THE PTARMIGAN. 



Lagopus mutus (Montin). 

 Plate 56. 



The Ptarmigan inhabits the higher mountain tops of the Scottish Highlands, 

 being plentiful on many of their stony summits at an altitude above two thousand 

 feet, ranging as far south as Ben Lomond, and is found also in small numbers on 

 some of the Western Islands, viz. in Mull, Islay, Jura, Skye, and also in Rum, in 

 which island some are said still to linger, after having been re-introduced some 

 years ago. According to the late Robert Service [Zoologist, 1887, pp. 81-89), ^ ^^^^ 

 still existed on some of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway hills until about 1822, 

 when the last survivors were obtained near Sanquhar, and although re-introduced 

 by the Duke of Buccleuch, failed to establish themselves. Tales have been handed 

 down of its occurrence on the Cumberland and Westmorland fells in olden times, 

 but it never inhabited Ireland. 



The Ptarmigan is numerous on the high fjelds of Scandinavia, ranging south- 

 wards to the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, and eastwards as far, or 

 perhaps farther, than the Ural Mountains, while closely allied forms are found in 

 Iceland, Greenland, North America, and Northern Asia. 



The female scrapes a hollow in the ground to serve as a nest, seldom lining it 

 with more than a few bents and some of her own feathers, and here she lays her 

 eight or nine eggs. These have a ground colour of yellowish-white or reddish-buff 

 blotched with rich brown. 



The Ptarmigan's food consists of the young shoots of heather and various 

 mountain plants, as well as berries. Macgillivray has shown that the birds pick 

 up numerous particles of quartz, by which means the food is ground and pounded 

 in the gizzard. 



In autumn, after a long tiring climb to the Ptarmigan ground, usually not much 

 under some two thousand feet above sea-level, the only intimation of the presence of 

 a covey may be the low jarring notes of the old cock bird in charge, heard close by, 

 but very difficult to locate, and so closely does the plumage of these hardy 

 mountaineers match the grey stones and lichen of their surroundings, that often 

 the flash of their snowy pinions as they rise is the first glimpse obtained of them, 



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