White-tailed Ptarmigan 149 



was first taken in Colorado by Dr. Anderson, attached to Captain 

 Marcy's party when marching from Fort Bridgor in Utah to Santa 

 Fe, probably on the Cochetopa Pass, in January, 1858. It has been 

 found nesting near the Chicago Lakes by Trippe and Evan Lewis 

 (Brewer, Trippe and Bendire), near Breckenridge by Carter, near 

 Crested Butte by Warren, in Saguache co. by Anthony (Bendire), 

 and in the San Juan Mountains, San Juan co., by A. D. Wilson 

 (Coues), and appears to be generally distributed. 



Habits. — ^This bird, generally known in Colorado as 

 the "Mountain Quail," is with the Leucostictes the 

 highest-ranging and most alpine of all the birds in the 

 State. It is, where not molested, very tame and easily 

 approached, and is chiefly met with among the rock- 

 slides and bare, almost vegetation-free country lying above 

 timber line. It is with difficulty flushed, and even where 

 this is accomplished it flies but a short distance, and 

 generally tries to escape by running and squatting among 

 the rocks which it so closely resembles. Its food consists 

 chiefly of leaves, stalks and flowers of alpine plants, 

 and grasses, especially of Caltha leptocephala, the Rocky 

 Mountain marsh -marigold. During the winter it feeds 

 on the buds and needles of pines and willows. Its note 

 is a loud cackle ; and it is somewhat gregarious, keeping 

 in flocks of twenty up to one hundred individuals 

 throughout most of the year, except in the breedmg 

 season. 



The white plumage begins to change in March, but 

 the summer-dress is seldom complete until the end of 

 May or beginning of June. After the breeding is over 

 the complete post-nuptial moult, common to nearly all 

 birds, takes place, and the white wing- and tail-feathers 

 are replaced ; later on, in October, a special moult of 

 the dusky and grey feathers of the back commences, and 

 the birds gradually assume the pure white winter -dress. 



The nest is generally near the summit of a ridge, and 

 is merely a depression among the rocks, lined with a 



