BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 97 



«. Narrowly barred with blackish above and on breast, upper tail 

 coverts merely vermiculated (Kiska and Little Kiska 

 Islands) . .Lagopus mutus townsendi, summer, male (p. Ill) 



LAGOPUS LAGOPUS ALASCENSIS Swarth 



Alaska Willow Ptarmigan 



Adult male, summer plumage. — Feathers around nostrils to base of 

 maxilla and of mandible and chin white or black ( !) with more or less 

 chestnut ; eye ring white ; forehead, crown, occiput, and nape bright hazel 

 to chestnut, each feather with an incomplete subterminal broad black 

 cross bar ; nape, interscapulars, scapulars, and upper back slightly darker, 

 dark chestnut narrowly banded with fuscous-black to blackish and nar- 

 rowly tipped with buffy white ; back, rump, and inner upper wing coverts 

 similar but with a white feather here and there ; upper tail coverts similar 

 but brown areas paler — hazel to pale hazel ; a line of anterior scapulars, 

 the outer upper wing coverts and the remiges white, the shafts of the 

 primaries dusky becoming white terminally ; rectrices dark fuscous tipped 

 with white (the white tips broadest on the inner feathers), except the 

 median pair which are like the upper coverts but with finer bars and 

 vermiculations ; sides of head, throat, and upper breast bright hazel to 

 chestnut becoming darker on the lower breast where the feathers are 

 barred with fuscous-black ; rest of underparts white with an occasional 

 chestnut feather on the sides ; "comb" scarlet ; bill bluish black ; claws 

 brownish basally becoming white on the distal half or so. 



Adult male, autumn plumage. — Forehead, crown, and occiput russet 

 to hazel, each feather subterminally blackish and with a terminal median 

 spot of pale hazel ; nape, scapulars, interscapulars, back, rump, and upper 

 tail coverts russet to hazel, each feather crossed by several wavy blackish 

 to fuscous-blackish bars, the next to the subterminal one usually the 

 heaviest, followed by a paler, much huffier pale area which is distally 

 narrowly edged with fuscous to fuscous-brown; tips of feathers white, 

 the tips wearing off quickly, however; outer upper wing coverts and 

 remiges white, the primaries with partly dusky brownish shafts (some 

 with white shafts) innermost upper wing coverts like the back; rectrices 

 dark fuscous except the median pair which are hazel to russet mottled 

 and irregularly barred with dark fuscous to fuscous-black; lores and 

 sides of head, chin, and upper throat hazel, eye ring white; lower throat 

 and breast slightly darker hazel ; upper abdomen, sides, flanks, and under 

 tail coverts hazel irregularly and incompletely barred with fuscous to 

 fuscous-black and tipped with white ; center of abdomen to vent, thighs, 

 and feathers of feet white ; under wing coverts white ; "comb" less promi- 

 nent, more shriveled than in summer plumage. 



Adult male, winter plumage. — Entire plumage pure white except for 

 all but the median pair of rectrices, which are dark fuscous to fuscous- 

 black, and for the shafts of the primaries, which are dusky except at the 



