366 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



FIG. 274. PTARMIGAN. 



both species. The White Grouse, or Ptarmigan (Lagopus 

 mutus, Fig. 274), is only found on some of the high moun- 

 tains of Scotland and the adjacent islands. It is celebrated for 



its change of colour. 

 The legs and toes are 

 so thickly covered with 

 woolly feathers, that 

 they have been com- 

 pared to the legs of a 

 Hare. * In summer 

 the plumage is speck- 

 led, consisting of an 

 ashy brown , with 

 waving blackish lines; 

 as winter approaches, 

 this becomes changed 

 to the purest white. 

 In the one season the 

 plumage resembles in 

 colour that of the surrounding rocks and lichens; in winter, 

 that of the snow-clad mountains. Sir Walter Scott attributes, 

 therefore, acute powers of vision to Malcolm GraBine, when he 

 says 



" Trained to the chase, his Eagle eye 

 The Ptarmigan in snow could spy." 



LADY OF THE LAKF. 



The Common Partridge (Perdix cinerea) is another member 

 of the same family; so that in this one group we have an 

 assemblage of birds possessed of peculiar attractions to the 

 " sportsman." 



To the Quail (Perdix coturnix) a different kind of interest 

 attaches. This bird is believed to be identical in species with 

 that which, under the providence of God, furnished a supply 

 of food to the Israelites in the wilderness. It abounds in 

 countries adjacent to the Red Sea, and migrates in immense 

 multitudes. Temminck says that they arrive in such numbers 

 on the western shores of the kingdom of Naples, that so many 

 as 100,000 are taken in a day. Nor are they less numerous 

 on the shores of Provence. Above three thousand years have 

 rolled by since the Quails " came up and covered the camp of 

 * Hence the generic name Lagopus, signifying a "Hare's foot." 



