ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND. 323 



dress, far more handsome than in the male — 

 brown-red, variegated with blue-grey, which often 

 on the back appears in patches. But they yary 

 so much in colour and in the distribution of these 

 blue feathers over the surface of the body that it 

 is impossible to give a correct description. More- 

 over the birds vary so much in the forwardness of 

 this blue dress that on the same day you may kill 

 an old female in the perfect dark summer dress, 

 and another beautifully mottled with blue. I have 

 seen many very handsome c ■ almond tumblers "■ in 

 my day, but I hardly ever saw one to beat some 

 of the female ptarmigan I killed in the end of July. 

 I fancy both male and female retain this blue dress 

 longer than any other. It gradually becomes 

 lighter as the season advances, till at length the 

 old female is quite blue (but still always with some 

 rusty mottled yellow feathers at the sides), and 

 about the middle of October the blue dress gives 

 place to the pure white plumage of winter. 



Now, which are we to call the true summer 

 dress of the ptarmigan, the nuptial dress, or this 

 blue plumage, which is not assumed till after the 

 season of incubation (although before the young 

 birds are strong flyers), but still long before 

 autumn, and which is retained by the birds longer 

 than any other ? 



By August 4 the young were strong flyers, and 



