ptarmigan
bird
any of three or four species of partridgelike grouse of cold regions, belonging to the genus Lagopus of the grouse family, Tetraonidae. They undergo seasonal changes of plumage, from white against winter snowfields to gray or brown, with barring, in spring and summer against tundra vegetation. Ptarmigan differ from other members of the grouse family in having the toes covered with stiff feathers above and below.
The common ptarmigan (L. mutus) ranges in the British Isles, Europe, and North America, where it is called rock ptarmigan. Also distributed circumpolarly is the willow ptarmigan, or willow grouse (L. lagopus; see photograph-->), a more northerly bird of lowlands. On Rocky Mountain tundra south to New Mexico is the white-tailed ptarmigan (L. leucurus; see photograph-->).Ptarmigan survive winter in the Arctic and mountain-top fastnesses by browsing shrubs and scratching up lichens and leaves; they burrow in snow to sleep. Males, which have harsh cackling calls, begin to display socially in early spring and then separate and display singly in adjoining territories.
The name snow partridge, given in many localities to ptarmigan, is best reserved for a ptarmigan-like Asian partridge (see partridge).
- Orléans, Louis-Philippe-Robert, duc d'
- Orléans, Philippe I de France, duc d'
- Orléans, Philippe I, duc d'
- Orléans, Philippe II, duc d'
- Orléans, Siege of
- Orm
- Ormandy, Eugene
- Ormea, Carlo Vincenzo Ferrero di Roasio, marchese d'
- Ormoc
- ormolu
- Ormond Beach
- Ormonde, James Butler, 12th earl and 1st duke of
- Ormonde, James Butler, 2nd duke of
- Ormonde, Piers Butler, 8th earl of, Earl Of Ossory
- Ormonde, Thomas Butler, 10th earl of
- Ormsby-Gore, William George Arthur, 4th Baron Harlech
- ornament
- ornamentation
- Orne River
- Ornette Coleman
- ornithischian
- Ornithogalum
- Ornitholestes
- ornithology
- Ornithomimus