igS CASSELI-'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



very severe seasons, or when an enemy is at hand, the Willow Ptarmigan frequently takes refuge in 

 the snow for warmth or shelter ; and in very sharp wind, or biting frost, it is not uncommon to see a 

 whole flock snugly buried in a snow-bed, close to each otiier, with only their heads protruding, to 

 enable them to detect the first sign of danger, in evading which they exhibit a most wonderful instinct. 

 Their food consists of leaves, buds, blossoms, berries, and various kinds of insects ; grain of all kinds 

 they also devour. The nest of this species is concealed with great skill in some retired nook, and slightly 

 lined with grass, earth, and feathers. The small pear-shaped eggs are laid at the end of May or 

 beginning of June ; they are from twelve to sixteen in number, and have a yellowish shell, thickly 

 covered with reddish-brown dots and streaks. No sooner are the young capable of walking than the\' 

 are at once led forth to seek their food upon the neighbouring marshes and bogs, as the insects and 

 larvae of which such localities afford a rich supply are particularly acceptable to the delicate little 

 family. Throughout the whole of the breeding season, many and fierce encounters take place 

 between the male birds, and from ten o'clock in the evening till early morning their loud calls may be 

 heard challenging each other to a trial of strength, which usually continues until the females gently 

 warn their pugnacious partners that it is time to retire to rest. 



THE ALPINE OR GREY PTARMIGAN. 



The Alpine or Grey Ftarmigat^i (I,ago/>us Alpinus or inutus) — see Coloured Plate XXVIII. — 

 may be said to vary its plumage every month during the summer. At all seasons, however, the bell)', 

 lower tail-covers, exterior wing-covers, quills, and tarsi are white, the tail is black, and the quills 

 streaked with black. About the middle of April other black feathers begin to make their appearance, 

 and the entire plumage becomes, as it were, chequered. By May the head, throat, back, and upper 

 feathers of the wing-covers are more or less variegated with reddish brown and white. As the autumn 

 approaches the feathers gradually change, and by the end of September are of a light grey, dotted 

 with black, and the reddish streaks on the neck and head almost white. In the female these parts 

 are marked with undulating reddish and black lines, the bands being much broader and more 

 clearly defined. In winter the plumage of the male is entirely of a snowy white, except the few- 

 black tail-feathers ; these latter also show a light border. Occasionally specimens are met with that 

 have retained some of these dark feathers through the cold season. 



The Alpine Ptarmigan, or Fjall Ripa, as it is called, is met with in Scotland, and abounds in 

 Scandinavia, in the higher ranges of that peninsula, up to the vicinity of the North Cape. 



" The Fjall Ripa," says Professor Rusch, in a letter to Mr. Lloyd, " is found so far south in the 

 province of Christiansand, that its southern limits can certainly be placed in latitude 58° 40'. It 

 occurs wherever the mountains rise above the limits of the dwarf birch, with steep precipices and stone 

 rubble. On mountains in the southern districts of Norway, at the height of 3,000 to 3,500 feet, the 

 sportsman may be tolerably certain of meeting with one pair or more of these birds." 



During the year the plumage varies very considerably, being almost in a constant state of moult. 

 By all accounts, this species puts on at least three different dresses in the course of the year. The 

 tail-feathers are always black, and the male has a small black mark from the base of the bill to the 

 temple ; but with these exceptions the winter dress of both sexes is white. 



The male begins to assume his spring dress about the middle of April, the female a few days 

 later, and usually completes it by the end of May or beginning of June ; the information respecting 

 the autumnal moulting is not so precise. In the beginning of September, according to Barth, they have 

 assumed the greater part of their autumnal dress, which about the middle of the same month begins 

 to change into the winter plumage in such a manner that the autumn moulting is simultaneously 

 continued. 



