272 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



barred with grey and rusty ; breast brownish-black, sometimes 

 more or less barred and mottled with buff ; rest of under parts 

 white. 



Adult Female, Summer Plumage, General colour above black, 

 mixed with rufous-buff, most of the feathers being edged with 

 whitish-buff; middle pair of tail-feathers and under parts 

 rufous-buff, barred with black. 



Adult Male and Female, Autumn Plumage, Upper parts, middle 

 pair of tail-feathers, breast, and sides grey, finely mottled with 

 black, and sometimes with buff; rest of under-parts white. 

 The female may generally be distinguished by having some 

 feathers of the faded summer plumage remaining among the 

 grey autumn plumage. 



Male : Total length, 14-5 inches ; wing, 7-6; tail, 4-6 : tar- 

 sus, 1*3. 



Female: Total length, 14 inches; wing, 7-4; tail, 4-1; tar- 

 sus 1-3. 



For the changes of plumage through which the Ptarmigan 

 passes, the reader is referred to the most excellent account 

 published by Mr. J. G. Millais in his " Game Birds and Shoot- 

 ing Sketches," quoted by Mr. Grant (t.c. p. 39). 



Range in Great Britain. Only -found in the higher mountains 

 of Scotland. 



Rang outside the British Islands. The Ptarmigan inhabits the 

 mountains of Europe south of the Alps and the Pyrenees, east 

 to the Ural Mountains, and probably some of the higher ranges 

 of Central Asia. 



Habits. Mr. Ogilvie Grant gives the following account of the 

 habits of the species : " The home of the Ptarmigan is among 

 the high stony table-lands and rocks above the limits of tree- 

 growth and heaths. Like the Willow Grouse, the plumage of 

 the male varies greatly in different localities, and the amount 

 of white feathers retained during the summer and autumn 

 plumages is greatly affected by the latitude which the birds 

 inhabit, examples from the north of Norway retaining much 

 white in the upper parts throughout the summef months. 

 This does not apply to the females, all of which get their full 

 summer breeding-dress, which is no doubt essential for their 



