312 GALLINA. TETRAO. PTARMIGAN. 
Saeell A streak past the eye, lateral tail-feathers, and shafts of 
escrip- 
Gon the quills black ; the rest of the plumage pure white. 
Winter Above the eyes is a scarlet frmged membrane. Inides 
plumage. 
yellowish brown. Bill and claws black. 
The female in winter plumage differs from the male in 
being without the black streak before and behind the 
eye, and also in wanting the red fringed membrane. 
PiaTe 59*. Ptarmigans in spring and summer plumage. 
Natural size. 
Spring and = In spring the plumage becomes varied on the upper and 
alee under parts with black and deep ochreous yellow; but 
the quills, through all its changes, remain white, and 
their shafts invariably black. Towards autumn the 
ochreous-yellow gives place* to a greyish-white ; and 
the black spots (which in the spring are large and dis- 
tinct) become broken, and assume the appearance of 
zig-zag lines and specks. ‘These again, as the season 
advances, give place to the pure immaculate plumage, 
which distinguishes both sexes during the winter. 
Genus XLII. PARTRIDGE. PERDIX, Lath. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill short, strong, naked at the base ; upper mandible con- 
vex, with the point bending considerably downwards. Nos- 
* Mr Ross, gunsmith in Edinburgh, (who, as a preserver of animals, 
has had hundreds of Ptarmigans through his hands, and at all seasons of 
the year) assures me, that he never met with an individual that had not 
young (or imperfect) feathers on some part of the body. This fact would 
imply, that the moulting of the Ptarmigan (and perhaps of other alpine 
birds, or such as live in high latitudes) is different from the usual course, 
in being constant and progressive, instead of the plumage undergoing a 
total change at a particular season. May not this be a wise provision, 
that such birds shall not be too much exposed at any given time, as would 
be the result of an entire renewal of plumage ? 
