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n 



but, whenever there has been a question of sex, these unbidden visitors have been regarded as 

 females. 



" Now, whether female Ptarmigan actually consort with black game in their breeding- 

 haunts is a point which has not yet been satisfactorily settled ; indeed I am inclined to think 

 there is little probability of such being the case. On the other hand, it has been proved incon- 

 testibly that male Ptarmigan do. One out of the small number of Ptarmigan killed from time 

 to time on the heights round Christiania (a locality in which this bird very rarely breeds) was a 

 male individual, which had boldly intruded into a ' Legeplads ' of black game, where he was seen 

 to deport himself in a manner precisely similar to that of the legitimate lords. The sex of this 

 specimen was examined by Professor Rasch. These visits of the Ptarmigan to the breeding- 

 haunts of black game are much more frequent than is generally supposed. It has been stated 

 by experienced sportsmen that in Nordland and some parts of Nordre Trondhjem's Amt, 

 localities where the vertical range of each of the two species may be said to coalesce, a few male 

 Ptarmigan are to be found at almost every breeding-haunt of black game. 



" The cause of this abnormal passion in the male Ptarmigan is not easily traced. True, the 

 males oi Lag opus albus are supposed to exceed females in number, in which case a supernumerary 

 individual of the former sex, which had sought in vain for a mate among his own species, would 

 not hesitate to pair with a Greyhen he might chance to fall in with. But connexions of this 

 kind are repugnant to nature ; and in many cases the only feasible explanation is to be found in 

 a violent, irresistible desire to breed out of the species. As regards the Rakkelhane, it is not 

 stated that paucity of females is the cause which induces the Blackcock to mate with the hen of 

 the Capercaillie. Again, the male Ptarmigan scarcely yields to the Blackcock in the violence 

 of its sexual instincts, which is shown by a remarkable fact, of which my friend Professor Friis 

 was an eye-witness. In the spring of 1857, he observed on one of the most elevated farms in 

 Nordmcere, Bergens Stift, a male Ptarmigan which haunted the homestead for several days in 

 succession in amatory companionship with a white speckled domestic hen. The result of this 

 singular connexion is unknown. As the Rakkelhane resembles its progenitor (Tetrao tetrix) in 

 coloration of plumage, so also does the male Rypeorre. This similarity between the Rypeorre 

 and its male parent is in many respects very striking ; and though considerable numbers of the 

 Rypeorre are no doubt annually produced, they are seldom recognized as such, being sold as fine 

 examples of Ptarmigan in the spring or autumn plumage. 



"Finally, it is worth recording, that two young males, shot in the month of October 1845, 

 at Hedemora, in Sweden, were accompanied by a female bird, apparently their mother, which was 

 supposed to be a Greyhen. 



"For the theory of parentage here advanced there is indeed no positive proof; but there 

 can be little doubt that some intelligent sportsmen will ere long witness the male Ptarmigan and 

 Greyhen in copula, if indeed still more conclusive evidence be not obtained. 



"Should our views on this subject prove correct, the names of the Rypeorre-hybrid (Tetrao 

 lagopoides and Tetrao lagopodi-tetricides) can no longer be retained. If, indeed, it is necessary to 

 bestow a special designation on this median form, the generic name should undoubtedly be 

 derived from that of the male parent, the specific name being a compound of the mother's subor- 

 dinated to that of the father. The name would then be Lagopus tetrici-albus ; and this mode of 



