GKOUSE. 355 



The willow grouse is met with very plentifully from 

 North Wermland, about 60 north lat., up to the extreme 

 north of Lapland. Never in any forests which lie far from 

 the foot of the fells. 



Both the ptarmigan and the willow grouse are strictly 

 monogamous,, but they both have a kind of lek or play 

 in the spring, in which, however, the male does not 

 tread more than one female, to whom he attaches himself 

 during the whole breeding season. The old ptarmigans 

 leave the females while they are sitting, and pack together 

 in small companies (in this respect they much resemble 

 the common wild duck), but join the brood again in autumn. 

 The male willow grouse, however, never leaves the female 

 or young brood. 



The willow grouse is always found in the forests, 

 generally among bushes and near water, and I never by 

 any chance saw one higher up on the fells than the bushes 

 grow, and never found a nest any where except in the 

 forest. They occasionally perch, but rarely except in the 

 winter. The call note is exactly that of the red grouse. 



The female lays, in the end of May or early in June, 

 seven to nine eggs, so like those of the ptarmigan as 

 scarcely to be distinguished, except that they are perhaps 

 a very little larger and blunter at the ends. 



The usual weight of an old male willow grouse is sixteen 

 ounces, English ; that of a ptarmigan ten ounces. 



162. LAGOPUS ALPINA, Nilss. FjallRipa. The Ptarmigan. F. 



Length 14 in. Winter dress, pure white, with black 



tail feathers, and a black moustache in male. Autumn 



dress : blue-grey, finely watered with black ; female 



also grey watered. Summer dress ; male, head, neck, 



back, and breast, black, more or less spotted with 



white, and finely speckled with rusty grey. Female, 



covered with black spots, and pale rusty yellow wavy 



lines. 



I am clearly convinced, that the ptarmigan moults 



three times in the year, and that all the changes of 



plumage take place through a regular moult. 



