PTARMIGAN. 209: 
until the spring, when the white feathers become barred with 
yellow and black, and changed into blackish, barred with 
greyish white on the back. 
The young are at first covered with a light yellowish grey 
down; the head on the crown with a light chesnut mark, edged 
with a darker shade; the back patched with brown. ‘The 
plumage soon changes, the upper parts becoming spotted and 
barred with pale grey and brown, and the wings and the under 
parts white. ‘They acquire the white plumage the first winter, 
but the spots and bars larger than in the second. 
The Ptarmigan of this country rarely become so beautifully 
and perfectly white as those of more northern countries. 
These birds vary greatly in their summer plumage, some 
being most elegantly banded or mottled, and others more or 
less dotted and even patched and spotted with black; in old 
birds the dark markings dwindle to mere slender waved lines, 
or even a series of dots. 
It would appear from Macgillivray’s measurements that these 
birds differ occasionally in the proportionate length of their 
several parts. 
The plate is taken from a design by the Kev. A. LP. Alington. 
VOL. 1% P 
