240 KELIQUkE AQUITANKLE. 



38. THE RED GROUSE. Lagopus albus, var. major, vel L. scoticus. La Grouse. 



There are often found, mingled with remains of the Willow -Grouse, bones 

 notably larger and stouter, resembling in their proportions those of Lagopus 

 scoticus ; but ought the latter bird to be considered specifically distinct from the 

 preceding ? It differs little from it, except in its rather larger dimensions and in 

 not assuming an entirely white plumage in winter. May it not be that the Red 

 Grouse are the product of a colony of Lagopus albus which, a long series of 

 centuries ago, established itself in Great Britain and propagated there without 

 renewal from the primitive stock, and whose descendants have gradually under- 

 gone slight modifications in size and plumage* ? What has been observed of the 

 Lagopus fauna of the Caves seems to prove that at that period there were very 

 notable differences in the size of these birds ; but did those differences coincide 

 with changes in the colour of the plumage ? and did the largest Lagopodes of the 

 Caves of the south-west of France assume the white winter plumage, or did they 

 remain during that season more or less marked with black and red ? These are 

 questions it is impossible to settle in the present state of our knowledge ; and 

 I therefore confine myself to drawing the attention of naturalists to these con- 

 si/lerable differences in dimensions presented by the Lagopodes contemporaneous 

 with prehistoric Man. 



39. THE PTARMIGAN. Tetrao lagopus, var. alpina minor, Linne* ; Lagopus mutus, 



Leach ; Lagopus alpinus, Nilsson. Le Lagopede muet. 



This species was contemporary with the preceding ; and its bones are found 

 mingled, in the earth of the Caves, with those of Lagopus albus. But while the 

 latter disappeared from France to confine itself to the Polar regions, L. mutus 

 has not quitted the central parts of Europe but has retired to the highest 

 mountain-regions, where it finds a temperature corresponding to the needs of its 

 organization. It is met with in the Alps and Pyrenees; these mountains form 

 the southern limit of its geographical extension ; to the north, it inhabits in great 

 numbers the mountains of Scandinavia and Lapland. 



Lagopus mutus is rarer in the Caves than L. albus, with which it is generally 

 associated. It is found at Les Eyzies, La Madelaine, Massat, Gourdan, Lherm, 

 and Lourdes. I have indicated in another work the characters by which the bones 

 of this species may be determined and distinguished from those of the other repre- 

 sentatives of the genus, and therefore shall not return to them here. 



* Prof. A. Newton seems to entertain this view : vide op. cit. p. 96. 



