232 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



We spent only a day and a half at Attu Island and collected eight 

 ptarmigan, one pair that I shot in the valley and six that Rollo H. 

 Beck shot on the mountains; the bare and moss-covered rocky sides 

 of the mountains seem to be their favorite haunts; the eight birds 

 secured were all that we saw. 



Nothing seems to be known about the nesting habits or eggs of 

 Evermann's ptarmigan. All we know about molts and plumages is 

 that the male described by Doctor Elliot (1896) was just completing 

 the molt into the summer plumage on June 4, and that the males col- 

 lected by Laing (1925) were just beginning this molt on April 21. 

 Our birds, seven males and one female, were in full summer plumage 

 on June 22 and 23, and the female had a bare patch on the belly, 

 showing that she was incubating. We learned nothing further about 

 their habits. 



LAGOPUS LEUCURUS LEUCURUS (Richardson) 

 NORTHERN WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN 



HABITS 



The name " northern " white-tailed ptarmigan, adopted in the 

 new American Ornithologists' Union Check List, seems hardly suit- 

 able for this, the type race of the species, for the Kenai race, penin- 

 sularis, ranges entirely north of it. Typical leucurus is the bird of 

 the western Canadian mountains in British Columbia and Alberta. 

 This form is darker, with more black in the plumage and has shorter 

 wings and tail than the southern bird, altipetens. The southern bird 

 being the best known race, the reader is referred to altipetens for 

 the principal life history of the species. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1908), in his attractive account of this 

 bird in the Canadian Rockies, says : 



They are said not to descend below timberline during the summer, but we 

 noted a striking exception to this rule at Lake Louise, where numbers of them 

 came regularly to feed about the forest-surrounded stable. They were evidently 

 attracted by the fallen grain and may have learned of this supply of food 

 during the winter when the heavy snowfall drives them to lower levels. 



Referring to their behavior, he writes: 



The first evidence they gave of being aware of my presence, was to remain 

 perfectly motionless, then, as I made no further advance, they attempted to 

 combine action with rigidity of pose and were almost successful in achieving 

 this impossible feat. With painful slowness, one foot was placed in advance of 

 the other, at the rate of about three steps to the minute. If I drew so near 

 that the birds seemed convinced that they were seen, the male assumed a more 

 alert, bantamlike attitude, ducking his upraised head and flirting his tail as 

 though inviting me to conflict. The pose of the female was more henlike, and 

 less aggressive. She showed virtually no concern when I was within three feet 

 of her, feeding about the rocks, and even stopping to scratch her head. After an 



