the history of this species is its change from a rich 

 and spotted livery, its summer dress, to one of pure 

 white. In spring, for example, the plumage is 

 varied with black and deep reddish yellow, the quill- 

 feathers being white with black shafts. Towards 

 autumn the yellow gives place to greyish white, 

 and the black spots become irregularly broken, till 

 at last they disappear, the plumage whitening to 

 the purity of snow. At the same time it acquires 

 gre.iter fulness ; and the legs and feet are so densely 

 clad as to resemble those of a hare. As spring 

 returns, the ptarmigan beginstolose the pure white 

 of his plumage, and regain his summer dress. 



Of the number of ptarmigans imported during 

 the latter part of the winter and early in the spring 

 from Norway, Sweden, &c., to the London market, 

 few persons have any idea. "On one occasion," 

 says Mr. Yarrell, " late in the spring of 183t), one 

 party shipped six thousand ptarmigans for London, 

 two thousand for Hull, and two thousand for Liver- 

 pool ; and at the end of February or very early in 

 March of the year 1840, one salesman in Leadenhall 

 Market received tifleen thousand ptarmigan that 

 had been consigned to him, and during the same 

 week another salesman received seven hundred 

 capercaillies, and tive hundred and sixty black 

 grouse." From Drannen, in Norway, in 18,39, two 

 thousand dozen of ptarmigans were exported in one 

 ship for Ijonion. Si.xty thousand have been killed 

 in a single parish during the course of the winter. 

 The total of these birds destroyed throughout Norway 

 and Sweden every season, we do not know, but it 

 must be enormous. 



With respect to the red grouse (Lagopus Scoticus) 

 it is exclusively peculiar to the British Islands, being 

 found in no part of the Continent. This beautiful 

 and valued bird is common on the high moorland 

 districts of the northern counties of England, Scot- 

 land, Wale.*, and Ireland, where the heath affords it 

 shelter and concealment. During the autumn and 

 winter it associates in flocks or packs, which are often 

 wild and shy, and not easily approached. Early in 

 the spring the sexes pair ; the female lays her eggs 

 in March, making a rude nest of sprigs of heath and 

 grass upon the trround, imder the shelter ofa tuft of 

 heath or of the bilberry plant (Vaccinium Myrtillus). 

 The young are strong on the wing by August. The 

 male takes no part in the labour of incubation, but 



joins the female and the young brood as soon as 

 hatched, and is as attentive to the later as the 

 female parent. The red giouse feeds upon the 

 tender snoots of heatli, on bilbenies, whortleberries, 

 and the berries of other species of Vaccinium, and 

 also uuon oats, fur which it will visit the stubble 

 lands bordeiing the moors. Its flighty is rapid and 

 po'.verful. 



The plumage of the red grouse is very rich, the 

 general tint being deep chestnut, diversified with 

 zigzag bars and dots of black ; the legs and toes are 

 thickly clad with hair-like feathers, and a bright 

 scarlet fringed skin, largest in the male, surmounts 

 the eye. 



17C7, 1768. — Thk Pin-tailkd Sand-Gbousk 



(Pteiocle^ selarius). The sand-grouse are natives of 

 the sandy ]ilains and rocky deserts of Africa, Asia, 

 and the southern districts of Europe. They are 

 distinguished by long pointed wings, and a conical 

 form of tail, the two middle tail-feathers heine in 

 some species much elongated. Birds of powerful 

 and rapid flight, they love to wander from place to 

 place, sweeping over the hot and arid solitudes in 

 which they find a congenial abode. Some are 

 giegarious, associating in vast flocks, others live in 

 pairs ; the prevailing tints of their plumage are 

 grey, sandy, yellow chestnut, olive, and black. 



