COMMON PTARMIGAN 
LAGOPUS MUTUS 
(Plates XI-XIII) 
Tetrao tnutus, Montin, Phys. Salsk. Handb. i, p. 155 (1776-86) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. 
Birds, ii, p. 424 (1884). 
Lagofius tnutus, Leach, Syst. Cat., p. 27 (1816) ; Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 253 (1837) ; 
Saunders, ed. Yarrell, Brit. Birds, iii, p. 83 (1882) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. Birds, pt. ix 
(1891) ; Millais, Game Birds, p. 63, pis. and woodcuts (1892) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus. xxii, p. 44 (1893); id., Handbook Game Birds, i, p. 38 (1895) ; Saunders, III. Man. 
Brit. Birds, p. 497 (1899) ; Millais, Nat. Hist. Brit. Game Birds, p. 63, pis. (1910). 
DULT male and female at all seasons. — Outer tail-feathers 
black, with the bases and tips more or less white ; flight - 
/ feathers always white; bill much more slender than 
/ that of the red grouse. The male with a black patch 
/ in front of the eye, which is rudimentary or absent 
^ Pk. in the female. 
Adult male in summer -plumage. (April to July). — General colour of the 
head, upper parts of the body, sides and flanks dark brown or blackish- 
brown, more or less finely mottled and barred with grey and rusty on 
the back, rump and upper tail -coverts; chin and throat mostly white; 
the upper part of the breast blackish -brown, usually somewhat mottled 
with rufous;* the quills, outer wing -coverts and rest of the under parts 
of the body white; middle pair of tail-feathers black, usually with remains 
of white tips or pure white, remaining tail-feathers black, often partly 
white towards the base, and narrowly tipped with white. Wattle and 
comb above the eye scarlet, bill black. (Plate XI.) 
Total length 14*5 inches ; wing 7*6 inches ; tail 4*6 inches ; tarsus 1*3 inch. 
Adult female in summer-plumage. (April to July). — General colour above 
black, mixed with rufous -buff, most of the feathers being edged with white 
or pale buff ; chin usually white ; breast, sides, flanks and under tail- 
coverts rufous-buff, barred with black ; middle pair of tail-feathers black, 
barred with rufous, and much like the upperparts,f remaining tail- 
feathers black, more or less tipped with white, as in the male, and often 
with a large portion of the basal part white ; quills and outer wing- 
co verts white. (Plate XI.) 
* Males in their first breeding>season are browner and more mottled on the chest and upper part of the breast than 
older birds. 
t Some females retain their old pair of middle taihfeathers, but in the majority they are replaced by a pair matching 
the summer-plumage: a very remarkable point noted by Macgillivray, but since lost sight of. 
N 
89 
