THE PTARMIGAN. 83 



From the still and lonely places in which it is found, 

 the ptarmigan is a very interesting bird ; very gentle in 

 its manners, and apparently courting the society of 

 man ; as if, when it is met with on the mountain-top, 

 a stone be thrown so as to light on the other side of it, 

 it will run among one's feet, and may be almost caught 

 with the hand. On this account, the ptarmigan has 

 been called a stupid bird; but stupidity cannot, with 

 any thing like propriety, be attributed to any animal 

 in a state of nature. Their habits, and means of sub- 

 sistence and defence, vary ; but they are all equally 

 wise. In summer, the ptarmigan is mottled grey and 

 white, so that, when it is in motion, it is not easily 

 distinguished from the stones among which it is found. 

 The quills of the wings are white, and so are the two 

 middle feathers of the tail, but the other tail feathers 

 are black, with white tips. In winter, the whole 

 plumage, except a feather or two on the breast, is 

 white, the change beginning in September, and being 

 usually finished in October. The moulting, or annual 

 change of feathers in those birds, has not been very 

 accurately described ; but there are some reasons for 

 concluding that the feathers alter in colour only in the 

 autumn. The young birds are mottled like the old 

 ones, but change their colour at the same season with 

 these : and if they shed their feathers then, they would 

 have to produce two complete coats in the course 

 of a few months, a degree of exhaustion of which, we 

 believe, there is no instance among the feathered tribes. 

 Neither are there any well-authenticated instances of 

 changes from lighter, either in feathers or in hair, 

 without a reproduction ; while there are many of the 



