158 



6 ptil. Mem. albus, cauda nigricante, albido apicata, loris nigris, remigibus primariis rhachibus versus apicem 

 nigricantibus. 



2 ptil. hiem. mari similis, sed loris albis. 



Adult Male in breeding -plumage (Maristuen, Norway, 7th June). Head, neck, breast, upper part of tbe 

 back, and upper part of the flanks black, slightly intermixed with white on the neck ; chin nearly pure 

 white ; over the eye a tolerably conspicuous vermilion comb ; lower part of the back, some of the inner 

 wing-coverts, scapulars, rump, and npper tail-coverts black, finely vermiculated with brown, and tipped 

 here and there very narrowly with white; tail blackish, the central feathers narrowly tipped with 

 white; wings, lower part of the breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white, primaries with the 

 shafts dark brown towards the tip ; bill dark blackish horn ; iris brown. Total length about 15| inches, 

 culmen 1*05, from the nostril to the tip of the bill 0'4, wing 7 - 7, tail 4'8, tarsus 1*35. 



Adult Female in breeding-plumage (Gaick, Inverness-shire, June) . Head, neck, breast, flanks, back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts blackish, closely marked, barred, and vermiculated with rusty yellow, and here 

 and there tipped with white; wings and tail as in the male; lower part of the breast and abdomen 

 white; under tail-coverts partly white, partly coloured like the back. 



Male in autumn (Inverness-shire). Head, neck, upper part of the breast, flanks, back, scapulars, and upper 

 parts generally slate-grey or ashy grey, narrowly vermiculated with black ; head and neck tinged with 

 reddish brown ; tail blackish, tipped with white ; wings, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white. 



Male in winter. Entire plumage pure white, except the lores, which are black, and the tail, which is black, 

 slightly tipped with white; primary quills with the shafts blackish brown towards the tip. 



Female in winter. Resembles the male, but lacks the black lores. 



Whilst the Red Grouse and the Willow-Grouse frequent the subalpine regions, the present 

 species is found only in the mountains of Northern Europe and Asia, and also on the more 

 elevated mountain-ranges of Southern Europe, but does not occur in the Nearctic Region. 



In Great Britain it is now only known to inhabit the more elevated portions of Scotland, 

 not being met with in Ireland or England, though formerly it used to occur in Cumberland. 

 Mr. A. G. More (Ibis, 1865, p. 427) says that "Heysham describes the Ptarmigan as having 

 become, in his time, very scarce in Cumberland ; and he cites ' the lofty mountains about 

 Keswick' as the only locality known to him. There is a tradition of its former existence in 

 Wales ; but I have not been able to discover the original authority for this statement." For the 

 following information respecting the range of the present species in Scotland I am indebted to 

 my friend Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown, who writes to me that " the Ptarmigan does not extend 

 northwards into Orkney or Shetland. Sutherlandshire and Ross-shire are the strongholds of the 

 species in the north of Scotland, especially the stony mountains of Assynt, on the ridge of Ben 

 Chaorin (commonly called Harran), and on the heights and corries of Glashven, Ben Mhor, and 

 Braebag ; but it not found so numerously on those curiously shaped and isolated peaks lying 

 nearer the sea, viz. Quinaig, Canishpe, Soulbhein (the ' Sugar-loaf '), Coul Mhor, and Coul Beg. 

 In Ross-shire the Ptarmigan is abundant on Ben Wyvis in the east, and on the range of Ben 

 Deraig in the west, but again becomes scarcer towards the coast. Southward through Ross-shire 



