46 
TETEAONIDiE. 
ing’ wing aliglit on tlie rocks before him in the manner of tame pigeons.* 
Of all British birds, too, this is the most interesting, in consequence of 
the changes of plumage — every one of them beautiful — through which 
it passes. We hardly draw on the imagination by viewing its plumage 
as an exquisite miniature of the seasonal changes whieh the mountain 
summit undergoes ; — a miniature drawn, too, by a Hand that never 
errs ! In summer, we look upon the beautiful mixture of grey, brown, 
and black, as resembling the three component parts of ordinary 
granite — feldspar, miea, and hornblende — among the masses of which 
the ptarmigan commonly resides. Late in autumn, when snows begin 
to fall about the lofty summits, and partially cover the surface of the 
rocks, we find the bird pied with white ; and in winter, when they 
present a perfeet chrysolite” of snow, it is almost wholly of the same 
pure hue. 
Some of the granitie masses, as those of Mont Charmoz, &c., which 
rise above the Mer de Griace at Mont Blanc, were said, in July 
1826, to be inhabited by ptarmigan, and I spent part of a day in 
search of them, but in vain. An English sportsman then staying at 
Chamouni, was daily in pursuit of ptarmigan and chamois among 
those mountains, and occasionally returned with spoil consisting of 
both kinds. 
Mr. MacgiUivray gives a full and admirable description of the ptar- 
migan, as observed by him in some of its Scottish haunts, including 
ample observations on the changes of plumage to which it is subjected. 
* This may be considered a well Imown fact. A relative who had shooting quar- 
ters in Ross-shire — on the banks of the Beulay, and close to Loch Monar — in the 
season of 1835, informed me, on his return, that on several days he had shot four or 
five brace of ptarmigan. When his dogs pointed, and the birds were hut a few yards 
distant, so great was their assimilation in colour to the surrounding rocks, that he 
could not distinguish them so long as they remained motionless. They soon, how- 
ever, stretched their necks, and walked off before the dogs. On being further dis- 
turbed they took wing, but only to alight like a fiock of pigeons on the tops of the 
adjacent stones. My friend verifies the accounts of their being in general easy of 
access • but states that, like other game, they are wild when the ground is wet. 
