226 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



that we visited; we shot more than 40 in one afternoon. They were 

 commonest on the rolling, grassy hillocks and grassy hills on the 

 tundra. They flushed at short range, did not fly far, and were easily 

 shot. 



Nesting. — Five nests were found, but only three sets of eggs were 

 collected; the other two were left to be photographed the next day, 

 but we were forced to go away and leave them, as well as some nests 

 of Aleutian sandpiper and an eagle's nest found by some of the crew. 

 One nest containing nine fresh eggs was on the side of the steep over- 

 hanging bank of a stream; it was in a hollow between two large tufts 

 of grass and well hidden under one of them; the hollow measured 

 7 by 8 inches and was lined with coarse grass and feathers. Another 

 nest, containing eight fresh eggs, was a hollow in the ground, meas- 

 uring 7 by 6 inches and 3 inches deep, between two little mossy hum- 

 mocks and under a scraggly cow-parsnip; it was on a little grassy 

 hillock near the beach and was lined with coarse grass and feathers. 

 Other nests were well hidden in the long grass and were found by 

 flushing the birds. 



Eggs. — Judged from the three sets of eggs that we collected, con- 

 sisting of eight or nine eggs each, the eggs of this ptarmigan are very 

 handsome, in fact the prettiest ptarmigan's eggs I have ever seen. 

 They are ovate in shape with a smooth and slightly glossy surface. 

 The ground colors vary from " ochraceous-tawny " or " cinnamon " 

 to " cream-buff " or " cartridge buff " ; some of the eggs are washed 

 at the large end or at the small end with " tawny," giving them a very 

 rich appearance. They are boldly and heavily marked with large 

 irregular blothes and small spots of the colors usually seen on other 

 ptarmigan's eggs, dark browns, " chestnut-brown " to " bone brown," 

 or nearly black. The measurements of 25 eggs average 46.5 by 33.9 

 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 48.2 by 34, 

 46.6 by 34.6, 44.2 by 34.6, and 45.5 by 32.8 millimeters. 



Plumages. — We know nothing about the plumage changes of San- 

 ford's ptarmigan, except that a series of two adult males and six 

 adult females, collected by Donald H. Stevenson on September 18, 

 1921, now in the Biological Survey collection, show a postbreeding 

 plumage quite different from the June breeding plumage. In the 

 male this is darker, browner, or redder than the breeding plumage; 

 the prevailing color of the breast, head, neck, and flanks is from 

 " tawny " to " ochraceous-tawny," instead of " cinnamon-buff " mixed 

 with pale grayish buffs, as in the June birds; on the upper parts 

 the tawny shades are much more heavily peppered, variegated, or 

 barred with black, entirely unlike June birds. The differences are 

 similar in the female; the "cinnamon-buff" feathers, barred with 

 black, of the June plumage are being replaced by white feathers on 



