Welcome to You Ask Andy

Tommy Henry, age 7, of Fairfield,, Conn., for his question:

Is there really a bird called the ptarmigan?

Yes, indeed, thorn is a ptarmigan and he really is a bird. You can pronounce his name correctly when you learn that the first totter is silent ‑ TAR‑migan. You can refer to more than one of those birds as either ptarmigan or ptarmigans, though the dictionary ‑;lve ptarmiyn as the preferred plural form of the word.

Most birds ire covered with feathers except for their legs and feet. The ptarmigan finds it necessary also to wear stockings end booties of soft, warm feathers. For he lives in cold northern regions where the ground is frozen most of the year.

The ptarmigan also has a chrno of wardrobe. He changes color with the seasons. For winter his plumage is snowy white to match his snowy background. In summer he is a speckly blend of black, white had brown. This makes him invisible against a background of earth and summer vegetation. For he is, in the main, a ground bird.

Experts classify the ptarmigan as one of the birds that are called Galliformos. The name comes from the Latin word gullus, meaning chicken. He is a wild cousin of the barnyard owl. But do not consider him an ordinary fellow on this account. He is also cousin to the grease, the pleasant end the Thanksgiving turkey. And, as if this is not enough to give him prestige in the bird world, he is also cousin to the peacock, the most glamorous bird on Earth,

These Galliformes all resemble the humble chicken for whom their large order is not mod. All of them are scratchers. They spend their time scratching with their feet end pecking up food with their strong bills. They are all plump birds, with sturdy legs and short wings. They are not great flyers but most of them are good sprinters.

The ptarmigan is good to eat like his cousins. Chickens, grouse, pheasants end turkey are popular with meat‑eating animals as well as with people. Countless Galliformos become meat or table birds every year. For this reason they usually lay a large number of eggs. They have to raise a large number of children, for only a few of them will survive.

The enemies of the ptarmigan include the arctic fox and the stoat. These hungry hunters also change color with the season. The northern stoat becomes the white clad ermine. Since he must hunt the ptarmigan summer and winter he too must become as invisible as his victim

The ptarmigan is a graceful bird, very like his close cousin the grouse. He may live inside the Arctic Circle where he must endure not only the winter's cold but months of winter night when the sun does not rise at all. The white tailed ptarmigan lives among mountain peaks as far south as Colorado. The grouse game bird of Scotland is also a ptarmigan, but ha does not need to change his plumage to white during the winter.

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