'°i'e9i'^'] PROCEEDINGS OV THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 431 



female sometimes only leaves it when almost trodden under foot — in 

 fact, several ^Yere swooped upon and caught thereon by hand! They 

 usually begin to lay about the entl of ]\Iay or beginning of June. The 

 process of moulting or the gradual assumption of their summer plu- 

 mage commences a week or two earlier. The female lays from seven to 

 ten, twelve and occasionally as many as thirteen eggs, which I find 

 was the greatest number recorded, and we had reason to know that 

 some at least of the nests were used by Ptarmigan several seasons in 

 succession. When very closely approached, as stated, the female 

 would frequently flutter off, sometimes spreading her wings and ruffling 

 her leathers as if to attack or frighten away intruders; and at others, 

 calling out in distressed tones and acting as if she had been severely 

 wounded. In one instance, where an Indian collector had found a nest 

 which then contained seven eggs, he placed a snare thereon ; but on 

 returning to the spot a few hours afterwards, he was surprised to find 

 that six of the eggs had disappeared in the interim, and, as no egg 

 shells (the male escaped) were left behind, they were, in all probability, 

 1 emoved by the ])arents to a safer position. The male bird is generally 

 not lar away from the nest; and his peculiarly hoarse and prolonged 

 note is very frequently heard, the more especially between the hours 

 of 10 p. m. and 2 a. m. Both, however, displayed great courage and 

 devotion in protecting their young, which we often eticountered on our 

 return coast trips, from capture. In course of the five exploring sea- 

 sons, nearly five hundred nests and considerably over three thousand 

 eggs of this species were secured in the Anderson region. In the end 

 of Sei)tei..ber, during October, and early in November, annually, L. 

 lagopus assemble in large flocks; but during the winter it was seldom 

 thafmore than two or three dozen were ever noticed in single comj)a- 

 nies. They are, however, most winters very numerous in the neighbor- 

 hood of Fort Good Hopeand other Hudson Bay Company's i)osts in the 

 IMackenzie River district; but as the spring sets in they begin to 

 migrate northwards. It is very doubtful if many breed to the south 

 of latitude 08° north — at least, in the valley of the Anderson. 



302. Lagopus rupestris (Gmel.). Rock Ptariuigau. 



This ptarmigan is not near so plentiful as L. lagopus, and we only 

 n)et with it in any considerable numbers from Horton River, Barren 

 Grounds, to the shores of Franklin Bay. Very few nests were found 

 to the eastward of that river, or on the coast or '^ Barrens " of the Lower 

 Anderson. Its nest is similar, but it lays fewer eggs than L. lagopus, 

 as nine proved to be the rarely attained maximum among an aggre- 

 gate record of sixty-five nests — the usual number was six and seven, 

 and there were some which held only four and five eggs. Several of 

 these would doubtless have contained more had they been discovered 

 at a later date. It was no easy matter, however, to find the nests of this 

 species, as the plumage of the birds and the color of the eggs both 



