THE



55



Hv (cultural fllbagastue,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series —VOL. VII. — No. 2 .—All rights reserved. DECEMBER, 1908.



NOTES ON ROCK PTARMIGAN, HARLEQUIN

DUCK, ETC.


By C. Barnby Smith.


In the June number of the Magazine I mentioned that I

was about to visit Iceland and hoped to bring back some birds.

The most satisfactory result of my visit from this point of view

was the arrival at my house on the 5th of October of five healthy

Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus inpestris ).


These Ptarmigan, which are usually regarded as a circum¬

polar species nearly related to the Common Ptarmigan, have a

strange fascination for me and, as probably few members of the

Avicultural Society have had opportunities of seeing them both

in their native land and in captivity, I am writing a few notes

about them.


The Rock Ptarmigan, formerly very abundant in most

parts of Iceland (except the interior desert), is now getting

scarce in the South West, but it is still abundant in the North

though much persecuted by Falcons, and the last few j^ears a

good deal thinned by shooting for exportation.


The hen birds are of greyish brown plumage in summer,

the cocks retaining a good deal of white, and both cocks and

hens of course turn white in winter.


When I arrived in the My vatu District on the 19th of June

I rode some thirty miles without seeing a single hen as they were

then all sitting. Three weeks later they were to be seen all over

the district marshalling their little broods out of the way of

intruders.



