241 



probability ofsuch being the case. On the other hand, it has been 

 }>r<>rcd i)icoi/fcsfil)lt/. that male ptarmigan do. One out of the small 

 number of ptarmigan killed from time to time on the heights 

 round Christiania (a locality in which this birdvery rarely breeds) 

 was a male individual, which had boldly intruded into a „Legeplads" 

 of black game, where he was seen to deport himself in a manner 

 precisely similar to that of the legitimate lords. The sex of this 

 specimen was examined by Prof. Rasch. These visits of the ptar- 

 migan to the breeding-haunts of black game are much more frequent 

 than is generally supposed. It has been stated by experienced 

 sportsmen, that in Nordland and some parts of Nordre Trondhjem's 

 Amt, localities where the vertical range of each of the two species 

 may be said to coalesce, a few male ptarmigan are to be found at 

 almost every breeding haunt of black game. 



The cause of this abnormal passion in the male ptarmigan is 

 not easily traced. True, the males of Lagopus albus are supposed 

 to exceed the females in number, in which case a supernumerary 

 individual of the former sex, which had sought in vain for a mate 

 among his own species, would not hesitate to pair with a grey 

 hen he might chance to fall in with. But connexions of this kind 

 are repugnant to nature, and in many cases the only feasible ex- 

 planation is to be found in a violent, irresistible desire to breed 

 out of the species. As regards the Rakkelhane, it is not stated that 

 paucity of females is the cause which induces the black cock to 

 mate with the hen of the capercaillie. 



Again, the male ptarmigan scarcely yields to the black cock 

 in the violence of its sexual instincts, which is shown by a remark- 

 able fact, of which my friend Professor Friis was an eye-witness. 

 In the spring of 1857, hé observed on one of the most elevated 

 farms in Nordmøre, Bergens Stift, a male ptarmigan which haunted 

 the homestead for several days insuccession in amatory companionshif 

 with a white spleckled domestic hen. The result of this singular 

 connexion is unknown. 



As the Rakkelhane resembles its progenitor (Tetrao tetrix) in 

 coloration of plumage, so. also does the male Rypeorre. This 



Vidensk.-Selsk. Forh. 1872. 16 



