[ 229 j 
rounded with trees and plants in moft luxuriant fo- 
liage and vegetation. 
I cannot agree, moreover, with M. de Buffon, 
when he fays, that the flefh of the Lagopus-is 
bitter; as I have eat them myfelf in the Highlands 
of Scotland ; nor fhould I have been able to diftin- 
guilh the tafte from that of the common Grous, 
which is well known to be a bird of moft excellent 
flavour. 
f 
What I have hitherto refnarked is chiefly in an- 
fwer to that ingenious naturalifl, M. de Buffon, 
who is the lafl: ornithologifc that hath both defcribed 
and engraved this bird. I have only one new ob- 
lervation to make myfelf; which is, that the claws 
are fcooped off at the end exadtly like a writing- 
pen (wanting indeed the flit) ; which circumftance 
may likewife be feen in the claws of our common 
Grous, or Heath-game, though the refemblance is 
not quite fo ftrong as in the Ptarmigan. 
I fhall now conclude with copying, from the 
catalogue tranfmitted with the fpecimens from 
Hudfon’s Bay, what further relates' to the Lago- 
pus ; which, as I obferved before, is there called a 
Willow-partridge [g]. 
4C The Willow-partridges gather together in large 
<c flocks in the beginning of Odtober, harbouring 
“ amongft the willows, the tops of which are their 
“ principal food ; they then change to their winter 
[H It is not at all extraordinary, that it fhould there be con- 
fidered as a Partridge; becaufe the White Partridge is the name 
given to f this.. bird by the old ornithologifts, who have very na- 
turally confidered edible birds nearly of the fame fize, as Par- 
tridges when they have fhort tails, and as Pheafants, when 
they have long ones. 
Hh 2 
drefs. 
