PTARMIGAN 37 



breeding with the pheasant. ^ I saw a hybrid of this i<ind at 

 a bird-stuffer's in Newcastle : it had been killed near Alnwick 

 Castle. The bird was of a beautiful bronzed -brown colour, 

 and partaking in a remarkable degree of the characteristics of 

 both pheasant and black game. I have heard also of a bird 

 being killed which was supposed to be bred between grouse 

 and black game, but I was by no means satisfied that it was 

 anything but a peculiarly dark-coloured grouse. 



The difference of colour in grouse is very great, and on 

 different ranges of hills is quite conspicuous. On some 

 ranges the birds have a good deal of white on their breasts, 

 on others they are nearly black : they also vary very much 

 in size. 



Our other species of grouse, the ptarmigan,^ as every 

 sportsman knows, is found only on the highest ranges of 

 the Highlands. Living above all vegetation, this bird finds 

 its scanty food amongst the loose stones and rocks that, 

 cover the summits of Ben Nevis and some other mountains. 

 It is difficult to ascertain indeed what food the ptarmigan 

 can find in sufficient quantities on the barren heights where 

 they are found. Being visited by the sportsman but rarely, 

 these birds are seldom at all shy or wild, but, if the day 

 is fine, will come out from among the scattered stones, uttering 

 their peculiar croaking cry, and running in flocks near the 

 intruder on their lonely domain, offer, even to the \yorst shot, 

 an easy chance of filling his bag. ^ 



When the weather is windy and rainy, the ptarmigan are 

 frequently shy and wild ; and when disturbed, instead of 



' For a celebrated instance see White's Selhorne (ed. Bell, i. p. 430), and the notes 

 on this hybrid, which are accompanied by a figure from Elmer's painting of it, in Sir W. 

 Jardine's edition of White, p. 274. 



Witli regard to blaclc game breeding with grouse, see Colquhoun, The Moor and the 

 Loch, vol. i. p. 169, 4th ed. An accurate likenes of such a hybrid forms the frontispiece 

 to that volume. 



^ ' ' The ptarmigan seems never to descend from the summits of the mountains, and 

 is never found in heather, keeping always to the loose stony tracts which are found above 

 all vegetable growth, with the exception of the plants and mosses that can exist 3000 feet 

 above the level of the sea in this country " [Natural History and Sport in Moray, p. 188). 

 " Ptarmigan, in both sexes, have a triple moult : after the breeding season is over into a 

 grey suit ; then again, as autumn passes on, into their snowy winter clothing ; in spring 

 they put on again another distinctive dress — the wings and tail, however, do not partake 

 of these changes" (Art. " Birds," E?icyc. Britan. vol. iii. 1875). The contrast ot white 

 feathers in a ptarmigan's wing with the delicately pencilled grey feathers, as the bird is 

 passing into the winter change, is exquibite. Perhaps no other bird exhibits such .-..luw- 

 white plumage. 



