Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PTAR'MI-GAN, n.

A fowl of the genus Tetrao, the lagopus or white game. The color of the plumage is a pale brown or ash, elegantly crossed or mottled with dusky spots and minute bars; the belly and wings are white. This fowl is seen on the summits of mountains in the north of England and of Scotland. – Encyc.