122 
ROCK PTARMIGAN. 
Lagopus rupestris, Gmel . 
PLATE CCCI. — Male, Female, and Young. 
Whilst at Labrador, I was informed by Mr. Jones that a smaller species 
of Ptarmigan than that called the Willow Grouse, Lagopus Saliceti, was 
abundant on all the hills around Bras d’Or, during the winter, when he and 
his son usually killed a great number, which they salted and otherwise 
preserved ; and that in the beginning of summer they removed from the 
coast into the interior of the country, where they bred in open grounds, 
never, like the Willow Grouse, retreating to the wooded parts. They 
seldom appear at Bras d’Or until the last of the Wild Geese have passed 
over, or before the cold has become intense, and the plains deeply covered 
with snow. While about his house, they repair to the most elevated hill- 
tops, from which the violence of the winds has removed the snow. There 
they feed on the mosses and lichens attached to the rocks, as well as on the 
twigs and grasses scantily found in such places at that season. They keep 
in great packs, and when disturbed are apt to fly to a considerable distance, 
shifting from one hill to another often half a mile off. 
Not having seen this species alive, and my drawing having been taken 
from specimens kindly presented to me by my friend Captain James Ross, 
R. N., I cannot do better than present you here with the observations of Dr. 
Richardson, as recorded in the Fauna Boreali- Americana. “ Hutchins 
reports that the Rock Grouse is numerous at the two extremities of Hud- 
son’s Bay, but does not appear at the middle settlements (York and Severn 
Factories), except in very severe seasons, when the Willow Grouse are 
scarce ; and Captain Sabine informs us that they abound on Melville 
Peninsula, lat. 74° to 75°, in the summer. It arrived there in its snow-white 
dress on the 12th of May, 1820 ; at the end of that month the females began 
to assume their coloured plumage, which was complete by the first week in 
June, the change at the latter period being only in its commencement with 
the males. Some of the males were killed as late as the middle of June in 
their unaltered winter plumage. In this respect the species differs from the 
Willow Grouse, whose males first assume the summer colour. The Rock 
Grouse is found also on Melville Peninsula and the Barren Grounds, seldom 
going farther south in winter than latitude 63° in the interior, but descending 
N 