The pin-tailed sand-grouse is found in the south 

 of .Spain, the north of Al'iica, and the deserts of i 

 Arabia and Syria. The stony districts of the country i 

 beyond .Jordan s.varm with these birds, there called 

 Katla. Near Boszra, says Burckhardt, 'the quantity 

 of Kattas is beyond description ; the whole plain i 

 seemed sometimes to rise ; and far off'in the air they ; 

 were seen like large moving clouds." In the moun- j 

 tains of Edom their numbers are equally great, and 

 so dense are the flocks that the Arab boys often kill ; 

 two or three at a time by merely throwing a slick ' 

 aninng them. According to Russell they are com- 

 mon at all seasons, but most abound in May and 

 June, when, even in northern Syria, a quantity sufii- [ 

 cient to load an a.ss may sometimes be taken at one 

 shutting of the clasp-net. Their flesh is dry, black, 

 and hard, but is nevertheless relished by the Turks, ' 

 though it is never seen at the tables of the Franks. 

 This bird lays two or three eggs, of a greenish black 

 colour, and about the size of those ofa pigeon. They 

 are placed on the dry ground without any nest. The 

 Arabs collect them in large quantities-, and eat them 

 fried in butter. Burckhardt suggests that this bird 

 is the quail (Selay) of the ancient Is.-aelites, and 

 Hassclqiiist was of the same opinion. The pin- 

 tailed grouse is distinguished by a broad band of 

 deep chestnut, edged with a line of black across the 

 chest ; the upper surface is elegantly varied by 

 alternate bars of yellow, black, and silvery grey ; the 

 two central tail-feathers are elongated into slender 

 points. Size, that of a partridge. 



17G9. — The Throat-banded Sand-Grouse 



{Plerocles gutliiralis, Smith). Male and Female. 

 This species was discovered by Dr. A. Smith, in 

 South Africa, about eighty miles to the eastward of 

 Latakoo. In common with the other South African 

 species of this genus, it repairs in large flocks, at 

 regular periods, to localities where water is, and 

 when approaching or retiring from such spots, which 

 it does with singular rapidity and suddenness, it utters 

 cries resembling the syllables twet iceet, ttvet-iveet. 

 Though these birds crowd in flocks to the water, they 

 are not truly gregarious, but disperse themselves in 

 pairs over the feeding-grounds, whence they take 

 flight at ten in the morning and three in the after- 

 noon to the water ; the margins of the pools which 

 they frequent being at those times crowded by hun- 

 dreds struggling to obtain their refreshment. Dr. 

 Smith found grass seeds, ants, and gravel in the 

 stomachs of most of the individuals he procured. 

 The female deposits her eggs, two or three in num- 

 ber, on the bare ground ; they are of a dirty white 

 or cream colour, with irregular streaks and blotches 

 of pale rust colour and grey. Almost as soon as 

 the young escape from the shell they take to a wan- 

 dering life, and remove from place to place with the 

 parent birds in search of food. 



The present species is about twelve inches in 

 length ; the male has a dark brown crescent mark 

 across the throat, which is wanting in the female. 

 For minute details see Dr. Smith's 'Illustrations of 

 the Zoology of South Africa.' He enumerates four 

 other species as peculiar to South Africa, and many 

 more natives of Northern Africa, Senegal, &c. 



1770.— The Common Partridge 



(Perdix cineren). Perdris, Perdris griso, ou des 

 Champs, of the French ; Perdice, Pernisette, Perni- 

 gona, and Staraa of the Italians ; Rebhun of the 



Germans ; Coriar of the ancient British ; Pcrtrisen 

 of the modern Welsh. 



The Common Partridge is too well known to 

 require minute description : it appears to be confined 

 within the boundries of Europe, everywhere frequent- 

 ing cultivated districts and rich corn-lands ; hence its 

 increase is encouraged by the converoion of heath, 

 moorland, and wood into fields of waving grain. 

