APPENDIX. 507 



Indian population of the fur countries than the pre- 

 ceding arouse, on account of its vast numbers sufficing 

 for the support of many of the tribes for a considerable 

 part of the year. It inhabits the barren grounds and 

 the summits of the rocky hills in the woody country, 

 durins the summer season, seeking shelter in the woods 

 in winter ; and it is in the latter part of the year that it 

 is most plentifully taken. Ten thousand have been 

 caught by nets or snares in one winter at a single fur 

 post. 



The Rock Ptarmigan. (Lagopus rupestris.) F. B. A. 2. 



p. 354.. t. 64. 



This species is more peculiarly an inhabitant of the 

 barren lands than the last, never coming into the woods 

 except in the winter, and even then only for a short 

 way. It is very abundant in some districts. Another 

 species, named by Dr. Leach lagopus mutus, visits, ac- 

 cording to Captain James Ross, the peninsula of Boothia, 

 alono- with this and the willow grouse, but the rock 

 ptarmigan is the most abundant in the islands of the 

 Arctic sea. There is a smaller ptarmigan than any of 

 these, peculiar to the Rocky Mountains, which may be 

 known by the whole of its tail feathers being white, 

 whence it has received the specific appellation of lagopus 

 leucurus. 



Sharp-tailed Grouse. {Centrocercus phasianellus.) 



F. B. A. 2. p. 361. 



This bird is abundant in the fur countries up to the 

 61st parallel, both in the prairies and among the woods. 

 Its flesh, though superior to that of any of the preceding 

 ptarmigan or grouse, is not so tender or white as that of 



