396 GAME-BIRDS. 



localities than if a complete change to a darker plumage took place. In summer 

 the male ptarmigan has the general colour of the head, upper-parts, sides, and 

 flanks dark brown or blackish brown, finely mottled and barred with grey and 

 rusty ; while the chest and upper-breast are blackish, sometimes slightly mottled 

 with buff; the rest of the under-parts and the middle tail-feathers remaining 

 white. The female has the general plumage above, as well as the middle tail- 

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

 white or buff, and the under-parts rufous buff barred with black. This plumage 

 so closely approaches in colour the general surroundings of the nesting-places, 

 that the bird when sitting on its eggs is almost invisible. As the autumn advances, 

 the darker coloured feathers in both male and female are replaced by a grey 

 plumage finely mottled with black, and sometimes buff, and as the season continues 

 the more or less complete white winter plumage already mentioned is once more 

 assumed. It is noteworthy that a considerable amount of the changes in colour 

 is due not to moulting but partly to a rearrangement of the pigment in the 

 feathers themselves. In all the group, except red grouse, the primary feathers 

 (which, like those of the tail, are only cast at the autumn moult) remain white 

 throughout the year. All ptarmigan are essentially high-ground birds ; the red 

 grouse being an exception, occurring sometimes on low-ground bogs close to the 

 sea. Unlike the black grouse, the common ptarmigan and the rest of its allies 

 pair with one female only, remaining with her throughout the breeding-season. 



During the nesting-season the ptarmigan is tame, and may be approached 

 within a few yards. On the barren hilltops and watersheds, where it finds a 

 home among the scattered boulders, dwarf Alpine plants, deer-grass, and mosses, 

 the wanderer is often startled by the hoarse croaking cry of the male, as he rises 

 suddenly from the ground where he was squatting invisible almost at the feet, and 

 settles on some neighbouring rock. On being again approached, he makes a 

 second short flight to some commanding position, where with outstretched neck he 

 watches the movements of the intruder. Soon after, one may nearly walk on the 

 female sitting on her eggs, or in charge of a number of beautiful chicks patterned 

 with yellow and brown down. The young scatter in every direction, running 

 with considerable speed, and helping themselves along with their still tiny, 

 undeveloped wings, while the anxious mother covers their retreat by going 

 through a performance intended, by attracting attention, to cover their retreat and 

 convey the idea that at least one of her wings has been broken. In a few seconds, 

 however, she appears to recover, and skulks off among the rocks, and when one 

 looks to see what has become of the young, they, too, have vanished. The ptarmigan 

 inhabits most of the higher mountain ranges of Europe, and possibly extends into 

 Central Asia, where its place is taken by the nearly allied rock-grouse (L. rupestris), 

 differing in the more rufous plumage of the male in summer, though in some 

 localities, such as Newfoundland, a greyer phase, closely approaching the European 

 bird is met with. The rock-grouse inhabits Northern Asia, extending eastwards 

 to Japan and through Arctic America to Iceland. 



In Spitzbergen a somewhat different species (L. hyperboreus) 



occurs, with more white on the basal part of the tail-feathers, the 



outer web of the outermost pair having only the terminal third black. This is 



