396 
GAME-BIRDS. 
localities than if a complete change to a darker plumage took place. In summer 
the male ptarmigan has the general colour of the head, upper-parts, sides, and 
flanks dark brown or blackish brown, finely mottled and barred with grey and 
rusty; while the chest and upper-breast are blackish, sometimes slightly mottled 
with buff; the rest of the under-parts and the middle tail-feathers remaining 
white. The female has the general plumage above, as well as the middle tail- 
feathers, black mixed with rufous buff, most of the feathers being edged with 
white or buff, and the under-parts rufous butt‘ barred with black. This plumage 
so closely approaches in colour the general surroundings of the nesting-places, 
that the bird when sitting on its eggs is almost invisible. As the autumn advances, 
the darker coloured feathers in both male and female are replaced by a grey 
plumage finely mottled with black, and sometimes buff, and as the season continues 
the more or less complete white winter plumage already mentioned is once more 
assumed. It is noteworthy that a considerable amount of the changes in colour 
is due not to moulting but partly to a rearrangement of the pigment in the 
feathers themselves. In all the group, except red grouse, the primary feathers 
(which, like those of the tail, are only cast at the autumn moult) remain white 
throughout the year. All ptarmigan are essentially high-ground birds; the red 
grouse being an exception, occurring sometimes on low-ground bogs close to the 
sea. Unlike the black grouse, the common ptarmigan and the rest of its allies 
pair with one female only, remaining with her throughout the breeding-season. 
During the nesting-season the ptarmigan is tame, and may be approached 
within a few yards. On the barren hilltops and watersheds, where it finds a 
home among the scattered boulders, dwarf Alpine plants, deer-grass, and mosses, 
the wanderer is often startled by the hoarse croaking cry of the male, as he rises 
suddenly from the ground where he was squatting invisible almost at the feet, and 
settles on some neighbouring rock. On being again approached, he makes a 
second short flight to some commanding position, where with outstretched neck he 
watches the movements of the intruder. Soon after, one may nearly walk on the 
female sitting on her eggs, or in charge of a number of beautiful chicks patterned 
with yellow and brown down. The young scatter in every direction, running 
with considerable speed, and helping themselves along with their still tiny, 
undeveloped wings, while the anxious mother covers their retreat by going 
through a performance intended, by attracting attention, to cover their retreat and 
convey the idea that at least one of her wings has been broken. In a few seconds, 
however, she appears to recover, and skulks off* among the rocks, and when one 
looks to see what has become of the young, they, too, have vanished. The ptarmigan 
inhabits most of the higher mountain ranges of Europe, and possibly extends into 
Central Asia, where its place is taken by the nearly allied rock-grouse ( L. mpestris), 
differing in the more rufous plumage of the male in summer, though in some 
localities, such as Newfoundland, a greyer phase, closely approaching the European 
bird is met with. The rock-grouse inhabits Northern Asia, extending eastwards 
to Japan and through Arctic America to Iceland. 
In Spitzbergen a somewhat different species ( L. hyperboreus) 
occurs, with more white on the basal part of the tail-feathers, the 
outer web of the outermost pair having only the terminal third black. This is 
Red Grouse. 
