brooks: birds from east Siberia and arctic Alaska. 363 



Tetraonidae. 

 Lagopus l.\gopus albus (Gmelin). 



WILLOW ptarmigan. 



During the first half of August, 1913, this species was abundant along^ 

 the shores of Camden Bay, Alaska. At Humphrey Point during the 

 same season they were often seen in small numbers late in September 

 and early in October when they left for the mountains to spend the 

 winter. 



At Demarcation Point, a flock of about twenty, the first arrivals on 

 the coast in the spring of 1914, were seen on April 6. These birds 

 were in good condition and unusually wild. The day was hazy and 

 for the first time that year there were evidences of thawing in shel- 

 tered spots with a southern exposure. During hazy weather when the 

 whole landscape appears as a white mass with no shadows, ptarmigan 

 in winter plumage are well protected for their feathers are not a pure 

 white but seem to take on the same reflected colors as the snow. 

 At a distance during flight the black tail feathers soon fail to attract 

 the eye for there are many dark patches of exposed ground upon the 

 wind swept tundra. 



Willow Ptarmigan were found near the Point in considerable numbers 

 until about the tenth of May when they began retiring to the foot hills. 

 Very few were in pairs up to this time. During the day the flock about 

 the Point could be foimd somewhere in the immediate vicinity scratch- 

 ing about in the snow for willow plants, on the twigs of which they 

 seemed to feed exclusively. At night they would roost in the protected 

 holes and angles of a pressure ridge close to the shore. 



Only once did I note any signs of courting. On May 1, 1 saw a male 

 running to and fro in front of a female, his breast puffed out and low- 

 ered close to the ground and tail elevated. The female appeared 

 indifferent, but when her suitor finally flew out to the ice and with 

 much cackling, had travelled about two hundred yards she followed. 



After the middle of May I could find no Willow Ptarmigan near the 

 Point, and saw none except a pair June 4, about three miles back on 

 the tundra. The nest was not found. 



Males taken early in x\pril were acquiring summer plumage on the 

 neck and head, but none in full plumage were found until late in June. 



No summer plumage was noted in females until early in May, but 



