THE SHEDDING OF THE CLAWS IN THE PTARMIGAN. 251) 



follows :— " This specimen (shot on July 31st) corresponds very 

 closel}^ in most respects with number 33,548, a female from 

 Norway, collected July 2nd, 1862 ; the claws, however, are con- 

 siderably shorter than in the Norway example, and in all other 

 specimens of albus in the Museum." Dr. Bean was kind enough 

 to show me the specimen, when it was apparent that the extreme 

 shortness of the claws was due to the fact that the bird had shed 

 them just before it was shot, except on the right outer toe, on 

 which the nail was so loose, however, that it dropped off, as I was 

 a little too rough in handling it. 



It will thus be seen that the shedding takes place in July or 

 August, according to locality and other circumstances, at the 

 time when the toes are most denuded — in fact, almost wholly 

 naked — and the dark summer plumage is most complete. The 

 claws grow very rapidly, however, and reach their full length 

 long before the white winter plumage with the densely clothed 

 toes is fully developed. 



So far as is known, this process is confined to the members 

 of the family of Tetraonidce, mentioned above, when in the wild 

 state, but Collett, in Ohristiania, has mentioned a case where a 

 Quail, Coturnix communis, shed its claws in confinement, but this 

 may have been due to some pathological process. 



I am not aware that this peculiarity has been observed in any 

 of the American Tetraonidce, except Lagojnis albus, but there 

 seems to be no reason why it should not occur, at least in species 

 living under conditions similar to those in Northern Europe and 

 North-Eastern Asia. It is to be expected that we will soon 

 hear of instances from this Nearctic Region also, when attention 

 has once been directed to it. 



No histological investigation has been made to ascertain the 

 causes and the development of this unusual process (at least 

 I am not aware that any results of such an investigation have 

 ever been published), and consequently nothing is definitely 

 known. 



As to the use which the birds derive from this extraordinary 

 elongation of the claws, I shall only quote Prof. Meves. He 

 wrote in 1871 [Ofr. Sv. Vet. Acad. Forhandl. 1871, p. 772] as 

 follows : — " They (Lagopus and Tetrao) have, all through the 

 winter, to struggle with the snow upon which they are forced to 

 walk. The snow is often loose, and with a foot like that of the 



