202 BULLETIN" 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The Labrador bird and the northern Alaskan bird (alasoensis) are both large- 

 billed forms, but differ in coloration. 



Perhaps, after studying the three papers referred to above, the 

 reader may get a clear idea of the subject ; but I must confess that I 

 can not. In my opinion, all the willow ptarmigan of the North 

 American mainland (excluding alexandrae and perhaps alleni) are 

 of one subspecies, Lagopus lagopus albus. The differences pointed 

 out above are too slight and too variable to be worthy of recognition 

 in nomenclature. 



LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS RUPESTRIS (Gmclin) 



ROCK PTARMIGAN 



HABITS 



Much has yet to be learned about the relationships of the various 

 forms of the rock ptarmigan in North America and their distribu- 

 tion. There have been three forms named in Greenland, one in New- 

 foundland, three on the mainland, and six on the Aleutian Islands. 

 With the possible exception of some of the Aleutian forms, which are 

 quite distinct, all might well be regarded as subspecies of the Euro- 

 pean Lagopus mutus. Of the three mainland forms Harry S. Swarth 

 (1926) has made an extensive study, the results of which are quite 

 enlightening. The three forms are: A gray-colored bird, rupestris, 

 a ruddy-colored form, kelloggae, and a dark-colored form, dixonl. 

 He says of their ranges: 



First, there is a gray-colored bird that extends from Labrador westward 

 to the coast ranges of northern British Columbia. In the east it apparently 

 extends northward into the Arctic regions ; it also occurs on islands north of 

 Mackenzie, but elsewhere in the west it is restricted to the southern part of 

 the region covered by the species Lagopus rupestris. Second, there is a ruddy- 

 colored form that occupies almost the entire mainland of Alaska and ex- 

 tends eastward along the Arctic coast about to the one hundredth meridian. 

 Third, there is a dark-colored form with a rather limited range in the coastal 

 region of southeastern Alaska. 



The latest contribution on the subject is a paper by P. A. Taverner 

 (1929) based on a careful study of 105 adults of both sexes and 

 young. Even with this quantity of material, the results are not 

 wholly satisfactory, because of lack of adequate series of breeding 

 birds in comparable plumages and because of a number of puzzling 

 specimens that seem to have wandered far away from their normal 

 breeding ranges. Taverner, however, has recognized two wide- 

 ranging mainland forms, a southern, generally grayish bird (rupes- 

 tris), ranging from northern British Columbia to Newfoundland, 

 and a northern, generally yellowish bird (kelloggae) . ranging from 



