in Great Britain during the Nesting -season. 427 



single nest found in Northamptonshire is recorded by Lord Lil- 

 ford (Zoologist, p. 3278). 



Mr. Selby describes the Black Grouse as increasing in North- 

 umberland ; and the same circumstance has been noticed coin- 

 cident with the increase of plantations in several parts of Scot- 

 land. As Thompson remarks, the Black Grouse might probably 

 be introduced to Ireland, but the attempts hitherto made have 

 been unsuccessful. 



Lagopus scoticus [Leach). Red Grouse. 

 Provinces V.-XVIII. 

 Subprovinces 13-18, 20-37. 

 Lat. 51°-60°. " Scottish " type. 



Colonel Newman tells me that the Red Grouse is plentiful on 

 the hills of Monmouthshire. The bird also inhabits Hereford, 

 Shropshire, Staflford, Radnor [Mr. Rocke), and Pembroke [Mr. 

 Tracy) . Breeds in Derbyshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and in 

 every county north of lat. 54°, reaching the Outer Hebrides and 

 Orkneys, but not occurring in Shetland. 



Lagopus albus [Boie). Ptarmigan. 

 Provinces [VIL ?] [XII.] XIV. ? XV-XVIII. 

 Subprovinces (18?), (25), 28 ?, 29, 32-36, (37). 

 Lat. 55°-59°. " Highland '' type. Not in Ireland. 



At present the Ptarmigan is confined to Scotland, though there 

 are records of its having formerly inhabited Westmoreland and 

 Cumberland. (See Pennant and other earlier writers.) 



Heysham describes the Ptarmigan as having become, in his 

 time, very scarce in Cumberland ; and he cites " the lofty moun- 

 tains about Keswick ^^ as the only locality known to him. 



There is a tradition of its former existence in Wales, but I 

 have not been able to discover the original authority for this 

 statement, which is repeated by both Macgillivray and Thomp- 

 son, and in Graves^s ' British Ornithology.' 



My valued correspondent. Dr. J. A. Smith of Edinburgh, has 

 copied for me, from a newspaper, a paragraph stating that the 

 Ptarmigan inhabits the county of Peebles ; but this is the only 

 authority for its occurrence so far south on the mainland at 



