240 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Fall. — Dr. George Bird Grinnell wrote to Major Bendire (1892) : 



In the autumn the birds are generally rather wild, and if nearly approached 

 become quite uneasy and run about, holding the tail elevated and looking very 

 much like a white Fan-tail Pigeon. At this season the only cry that I have 

 heard is a sharp cackle like that of a frightened hen. This the bird begins to 

 utter a short time before it takes wing, and continues it for quite a little while 

 after having begun to fly. 



On the high plateaus where this bird is found the wind often blows with 

 a tremendous sweep and is almost strong enough to throw down a man. When 

 such a wind is blowing the Ptarmigan dig out for themselves little nests or 

 hollows in the snow banks, in which they lie with their heads toward the wind 

 and quite protected from it. Often on the rocky slopes where there is no snow 

 they may be seen lying crouched on the ground behind rocks or small stones, 

 with their heads directed to the quarter from which the wind blows. If 

 startled from such a place they all take wing at once, looking like a flock of 

 white Pigeons, and fly for a short distance, but as soon as they touch the ground 

 again they throw themselves flat on it behind the most convenient shelter. 



Winter. — Sandj^s (1904) says: 



At the approach of winter the broods of a district frequently join forces in 

 a packlike formation. I have seen 40 or 50 together, and heard the miners 

 speak of packs of several hundreds; this, however, is hearsay, and perhaps 

 100 birds together would be a large pack. During rough weather the birds 

 will go under the snow ; in fact, they will hide in snow whenever it is available. 



During severe winters and when the snow is so deep that their food 

 supply is covered, these ptarmigan desert their normal home above 

 timber line and descend into the edges of the spruce timber on the 

 hillsides or into the creek bottoms among the willows, where they 

 can find food and shelter. 



LAGOPUS LEUCURUS RAINIERENSIS Taylor 

 RAINIER WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN 



HABITS 



Dr. Walter P. Taylor (1920) described and named this dark race 

 from a series of eight adults and four young birds collected on Mount 

 Eainier, Wash. He says that adults in nuptial plumage are 



similar to Lagopus leucurus leucurus, but dark areas more blackish ; buffy wash 

 over light areas not so consistently present, and when present paler. 



Comparison with specimens of Lagopus leucurus leucurus from Moose Pass, 

 British Columbia, Moose Pass, Alberta, and Moose Branch of Smoky River, 

 Alberta (one specimen from Henry House, Alberta), practically topotypes of 

 leucurus, all in nuptial plumage, indicates that the dark areas in rainierensis 

 average more blackish than in leucurus. In the latter the shade is close to 

 mummy brown (Ridgway, Color Standards, 1912), while in rainierensis they 

 approximate one of the darker shades of blackish brown. The buffy portions 

 of the feathers in rainierensis are paler than in leucurus, being, in the former, 

 near light ochraceous-buff, while closer in the latter to ochraceous or ochraceous- 

 tawny. 



