sanford's ptarmigan 225 



ately they were hit, they started sliding down the slippery mountain side, and 

 did not stop until they reached the brush line far below. This particular hab- 

 itat was picturesque, to say the least, and on this day was remarkably beau- 

 tiful ; for the cloudless sky was a deep blue, the horizon was the serrated white 

 line of the mountain tops, and the winding glacier — from its colorless snow 

 fields at the summit to the seamed and rugged ice field below — wiih its char- 

 acteristic shadows and high-lights of blue and white, made a wonderful 

 panorama. 



Bailey (1927) says of its winter habits: 



After the winter snows have covered the mountains to a considerable depth, 

 these birds drop to the valley floors where they feed among the alders and 

 willows. They were often encountered during the following winter days, some- 

 times in large flocks, and many specimens were secured. The species may be 

 considered a rather common bird in its proper habitat, near Juneau; it is 

 simply a matter of looking in the proper place — and often involves some rather 

 strenuous work. 



LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS SANFORDI Bent 



SANFORD'S PTARMIGAN 



HABITS 



Although I described and named this race myself (1912), in honor 

 of my friend Dr. Leonard C. Sanford, who cooperated with me in 

 organizing our expedition to the Aleutian Islands, I must confess that 

 it is only slightly differentiated from the Adak ptarmigan. We all 

 noticed a difference when our birds were collected, and when we laid 

 our series of about 40 specimens of sanfordi beside nearly as many of 

 chamberlaini, it was easy to see that the Tanaga birds were appreci- 

 ably paler in color than the Adak birds. The Tanaga birds are 

 therefore the lightest in color of any of the Aleutian ptarmigan and 

 have the finest vermiculations. 



We landed on Tanaga Island on June 25, 1911, and spent only half 

 a day on shore; so far as I know, no one had ever collected birds on 

 this interesting island before ; we found it very rich in bird life, and 

 it is a great pity that we were not able to spend more time there. 

 Back of the sandy beach on which we landed was a series of sand hills 

 or dunes, covered with long grass, and beyond these was a flat, alluvial 

 plain or tundra, with one large and several small streams flowing 

 through it from the mountains farther inland, and dotted with a 

 number of small ponds and wet meadows. Northern phalaropes 

 were breeding commonly among the ponds and meadows, and Aleu- 

 tian sandpipers were abundant, indulging in their flight songs and 

 nesting on the little knolls and hummocks on the tundra, where a 

 brood of downy young was found. At the base of a steep hillside a 

 colony of fork-tailed petrels was beginning to breed. The ptarmigan 

 were tamer and more abundant here than on anv of the other islands 



