46 TETRAONID.E. 



ing wing alight on the rocks before him in the manner of tame pigeons.* 

 Of all British birds, too, this is the most interesting, in consequence of 

 the changes of plumage — every one of them beautiful — through which 

 it passes. We hardly draw on the*imagination by viewing its plumage 

 as an exquisite miniature of the seasonal changes which the mountain 

 summit undergoes ; — a miniature drawn, too, by a Hand that never 

 errs ! In summer, we look upon the beautiful mixture of grey, brown, 

 and black, as resembling the three component parts of ordinary 

 granite — feldspar, mica, and hornblende — among the masses of which 

 the ptarmigan commonly resides. Late in autumn, when snows begin 

 to fall about the lofty summits, and partially cover the surface of the 

 rocks, we find the bird pied with white ; and in winter, when they 

 present a " perfect chrysolite" of snow, it is almost wholly of the same 

 pure hue. 



Some of the granitic masses, as those of Mont Charmoz, &c, which 

 rise above the Mer de Glace at Mont Blanc, were said, in July 

 1826, to be inhabited by ptarmigan, and I spent part of a day in 

 search of them, but in vain. An English sportsman then staying at 

 Chamouni, was daily in pursuit of ptarmigan and chamois among 

 those mountains, and occasionally returned with spoil consisting of 

 both kinds. 



Mr. Macgillivray gives a full and admirable description of the ptar- 

 migan, as observed by him in some of its Scottish haunts, including 

 ample observations on the changes of plumage to which it is subjected. 



* This may be considered a well known fact. A relative who had shooting quar- 

 ters in Ross-shire — on the banks of the Beulay, and close to Loch Monar — in the 

 season of 1835, informed me, on his return, that on several days he had shot four or 

 five brace of ptarmigan. When his dogs pointed, and the birds were but a few yards 

 distant, so great was their assimilation in colour to the surrounding rocks, that he 

 could not distinguish them so long as they remained motionless. They soon, how- 

 ever, stretched their necks, and walked off before the dogs. On being further dis- 

 turbed they took wing, but only to alight like a flock of pigeons on the tops of the 

 adjacent stones. My Mend verifies the accounts of their being in general easy of 

 access ; but states that, like other game, they are wild when the ground is wet. 



