252 



the ptarmigan, which had been shot in Lower Thelemarken in the 

 winter of 1864. This individual has been hitherto erroneously 

 regarded as a hybrid of this spedes 1 (the other parent un- 

 known). 



The. distinctive feature in this specimen, which is perfectly 

 normal in form and size, consists in the colour of the tail and 

 wings. The feathers of the tail are black, marked with 8 or 10 

 brown transverse bars, and tipped with brownish. Viewed from 

 beneath, the tail is more uniformly black, the inner web being 

 but slightly spotted. Of the remiges, the outermost of the pri- 

 maries is entirely white, with the shaft of the same colour; the other 

 shafts are brown, the inner web being sprinkled with brownish. 

 Back white, with here and there a browny black feather; breast 

 reddish brown and belly white. The upper wing-coverts, hidden 

 by the white scapul ars, are of a light reddish brown. (Tailrounded 

 off, and toes fully feathered). 



The smallness of the bill in this individual, coupled with the 

 length of the tail (112 mm) and wing (196 mm), show it to be a 

 form of L. alpinus. Probably it is a young female (no trace of 

 lores), which, though full grown, from some cause has retained the 

 dress of the young bird during the winter. 



Per di x cinerea, Lath. 



This species, which in the autumn of 18(52 was even abundant 

 in the lower south-eastern districts, had disappeared almost entirely 

 the ensuing winter, and has since then occurred in small numbers 

 only here and there in the south-eastern lowlands. In some localities, 

 Fredrikshald for instance, the general opinon is, that Ast nr ]>al- 

 umbarius destroys more birds of this species than are killed off 

 by the winter cold, their numbers being kept up only by immig- 

 rat ion from Bohuslehn. 



Attempts to acclimatize this bird have been made in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Stavanger and Trondhjem, to which localities the species 



1 I myself have recorded it as such in ,,Forh. i Vid. Sclsk." 1868, p. 158, the details, 

 of which I was then in possession, being meagre and inexact. 



