Nature. PTARMIGAN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1771, 10 November 1883, Page 6

Nature. PTARMIGAN.

BY GRANT ALLEX.

It may be accepted as an almost unanimous axiom of epicures generally, that no game bird in the world can quite come up to the British red grouse; but the ptarmigan certainly runs .that prince of the grouse-kind a good second. Though it has not the distinctive heathery flavour of the Scotch bird, derived from the nature of its food, which consists mainly of the young shoots of ling, the ptarmigan has yet very gamey flesh, and a peculiar wild taste of its own, which is similarly due to its special foodstuffs. It feeds chiefly on the fresh green twigs of the blaok crowberry, as well as on the whortleberry, the willow, and the sedges ; and these, while less aromatic than the heather on which the red grouse subsists, are yet quite sufficient to impart a decidedly moorland flavour to the young birds. In autumn, the ptarmigan also lives on berries of various sorts ; but for the greater part of the year it is forced to confine itself to leaves and the growing tops of branches ; and as these are very innutritions food, it is compelled to eat large quantities at a time, so that its crop is usually very full, and it digests slowly while resting. The higher Scotch mountains still harbour a few coveys, but for the most part our supply at the present day oomes from Scandinavia, where the bird remains fairly abundant. Ptarmigan, indeed, are by origin an Arctic and sub-Arctic species, wandering among high rocks at high latitudes, or among Alpine peaks a little further south ; but they do not spread to America, like their neighbours the willow grouse, which are ao far cosmopolitan that they ring round the world about the Arotic circle. In the eastern hemisphere, ptarmigan cling to all the more elevated positions, while willow grouse roam over the lowlands, and Scotch grouse are entirely confined to the moors and hills of our own islands. This distribution of the three kinds is interesting and significant, when taken in connection with their habits and probable origin. Ptarmigan, which range highest nbrth and furthest up the mountains of all, are essentially cold-weather birds. In winter, their plumage changes to pure snow-white, like the coat of the ermine and the Alpine hare ; and this is the condition in which the*y usually reach the London market. Of course, to a comparatively defenceless bird, inhabiting a snow-clad region, suoh a change of colour is imperatively necessary ; for, if it were* brown in winter, any one of its enemies — such, for example, as the hawk or the Arctic fox — would immediately discriminate it -amid the snow, and soon exterminate the whole race at once. As it is, however, the coveys are extremely difficult to perceive, and one may even walk through one without observing the fact, unless one almost treads upon a bird ; for the ptarmigan have learnt to trust so thoroughly to their perfect disguise that they usually cower close to the snow whenever they perceive a man or a bird of prey, and only rise when closely pressed. Even then, they alight again- after a flight to some distance, and once more settle into the soft snow so imperceptibly, that the only chance for the sportsman is to take a shot from a distance at a venture into the spot on whioh he saw the oovey alight ; he may then happen to kill a bird or two by mere accideut, as they squat in the open. A sentinel is usually posted on a lump of ice to keep watch, and when he finds retreat desirable, he gives a low croak, on hearing wHich all the rest of the oovey take to flight immediately in his wake. In summer, on the other hand, the colour of the feathers changes to a~ mottled grey, whioh still harmonises admirably with the tones of the dry grass and bracken among which they lurk. In this, their alternative dress, they resemble the ground quite as much as they did the snow in their winter plumage ; and one may still walk among them without suspecting the presence of a oovey, until the sentinel bird raises his low note of warning. At the approach of winter, the birds pack once more, and resume their white coats. Their neighbours the willow grouse, though also ■ white in winter, resemble the Scotch grouse in their summer plumage; and this tint harmonises best with the general ruddy hue of the open moorlands. Our own* red grouse again, which is peculiar to the British Isles, does not need to change its suit in winter, owing to the comparative mildness of our seasons ; and as the highest mountain tops in Scotland are already monopolised by the ptarmigan, it clings to the lower moors, where it has but. a few days -of complete snow-clad whiteness during the entire year. ' Like most of the smaller grouse-kind in the eastern hemisphere, the ptarmigan is so much engaged in escaping attention that it has had no time to bestow upon the outer adornment and beautifioatiott' of the male birds. Its enemies are too numerous, too powerful, and too lynx-eyed to let any unusual or :brilliant plumage nave a chance of success.' ' -In this respect <it differs greatly from many of its American congeners, ■ and even the' European - capercailzie, i^longu extinct in, ' Seotland;< but '-(now ,• reintroduced and acolim-,' ,atisedfe|afre;sb.^ .THese,- largeris:]aiia.^lubkieil grbil^e-birds,^enftbled b^;. ttieir^aize^o defends 7tHemßelvefl v ag*irist their enemies, idr.inhab-' yiuuifl^ rGsions ?wiior6^<xoeBv^ftr6&i6W6Xf^JiaTo

sensibilities, and consequently have produced all sorts of ornamental orests, top-knots, ruffs, and other decorative appendages, in the first style of art, due to the "constant selective action of the hen birds. The capercailzie in the spring-time, resort to # their " play inggrounds " for the sake of attracting their mates ; and there they display themselves and their plumage, like peacocks, to the best advantage, so that the finest and most attraotive cocks succeed in gaining oTer to their harem the largest number o£ hens. The young cocka are jealounly excluded and driven away by their older rivals. Similar antics are played by the black grouse and by many American speci«s, some of which are very handsomely ornamented with orange lappets and other beautiful appendages. All these birds are polygamists, and only the most decorated males ever succeed in attracting a posse of mates. The ptarmigan and red grouse, on the contrary, are strictly.monogamous, and their two sexes hardly differ from one another in appearance. Their sober suits answer well to their modest habits of concealment and protection. It never happens, indeed, that very handsome birds take any pains to hide themselves ; they are dominant races ; their brilliant hues serve them as an attraction, and are always ostentatiously displayed to the greatest advantage, often at the cost of some trouble to the creatures themselves. Conversely, no birds which are protectively coloured ever possess any marked distinction between the sexes ; they are skulking races, and cannot afford the risk of bright-hued crests' or spotted tails. The application of this law is well seen in the cases of the black grouse and the red grouse. In the former instance the polygamous black-cook differs widely from his dingier mate, the grey hen; in the latter instance, both monogamous partners are arrayed in almost indistinguishable plumage of protective reddish brown. Ptarmigan oarry the similarity between the sexes .as far as any of their race, and they are also the kind in which the protective devices are most fully developed, for, besides their summer and winter dresses they have aotually an intermediate autumn suit of aihy gray, which helps yet further to conceal them among the sere and ashen foliage of the Scandinavian November. The ptarmigan, in short, is a strictly practical bird, who cares very little for personal adornment, but manifests a strong hereditary reluctance to be eaten up by any prowling hawk or falcon of the neighbourhood. — (Knowledge.)