THE PTARMIGAN 177 



of this colour, it was naturally thought that this Scotch 

 specimen belonged to the American species, and accord- 

 ingly Lagopus rupestris was enrolled as a British bird. 

 This appears from Mr. Eyton's book and I think also 

 from the " Fauna Boreali- Americana." 



When it was subsequently discovered that the hen of 

 the Scotch Ptarmigan had a breeding-plumage of orange- 

 yellow like that hitherto supposed to be peculiar to the 

 American bird, the presumption became strong that those 

 who considered Lord Stanley's specimen to belong to 

 L. rupestris were mistaken, and this presumption became 

 almost proved when time went on and no one could 

 point to a Scotch specimen of a cock bird with the 

 characters of L. rupestris. 



For myself I feel well assured that there is no reason- 

 able ground for supposing that L. rupestris has ever 

 occurred in Scotland. 



That you should find the Ptarmigan of the hill-tops 

 in Sutherland and thereabout smaller than those fre- 

 quenting a lower zone is quite in accordance with what 

 I should suppose would be the case, but I cannot believe 

 that any valid specific distinction can be made out 

 between them. Look how Grouse and Partridges vary 

 in size according to the district in which they are reared, 

 but indeed there is no need to draw examples from other 

 species, since the Ptarmigan itself, to my knowledge, 

 supplies instances. The largest Ptarmigan I ever saw 

 or handled was obtained on the island of Qvalo (on which 

 Hammerfest stands), I think two of them would almost 

 weigh as much as three from the mountainous frontier 

 region of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and the fact may 

 I believe be explained thus : Owing to the influence of 

 the Gulf Stream Qvalo (though situated further north) 

 enjoys winters much less long and severe than does the 

 mountain tract in question, and one may safely assume 

 that the Ptarmigan of the former are better fed and 

 consequently as a rule larger than those of the latter. In 

 like manner the Ptarmigans of your middle hill zone are 

 larger (as you say) than those of the summits. The fact 



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