222 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



We spent June 26 and 27, 1911, on Adak Island, where we found 

 this ptarmigan common but not abundant; we obtained all that we 

 needed for specimens. We found them mostly in a broad valley of 

 small, low, rolling hills, with a number of small ponds scattered 

 through it; on either side of the valley were mountainous peaks, with 

 rocky summits and with plenty of snow on them. The valley was 

 mostly dry tundra carpeted with a dwarf species of reindeer moss, 

 which the gray plumage of the ptarmigan matched very well. The 

 birds were also found on the low hills and in the grassy hollows 

 and lowlands but not on the mountains. They were much wilder 

 than we had found them on other islands, which seemed strange, 

 as this island is uninhabited. 



Nesting. — On June 26, 1911, I found a nest of seven fresh eggs 

 in a little valley on a hillside; it was a deep hollow in the ground 

 between a tuft of grass and a little cow-parsnip; it was carelessly 

 lined with dry grass and a few feathers. Dr. Alexander Wetmore 

 also collected a similar set of seven fresh eggs on the same day. 

 Evidently all the Aleutian ptarmigan are late breeders. 



Eggs. — The eggs we collected are ovate in shape, and the shell 

 is smooth with little or no gloss. The ground colors vary from 

 " pinkish cinnamon " to pale " pinkish buff " ; some eggs are washed 

 with " cinnamon " at one end or the other, giving the egg a richly 

 colored effect. In one set the eggs are thickly covered with very 

 small spots and fine dots of dark browns, which are sometimes 

 concentrated near the small end; two of the eggs have a few large, 

 irregular blotches near the small end. The other set is marked 

 like the common types of ptarmigan's eggs. The markings vary in 

 color from " chestnut-brown " to " bone brown." The measurements 

 of these 14 eggs average 46.1 by 32.9 millimeters; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 47.5 by 33.2, 45.6 by 33.6, 45 by 32.8, 

 and 46.5 by 32.4 millimeters. 



Plumages. — Five males collected by Hamilton M. Laing (1925) on 

 Adak Island, April 13, 1924, had already begun to molt into the 

 summer plumage. 



Food. — All the Aleutian ptarmigan that we collected had been 

 feeding entirely on green food, principally the young, green leaves 

 and buds of the dwarf willows, the tops of ground evergreens and 

 mosses, and the flower buds and blossoms of herbaceous plants. 



Behavior. — We noted nothing peculiar in the habits of this ptarmi- 

 gan, which were similar to those of its neighbors. Laing (1925) sa} T s : 



Ptarmigan were even more numerous at Kuluk bay, Adak island, than on 

 Atka island. On April 13 ptarmigan were purring everywhere and were all 

 noted in the grass at low levels. There was no time to ascertain whether they 

 were also numerous on the dark. cro\vberry-c< >vered hills above, but they were 

 scattered over the flats near the lagoon and the nearby lower grass-covered 



