ROCK PTARMIGAN". 
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THE ROCK PTARMIGAN. 
Lagopus rupestris. — Sabine and Richardson. 
PLATE II. 
The British specimens of Ptarmigan, which have 
been given as L. rupestris or Rock Ptarmigan, seem 
now, by Mr. Yarrell, and onr later ornithologists, 
to be considered as merely seasonal or sexual varia- 
tions of the common bird. "We have not been able 
personally to examine any of those which have been 
described and represented as such, but at no time 
have we been completely satisfied, even of the 
specific value of the northern bird, and consider 
that this, with the whole of the limited genus, 
requires revision, to ascertain what are really dis- 
tinct ; their geographical ranges, with the changes 
undergone by the young and old birds at different 
seasons. In illustration of the subject, we have now 
given a figure, taken from that represented in the 
“ European birds,” by Mr. Gould, accompanied with 
what Sabine, Richardson, and Swainson, say upon 
the subject ; and we add a minute description and 
measurement of a female bird, shot by ourselves 
on Ben More, Sutherlandshire, in the month of 
June, and which Dr. Richardson considered identi- 
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