ROCK PTARMIGAN 211 



Game. — Hantzsch describes the ptarmigan hunt as follows: 



The arrival of the first flocks of these birds is greeted as an event of the day, 

 which controls all the conversation. Now everyone cleans his gun, and even 

 the little eight or ten-year-old chap is happy, whenever a gun is occasionally 

 loaned him. If the ptarmigan appear in great numbers, an occurrence that varies 

 much from year to year, then each one who has a gun and ammunition, from the 

 missionary to the youngest Eskimo lad, betakes himself out into the wild 

 mountainous landscapes. And the district is so large for the few people — 

 at the most 15-20 men assemble near the Killinek mission station — that 

 no one is in another's way. They prefer to go alone or in pairs with the dog- 

 sleds, with a young man along for assistance, in order to overtake the birds 

 more quickly and be able to take the bag home more conveniently. In the 

 few days when the birds are present, a good hunter is often able to shoot 

 several hundred. To be sure the hunt is strenuous. They travel across the 

 wide, snowy landscape until they see a flock flying up somewhere. Sitting 

 down they do not see the ptarmigan until rather near, as I convinced myself. 

 The hunter now usually springs from the halting sled and approaches the 

 birds in order to get one or two goods shots at them. The unwounded birds 

 rise at once and fly away, and it is now a matter of paying attention to where 

 they stop again. After the game has been put on the sleds, they journey far- 

 ther, seeking either the part of the flock which has flown away, or new bands. 

 Now and then they see several at the same time, at other times they have to 

 wait a long time before coming across a single one. 



O. J. Murie says in his notes : 



The Indians and Eskimos take advantage of a trait of these birds to trap 

 them. Ptarmigan have a tendency to gather on a conspicuous dark spot on the 

 level white expanse of snow, such as an exposed sandbar. The natives stretch 

 some kind of netting over a frame, which is tilted up over an exposed plot 

 of ground or a spot where sand or earth has been spread on the snow. As the 

 birds gather under the net a string is pulled, which allows the net to fall. 

 The trapped birds are then killed by biting them in the neck. 



The rock ptarmigan is an important game bird in Newfoundland, 

 as about 20 per cent of the ptarmigan that come into the St. Johns 

 market are " rockers." But evidently the hunters prefer the larger 

 willow ptarmigan, which are, perhaps, more easily obtained. From 

 reliable parties who have hunted in the vicinity of Quarry and 

 Gafftopsail, as well as on certain sections between Fortune Bay and 

 Cape Ray, I have learned that, when they have been unsuccessful 

 in their hunt for willow ptarmigan, they turn their attention to the 

 hilly sections of the same locality to find " rockers." Sometimes they 

 would go to hunt for willow ptarmigan and not bother about " rock- 

 ers " unless their hunt for willow ptarmigan was unsuccessful ; then 

 they would climb to hilly sections of the same localitj' where they 

 could always be sure of getting rock ptarmigan. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), northern Can- 

 ada, Greenland, and Newfoundland. 



