Willow ptarmigan complicated changes in plumage several times a year and the differing colour and pattern of the summer plumage: The willow ptarmigan often hybridises with the black grouse ("Tetrao tetrix") and the hazel grouse ("Tetrastes bonasia") and occasionally with the western capercaillie ("Tetrao urogallus"), the spruce grouse ("Falcipennis canadensis") and the rock ptarmigan ("Lagopus muta"). During the Pleistocene, the willow ptarmigan widely occurred in continental Europe. Authors who recognize paleosubspecies have named the Pleistocene willow ptarmigan "L. l. noaillensis" (though the older name "medius" might be the correct one). These marginally different birds are said to have gradually changed from the
Ptarmigan (sternwheeler) piper, and lifted him unharmed over to the foredeck of "Ptarmigan" while the piper reportedly never missed a note. "Ptarmigan" passed "Gian" and thereafter Cantlie steered clear of the big steamer. "Ptarmigan" was dismantled in 1909. "Ptarmigan"'s engines, which had been under water at least twice when the vessels they powered sank (once with "Ptarmigan", once with the first "Duchess") were installed in another vessel, the "Nowitka". Ptarmigan (sternwheeler) Ptarmigan was a sternwheel steamboat that operated in British Columbia on the Columbia River from 1903 to 1909. "Ptarmigan" was built at Golden, BC and was the last vessel built for