Rock Ptarmigan - Description

Description

The Rock Ptarmigan is 34–36 centimetres (13–14 in) long (tail 8 cm) with a wing-span of 54–60 centimetres (21–24 in). It is slighter smaller than the Willow Ptarmigan by about 10%. The male's "song" is a loud croaking.

The Rock Ptarmigan is seasonally camouflaged; its feathers moult from white in winter to brown in spring or summer. The breeding male has greyish upper parts with white wings and under parts. In winter, its plumage becomes completely white except for the black tail. It can be distinguished from the winter Willow Ptarmigan (Willow Ptarmigan in North America) by habitat—the Rock Ptarmigan prefers higher elevations and more barren habitat; it is also smaller with a more delicate bill.

Read more about this topic:  Rock Ptarmigan

Famous quotes containing the word description:

    The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.
    Horace Walpole (1717–1797)

    The type of fig leaf which each culture employs to cover its social taboos offers a twofold description of its morality. It reveals that certain unacknowledged behavior exists and it suggests the form that such behavior takes.
    Freda Adler (b. 1934)

    To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)