LAGOPUS LEUCURUS, WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. 429 



such places for their nest iu the rocks of the mountaius as the [7ria 

 gri/Ue (Bhick Guillemot) would on the rocky islands of the Atlantic 

 Ocean. I do not think the Lagopus leiicurus ever has more than three 

 or four young at a brood, as I have seen pairs of old birds with their 

 young on several occasions, and at such times have never observed 

 more than four chicks in a family. It is barely possible that their num- 

 bers may have been lessened by being devoured by Hawks or by the 

 cold rains, which may have chilled and killed them. It is a well-known 

 fact to most naturalists that large numbers of the young Euffed Grouse 

 often perish from exposure during late springs accompanied by cold 

 rains. I have several times found them dead and in a dying state, 

 caused by exposure in the woods near Springfield, Massachusetts. I do 

 not think that is the case with the young Ptarmigans, however, as they 

 are hatched late in the season, and last spring was a favorable one for 

 their propagation. Neither do I think they are destroyed by Hawks, 

 as there are none where the Ptarmigans breed, with the exception of a 

 few straggling Sparrow Hawks, which are rarely seen. Therefore I 

 think the Lagopns leucurKS has but three or four eggs at a sitting, and 

 but one brood in a season. 1 hey have a continued monlt which lasts 

 during the summer months, and the variation in then' plumage is so great 

 that it is almost impossible to find two individuals iu the same plumage. 

 During the mouths from April to September their plumage is very scant 

 and ragged ; but when in their fiill winter plumage their feathers are 

 heavy and comi)act, which gives them a much larger appearance than 

 .when seen in the summer dress, mottled with brown and grayish-white. 

 The tail at all times is pure white. They are generally known in Colo- 

 rado as White and Mountain Quails by the hunters, miners, and ranch- 

 men. When with their young they will fight the ornithological robber, 

 flying so near as to hit one with their wings, in their endeavor to pro- 

 tect their chickens. Both male and female are equally courageous, and 

 will defend their young. In the summer they are very tame, and when 

 approached will run among the rocks or in the dwarf willows, a few 

 yards from the hunter, and scjuat, and will not continue their retreat 

 until the hunter is upon them. When raised they fly in a straigiit line 

 for seventy-five or a liundred yards, and alight on some elevated rock, 

 stretching out the neck its full length to see if they are followed, and if 

 nothing is seen to excite their susi)icion they walk off from the rocks 

 and commence to feed as usual. During dee^) snows in the winter the 

 Ptarmigan descend from the mountains and feed in the edges of the 

 timber and on the hill-sides. Last winter some were seen as far east as 

 South Park, Colorado, feeding on the foot-liills. They are gregarious in 

 winter. The White-tailed Ptarmigan is2G.25 inches in extent, and 14.50 

 inches long ; eye, hazel ; superciliary membrane, red ; toes, feathered 

 half their length iu summer, and entirely covered with hair-like leathers 

 in the winter; claws, blackish, lighter at their tips, long, broail and strong, 

 rounded above, concave beneath, arched, edges sharp; and in some in- 

 dividuals the claws are notched on the sides." 



NoTK. — The only North Aniciicaii Tcinwuhnv not treated of in the foregoin<T pnges 

 are two species of Ptarmigan, Hie synonymy of wbicli is given in the aecomiiunyiug 

 foot-uoto, to complete a view of the subfamily.* 



"1. Lagopus ALBUS, (GmcUti), Audubon. 



Tetrao albus, G.m.. Syst. Nat. i, 17S8, 7^0. —Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 1)39 {Lagopedt dc la 

 Bate d'lludnon, BuFF., ii, 270 ; fVliikrartrid(ji;ED\x.,12; if kite Grou8,TKsy., 

 Arct. Zool. ii, No. 18;}; Lvth., Gen. Syn. iv, 713). 



Lago2)U8 albus, Ain., 8vn. 1H39, 207; H. Am. v, 1842, U-l.— Br., List, 1838, 44.— Nutt., 

 Man. i, 2d ed. 1840, 810.— Cocks, Pr. A. N. S. 1801, 227 (Labrador).— Vioiac, Pr. 



