PTARMIGAN. 59 



some stone, or plant of heath, it is commonly left by the female as soon as she observes 

 any one approaching, which from the nature of the situation she can readily do; and 

 you thus have but little clue to guide you to where she has deposited her eggs. The 

 eggs, which vary in number from eight or ten to fourteen or fifteen, have a ground 

 colour of yellowish or greenish white, slightly blotched and spotted with dark brown. 

 They are one inch and seven or eight lines in length, by one inch and one or two 

 lines in breadth. 



Incubation is completed in twenty-one days, and is performed by the female alone, 

 but the cock bird continues near his partner, perched on some rock or stone, and is said 

 on such occasions to allow himself to be repeatedly pelted with stones. 



Like the Eed Grouse, the male Ptarmigan assists the female in leading about and 

 protecting the young birds, and they continue together until the following spring, for 

 they cannot be considered to have separated when several broods have united into one 

 large pack. 



As soon as the young leave the shell they are able to run about, and are described 

 as being extremely clever and quick in hiding themselves when disturbed. Macgillivray 

 says, "On the summit of one of the Harris mountains, I once happened to stroll into 

 the midst of a covey of very young Ptarmigans, which instantly scattered, and in a 

 few seconds disappeared among the stones, while the mother ran about- within a few 

 yards of me, manifesting the most intense anxiety, and pretending to be unable to fly. 

 She succeeded so effectually in drawing my attention to herself, that when I at length 

 began to search for the young, not one of them could be found, although the place 

 was so bare that one might have supposed it impossible for them to escape detection." 



The Ptarmigan is said not to submit to confinement for any length of time ; and has 

 never been known to breed, except in a state of nature. 



The adult male in his winter dress has the bill brownish black; a band or streak 

 past the eye, black; irides, yellow brown; over each eye is a semilunar patch of bright 

 scarlet naked skin. Shafts of the quills and all the lateral tail feathers, black; the 

 whole of the rest of the plumage is pure white. Claws, the same colour as the bill, 

 but with the tips and edges horn-colour; toes, feathered to the claws. 



The adult female in winter differs but slightly from the male. The black streak past 

 the eye is wanting, but the bases of the feathers on that space are black; the superciliary 

 naked red skin is also wanting. 



Selby says, "In spring the plumage becomes varied on the upper and 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 grayish white, and the black spots, which in the spring are large and distinct, 

 become broken, and assume the appearance of zigzag lines and specks. These again, as 



