LAGOPUS. 61 



Genus LAGOPUS. Willow-Grouse and Ptaemigan. 

 Feet and toea densely covered with feathers. Tail of sixteen feathers. Six species, viz. — 

 L. scoticus. S 15i". ? 16". Weight 28 to 30 oz. The Red Grouse or Moor-Cook. Primaries 

 brown. Tail square. Male has a long moustache and a large red wattle. Female has no 

 moustache and a smaller wattle. The peculiarity of Bed Grouse is that changes of plumage in 

 male and female occur at different seasons. Both have two distinct moults during the year, 

 but in the male they occur in autumn and winter, and in the female in autumn and summer. 

 The male has no distinct summer dress and the female has no distinct winter plumage. Con- 

 sidered by some as an insular form of L. lagopus. 



The only species of game bird peculiar to the British Isles. The male bird in autumn 

 plumage has the upper parts black, margined and irregularly barred buff. Chest widely barred 

 buff and black. In winter-summer plumage, which begins to appear about 1st September, 

 the upper parts are black, finely mottled chestnut. Head, neck, and chest dark chestnut, finely 

 marked black, and when once the winter moult is complete, no change whatever takes place in 

 the plumage of the male till the following autumnal moult. The female in autumn-mnter 

 plumage, commencing in November, has upper parts black, irregularly barred and mottled 

 rufous, and a buff spot at tip of most feathers. Chest and flanks narrowly barred rufous and 

 black. Below dark chestnut, mottled and bai'red black. In summer the upper parts are black, 

 widely margined, barred and marked orange-buff, and this change is generally complete by the 

 first week in May, " The summer flank-feathers are produced in two ways, either by a gradual 

 rearrangement and change in the pigment of the autumn feathers or by moult." Inhabits 

 open moors, covered with heath and ling from sea-level, but not found above the level where 

 these plants grow. Monogamous. Nesting season April to May. Grouse shooting commences 

 12th August and ends on 10th December. Seven to fifteen eggs (1-75 x 1-32) buff, spotted and 

 blotched reddish bro\\'n. 



Z. lagopus. i ISJ". 9 15". The Willow-Grouse, or Eipa. Primaries white. Outer tail- 

 feathers black with bases and tips white. Three distinct changes of plumage in summer, 

 autumn, and winter in both male and female alike. In winter both birds are white with outer 

 tail-feathers black, and in autumn both birds have the head, throat, and chest pale chestnut, 

 finely barred black. The flight-feathers, tail-feathers, and feathers of the feet are renewed at 

 this season. In summer the male has head and neck chestnut. Upper parts chestnut, mottled, 

 and barred black, and often tipped buff. Below white, and the female has the upper parts 

 black, widely margined, and marked orange-buff. Found among birch and willow trees. Perch 

 and roost on trees. Circumpolar, inhabiting Arctic tundras of Europe, Asia, and America. 

 Eggs as in L. scoticus. 



L. mutus. S 14J". 9 14". The Common Ptarmigan. Primaries white. Tail rounded. 

 Outer tail black, with base and tips white. Bill more slender than in the Red and Willow- 

 Grouse. In summer the male has red wattles over the eyes, and is black and brown above, 

 except on lower back and rump, where he is white. In autumn the black and brown have 

 become greys, and in winter the plumage is almost white. 



The winter plumage is more or less white, and mid-tail is white. The males have black 

 lores, the females have not. It may be said to be complete by middle of November, and this 

 dress lasts till the end of February. 



The summer plumage is dark brown, mottled and barred grey and rusty. (The males have 

 red wattles, lower back and rump white. ) It commences in the beginning of March, is com- 

 pleted by end of May, and lasts till the end of July, when the autumn feathers begin to appear, 

 and the feathers moult from the legs. 



The autumn plumage, or change of colour from blacks and browns to greys, commences at 

 end of July, and is complete by 20th August. The feathers are fading in September, and by 

 mid-October the white feathers of the third moult begin to appear, and by the end of October 

 the feet are again quite fully covered. 



Monogamous. From Scotland to the Ural Mountains, and south to the Pyrenees and Alps, 

 above the limits of tree growth and heather. Eggs similar to those of L. scoticus. 



L. rupestris, the Rock-Ptarmigan. A climatic variety of L. mutus, from northern latitudes. 



L. hyperboreus. The Spitzbergen Ptarmigan. Distinguished by having more white on basal 

 part of tail-feathers at all seasons. 



L. leucurus. <; 124". 5 12". The Whjte-tailed Ptarmigan. Outer tail-feathers pure white. 

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