Other Scientific Names
Lagopus mutus [BirdLife International (2004)], Lagopus mutus [Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994)], Lagopus mutus [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)]
Other Names (World)
Rock Ptarmigan, White Grouse
Family
Phasianidae (Pheasants, Partridges, Turkeys, Grouse)
Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) [XC826934]
by Giuseppe Speranza from Schiehallion, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, United Kingdom (song)
Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) [XC487319]
by Stanislas Wroza from Western Region, Iceland (call, short calls)
Nest
A shallow scrape on the ground, sometimes in the shelter of a rock or boulder, lined with moss and feathers.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 9; buffish or reddish-brown heavily blotched and speckled darker red-brown. Incubation: about 25 days; by female.
Subspecies
Occasional hybrids known with Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) and Hazel Grouse (Bonasa bonasia). Complex internal taxonomy, many subspecies that are sometimes lumped, though in rather different ways: subspecies komensispleskei and transbaicalicus sometimes included in kelloggae, or all of these in nelsoni, with possible addition of krascheninnikovi and kurilensis; subspecies reinhardi sometimes included in rupestris, macrorhynchus in nadezdae, and pyrenaicus in helveticus.
The following 34 subspecies are recognised:
hyperborea Sundevall, 1845 - Svalbard (Spitsbergen), Franz Josef Land and Bear I.
muta (Montin, 1781) - Norway, northern Sweden, northern Finland and Kola Peninsula.
millaisi Hartert, 1923 - Scotland.
pyrenaica Hartert, 1921 - Pyrenees.
helvetica (Thienemann, 1829) - Alps, from Savoie to central Austria.
komensis Serebrovsky, 1929 - Northern Urals.
pleskei Serebrovski, 1926 - Northern Siberia, from Taimyr Peninsula to Chukotsky Peninsula.
macrorhyncha Serebrovsky, 1926 - Tarbagatai.
nadezdae Serebrovski, 1926 - Mountains of southern Siberia and Mongolia (Altai, Sayan, Khangai and others).
transbaicalica Serebrovsky, 1926 - South-eastern Siberia (Lake Baikal to Sea of Okhotsk).
japonica Clark, AH, 1907 - Central Honshu (Japan).
evermanni Elliot, DG, 1896 - Attu I (Aleutian Is).
townsendi Elliot, DG, 1896 - Kiska I (Aleutian Is).
gabrielsoni Murie, 1944 - Amchitka I (Aleutian Is).
sanfordi Bent, 1912 - Tanaga I and Kanaga I (Aleutian Is).
chamberlaini Clark, 1907 - Adak I (Aleutian Is).
atkhensis Turner, 1882 - Atka I (Aleutian Is).
yunaskensis Gabrielson & Lincoln, 1951 - Yunaska I (Aleutian Is).
nelsoni Stejneger, 1884 - Unimak, Unalaska and Amaknak Is (Aleutian Is).
dixoni Grinnell, 1909 - Glacier Bay islands and adjacent mainland (south-eastern Alaska).
kelloggae Grinnell, 1910 - Alaska and northern Yukon.
rupestris (Gmelin, JF, 1789) - Northern Canada, from Melville I and Ellesmere I to central British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, Southampton I, northern Quebec and Labrador.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet