THE WILLOW GROUSE. 



143 



Grouse, so that its plumage, assimilating to the colour-tints of the country which it inhabits, proves 

 a protection to the bird. In autumn, however, when the abundance of mosses and lichens gives a grey 

 appearance to the country, the dark-plumaged Ptarmigan would be a conspicuous object ; but here 

 again a protective resemblance occurs in the plumage, which in the autumn partakes of an ashy grey 

 shade. In winter, also, when the snow covers the ground, even the Ptarmigan in his autumn 

 livery would be easily seen, and therefore one can understand how great a protection the snow- 

 white plumage of the bird must be, enabling it to hide itself in the snow, and so escape the prying 

 eyes of Hawks, which would soon pounce down on it. 



PTARMIGAN IX WIXTEK PLT7MAGK. 



The Willow Grouse (Lagopus albus) is very similar in plumage to the Ptarmigan, and, like that 

 species, is white in winter, and darker-plumaged in summer. It inhabits Scandinavia, and stretches 

 not only throughout Northern Europe and Siberia, but even extends across the northern part of the 

 New World. In England it is represented by the Red Grouse, which, however, does not put on a 

 white winter dress. The following particulars about the habits of the Willow Grouse are derived from 

 a paper by Mr. Barth on the subject : The present species is found only where the birch tree is 

 abundant ; and plains where only the dwarf birch and willow are found are not suitable to it, as it 

 cannot live in localities where the cover is poor, but requires birch thickets; thus it is rare or common 

 according as the birch growth is distributed. Tracts where larger birch woods and bii'ch thickets are 

 found alternately, with juniper scattered here and there, are its favourite haunts ; for there it finds good 

 cover during the seasons when it is changing its plumage. The female deposits from eight to eighteen 

 and even twenty eggs, early or late, according to the elevation inhabited by the bird. Mr. Barth 

 found newly-hatched young in July, and eggs as late as the middle of August. The young birds can 



