CLASS II. AYES: ORDER 5. RASORES. 
241 
PTARMIGANS. 
has little sagacity, but owes its safety chiefly to being of the same color as the rocks and 
lichens among which it is found. It is met with in the mountainous countries of Europe from Italy 
to Scandinavia, It is also said to have been found in Greenland and in North America ; but 
this is thought by Audubon to be erroneous. Beside great numbers sent to the London market 
from different parts of the British Islands, game dealers from this metropolis visit Norway and 
Sweden in the winter, and take away almost incredible quantities of these birds. In 1840 we 
are told that in one week a single poulterer in Leadenhall market received fifteen thousand 
ptarmigan, which had been consigned to him ; another dealer, during the same period, received 
seven hundred capercailles and five hundred and sixty black grouse. 
Two other species of grouse are found in Norway, the Dal-ripa of Scandinavia — Tetrao subttl- 
pina of Nilsson— ^. saliceti of Temminck ; the Willow Grouse, L. albus, of Audubon ; the White 
Grouse of Baird, and a smaller species, L. aljxitia, which Yarrell regards as the Common Ptar- 
migan, Z. t'M^(7am. The former is seventeen inches long; variegated with black, chestnut, and 
white above ; below pure white. In America, it is found from Maine to the Fur Countries ;; abun • 
dant in Labrador. 
The American Ptarmigan — L. Americanus of Audubon^is fourteen^ and a half inches long; 
color pure white ; found in the northern parts of North America.. It has been, mistaken, for the 
L. vulgaris of Europe. 
The Rock: Ptarmigan, L. rupestris, resemWes the Willow Grouse, but is smaller, being thirteen 
and a half inches long. Its winter plumage is Avhite. It is abundant, and migrates from Labra- 
dor to the Arctic Seas; Richardson says it is known in Sweden under the name of' Sno Eiasa, 
The White-tailed Ptarmigan, L. leucurus, is twelve inches long; above variegated with 
blackish-brown, wood-brown, and brownish-white; beneath pale ocher ; found in the. Rocky 
Mountains. 
The Catalogue of the Smithsonian Institution has also Franklin's Grouse, Tetrao Franklinii ; 
Gray Mountain Grouse, JBonasa umhelloides ; and Oregon Grouse, B. Sahinii. 
Vol. IL— 31 
