BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 331 
" Mabie Moss " in 1899 thus describes a very curious 
clutch of Grouse eggs : " They were five in number, and all 
were so small as to be barely recognisable as Grouse eggs at 
all. One of them was quite white in colour, the others were 
normal in colouration, although two of them are rather 
darker than usual in the shade of deep umber brown. The 
largest was only HI in. in length by f in. in breadth, while 
the smallest only measured H- in. long by | in. in breadth, 
the others being intermediate in size. The two of which 
I give the measurements are comparable in dimensions to a 
Blackbird's and a Hedge-Sparrow's egg respectively. I 
have seen at times single eggs of the Grouse similarly diminu- 
tive, but a whole clutch of such is something quite unex- 
pected. Ovarian exhaustion or disease may be set down as 
a reason for this interesting aberration."* An egg, now 
in my collection, taken at Kilmark (Tynron) on May 8th, 
1906, from a normal clutch, measures 1*50 by 1*12 inches, 
and it was observed that for the remainder of the clutch 
twenty-four days were required for incubation. Seebohm 
states that the eggs of the Grouse " are not subject to 
much variation ; they are usually 1-75 inch in length and 
1-32 inch in breadth, and of an almost uniform oval shape, 
the smaller end being scarcely more pointed than the larger 
one."j 
THE PTARMIGAN. Lagopus mutus (Montin). 
A former resident. 
The Ptarmigan was formerly a resident in the highest and 
most mountainous parts of the county, but it is difficult to 
ascertain whether it was ever numerous. 
* Kirkcudbright Advertiser, August 22nd, 1899. 
t Col. Figs., Eggs Brit. Birds, 1896, p. 272. 
