Birds. 1169 



will have to overcome all the difficulties which every reform has to 

 encounter. In Botany, when it was attempted to replace the artifi- 

 cial method of Linnaeus by the natural system of Jussieu, the timid 

 rejected the new system in silence, the bold declared themselves 

 openly against it. In* the 'Flore Francaise,' dated 1828, the classifi- 

 cation was stili Linnean ; and we know of more than one good herbal 

 which is still thus arranged. There is an intense spirit of resistance 

 to all innovating systems, all innovating books. Mr. Newman's will 

 form no exception. In this, however, let us express a hope, a wish, 

 that we may be in error ; and not only on this point, but also in the 

 few objections to his views which we have expressed above. 



J. D. J. 



A Catalogue of Birds observed in South-eastern Durham, and in 

 North-western Cleveland. By John Hogg, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., 

 F.L.S., &c. 



(Concluded from p. 1112). 



White Grouse, or Ptarmigan, Lagopus vulgaris. Somewhat less 

 than the former. I have been informed by Thos. Meynell, Esq., Jun., 

 F.L.S., that a fine specimen of this bird had been shot in Nov. 1831, 

 on the cliffs near Castle Eden. This is the only straggler which I 

 have ever known to have been observed in this part of England. It 

 is not improbable that it may either accidentally have been driven 

 across the North Sea from the opposite coast of Denmark by a storm, 

 or have strayed southwards down the east coast from Scotland. The 

 great variation which takes place in the plumage of the ptarmigan is 

 effected by the changes of atmospheric temperature. On this subject 

 consult a short paper in Loudon's ' Mag. Nat. Hist.' vol. v. p. 718, by 

 myself, and signed " Zoophilus." In it I have made no allusion to 

 the fact, that white, of all colours, radiates the least, and therefore 

 retains the inward, or vital heat for the longest space of time, because 

 I considered that fact to be too well known to require any notice. I 

 will, however, only add, that the plumage of the ptarmigan becomes 

 white during the severity of winter, without any actual change of fea- 

 thers taking place : unless, indeed, in the autumn, at the moulting 

 period, the atmospheric temperature should happen to be sufficiently 

 cold, then the new feathers would come white at once, for I have seen 

 specimens in which the feathers themselves are in part white, and in 

 part brown. 



iii 4 F 



