198 Biographical Account of the 



ing the crop and gizzard ; and the changes in the colour of 

 the plumage can be ascertained only by procuring indivi- 

 duals at different seasons. In attending to these and other 

 particulars, one necessarily acquires much enthusiasm, and 

 consumes much time." — (Introduction, pp. 90, 91.) 



Throughout the work he gives excellent figures of the di- 

 gestive organs of the orders described, as also of their os- 

 seous structure, and occasional very accurate and expressive 

 drawings of their heads and wings. It is matter of regret 

 that the expense of engravings prevented the work being- 

 more copiously illustrated by these figures, for they are sin- 

 gularly correct. 



He delighted not only in examining the structure of Birds 

 both internal and external, but also in watching their habits, 

 as is shewn in many passages in which they are most graphi- 

 cally described. 



The habits of Ptarmigan are thus set before his readers : — 

 "Near the summit of a projecting mass of rock, in this re- 

 gion, I sat down among the crumbling blocks of granite to 

 compare Airafleomosa, which grew in tufts, with its charac- 

 ters in Smith's Compendium ; and when I rose, a large covey 

 of Ptarmigans sprung from among the stones about a hun- 

 dred and fifty yards beneath me. 



" These beautiful birds while feeding, run and walk among 

 the weather-beaten and lichen-crusted fragments of rock, 

 from which it is very difficult to distinguish them when they 

 remain motionless, as they invariably do should a person be 

 in sight. Indeed, unless you are directed to a particular 

 spot by their strange, low, croaking cry, which has been com- 

 pared to the harsh scream of the Missel-thrush, but which 

 seems to me much more like the cry of a frog ; you may pass 

 through a flock of Ptarmigans without observing a single in- 

 dividual, although some of them may not be ten yards dis- 

 tant. When squatted, however, they utter no sound, their 

 object being to conceal themselves ; and if you discover the 

 one from which the cry has proceeded, you generally find 

 him on the top of a stone, ready to spring off the moment 

 you shew an indication of hostility. If you throw a stone at 

 him, he rises, utters his call, and is immediately joined by all 