 The pairing time of these birds is about the begin- 

 ning of February, at which season the males engage 

 in desperate conflicts, and as they are more 

 numerous than the females, the successful combatant 

 in one battle has often to renew the strife with other 

 rivals. The female produces her eggs about the 

 latter part of May or beginning of June, depositing 

 them in a rough nest or shallow depression of the 

 ground, in a corn-field or clover-field, under a tuft of 

 glass in a meadow, or amongst whin bushes. They 

 vary from twelve to twenty in number, and are of 

 a greenish ash colour. .So close does the female sit 

 and so unmoved is she by apprehension of danger, 

 that she frequently falls a victim to the mower's 

 scythe while brooding over her nest. The young, 

 after three week's incubation, are hatched in June, 

 or from the beginning to the middle of July ; and 

 the male immediately joins his mate in the care of 

 the young brood. From the earliest times the par- 

 tridge has been celebrated for the various artifices 

 employed to draw oft" the attention of men and dogs 

 from the young, which at the warning call of their 

 parents have dispersed, and lie cowering in the 

 grass or amidst the standing corn ; nor is this all, — 

 they «ill tight resolutely in defence of their brood, 

 and have been known to engage in combat with the 

 kite and the crow, and accomplish their object. 

 The fee<ling-time of the partridge occupies two or 

 three hours alter sunri.se, and again in the evening 

 before sunset. The intei-val they employ in basking 

 and dusting their plumage in sunny places, in 

 preening their feathers, ami in taking short flights 

 from one spot to another. They roost at night upon 

 the ground, near the centre of a field, in a bare spot, 

 and at sunset may be heard calling to each other, 

 till the covey, which sits crowded together, is com- 

 plete. 



The Red-legged Partridge (Perdix rubra), a spe- 

 cies abundant in France and Italy, and a native also 

 of the isiauds of Guernsey and Jei-sey, has within 

 the last few years been introduced into some of the 

 preserves of game in our island and in various parts 

 has considerably multiplied ; but to the injury of the 

 common partridge, which it fiercely peisccules, 

 usurping its legitimate territory. Its flesh is very 

 inferior to that of the latter, and the sportsman to 

 his annoyance finds that the birds, instead of rising, 

 run, soon spoiling the behaviour of his best-tiained 

 pointers. The red-legged partridge is very beautiful, 

 having the feathers of the sides ornamented with a 

 series of crescent-shaped bars of black, white, and 

 chestnut ; the throat is white, bordered by a deep 

 black band ; the general colour of the upper surface 

 is reddi.sh brown, of the under surface reddish yellow. 

 Olosely allied to this species are the Greek partridge 

 (Perdix saxatilis), the Barbary partridge (P. petrosa), 

 and the Chukar partridge from India (P. Chukar). 

 All have a rudimentary blunt spur on the legs. 



To our common partridge, not only in plumage 

 and form, but in the spurless condition of the legs, 

 the Quails (Cotumix) bear a close resemblance. 

 The European Quail (Coturnix dactylisonans; the 

 of>Tvl of Aristotle; Coturnix of the Latins; Quaglia 

 of the modern Italians; Caille of the French; and 

 Wachtel of the Germans) is known over the greater 

 part of the old woild, and is a summer visitant, 

 though not in great numbers, to our island. In 

 Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the quail may be regarded 

 as stationary, flocks or bevis remaining during the 

 winter, but increased every spring by an accession 

 of visitoi-s from the parched plains of Africa, the 

 winter asylum of myriads which make Europe and 

 the adjacent parts of Asia their annual summer 

 residence. In India we believe the quail is not 

 migratory. During their periodical flights between 

 Europe and Africa, and vice versH, the shores and 

 islands of the Mediterranean are replete with myriads. 

 Sicily swarms with them— their autumnal arrival 

 is looked forward to with great anxiety, and they are 

 shot and captured by wholesale. On the coasts of 

 the kingdom of Naples a hundred thousand have 

 been destroyed in one day. According to Baron de 

 Tott, no country abounds in quails more than the 

 Crimea. During the summer these birds are dis- 

 persed over the country, "but assemble at the 

 approach of autumn, and cross the Black Sea to 

 the southern coa,sts, whence they afterwards trans- 

 port themselves into a warmer climate. The order 

 of this emigration is invariable: toward the end of 

 August, in a serene day, when the wind blows fiotn 

 the north at sunset, and promises a fine night, they 



