reinhardt's ptarmigan 213 



Attn Island, of the Aleutians; Kellogg's ptarmigan (Lac/opus r. 

 kelloggae) occupies northwestern Greenland, the Arctic Islands (ex- 

 cept Baffin Island), northern Yukon, the interior of Alaska, and the 

 west Arctic coast to Coronation Gulf; and Dixon's ptarmigan (Lago- 

 pus r. dixoni) is found on the alpine summits of Baranof , Chichagof , 

 and Admiralty Islands, and the adjacent Alaskan mainland. 



Egg dates. — Northern Alaska : 15 records, May 28 to July 29 ; 8 

 records, June 9 to July 1. Arctic Canada: 23 records, June 3 to 

 July 9; 12 records, June 17 to 28. Iceland: 18 records, May 7 to 

 July 21 ; 9 records, May 20 to June 19. Greenland : 17 records, May 

 20 to July 6; 9 records, June 16 to 30. Labrador Peninsula: 12 

 records, June 11 to July 7; 6 records, June 3 to 20. Aleutian 

 Islands : 7 records, June 10 to 26. Newfoundland : 11 records, June 

 2 to 12. 



LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS REINHARDI (Brehm) 



REINHARDT'S PTARMIGAN 



HABITS 



The race reinhardi of the rock ptarmigan was described from 

 southern Greenland, where it undoubtedly forms a well-marked sub- 

 species. A. L. V. Manniche (1910) treats of the rock ptarmigan 

 of northeast Greenland under the name Lagopus mutus, that of 

 the Old- World species, from which the Greenland birds differ only 

 slightly. I am inclined to think that a careful study may show 

 that mutus is a circumpolar species, of which the American forms 

 are only subspecies. The 1910 American Ornithologists' Union 

 Check List includes in the range of reinhardi the northern extremity 

 of Ungava and western Cumberland Sound. Unfortunately summer 

 specimens of rock ptarmigan from anywhere on the Labrador Penin- 

 sula are too scarce for us to form any satisfactory opinion as to what 

 the birds of that region really are. Until we know more definitely 

 what the birds of Labrador and Ungava really are, it seems more 

 logical to refer them to rupestris and confine reinhardi to western 

 Greenland south of Disco. The Greenland birds have been sub- 

 divided into three races, as fully explained in Dr. R. M. Ander- 

 son's footnotes in his translation of Bernhard Hantzsch's (1929) 

 Labrador paper. But for life-history purposes, I prefer to treat 

 the Greenland birds as all of one form. 



Nesting. — What little information we have on the nesting habits 

 of Reinhardt's ptarmigan indicates that it does not differ in this 

 respect from other races of the rock ptarmigan. Capt. D. B. Mac- 

 Millan told me that he once found a nest, on Baffin Island, that was 

 placed on a nubble, not more than 10 feet long, surrounded by 

 74564—32 15 



