ALASKA PTAKMIGAN 201 



than in alius. In summer plumage, generally more reddish-colored 

 than either ungavus or albus, a difference that is most conspicuous in 

 females in the barred breeding plumage." 



He gives as its range " the Alaskan mainland except on the south- 

 eastern coast, northern Yukon Territory (specimens from vicinity of 

 Forty-mile), and eastward for an undetermined distance." 



At least three authors have attempted to subdivide the willow 

 ptarmigans of North America, with decidedly confusing and some- 

 what unsatisfactory results. Austin H. Clark (1910) after studying 

 115 specimens, 20 from Newfoundland, 60 from Labrador, 3 from 

 central arctic North America, 18 from the mainland of Alaska, 2 

 from Kodiak Island, and 12 from the Shumagin Islands, says : 



All those from Labrador and central arctic America, with others from 

 Point Barrow, Kotzebue Sound, Cape Lisbourne, Kowak River, Yukon River, 

 and near St. Michaels, belong to a well-differentiated race, with the beak very 

 large, high and stout, the culmen strongly arched, and usually with a prominent 

 ridge from the inferior corner of the maxilla to in front of the nostril. They 

 are identical among themselves, it being impossible to tell from the examination 

 of any one specimen whether it was taken in Alaska or in Labrador. 



J. H. Riley (1911) evidently differed from him, for when he de- 

 scribed and named the Ungava bird, from the Labrador Peninsula, 

 he gave as the range of alius " from the west side of Hudson Bay, 

 west through northern Alaska to eastern Siberia." Thus two investi- 

 gators, with practically the same material for study, have arrived at 

 quite different conclusions. 



Now Swarth (1926) comes along with a still different theory, based 

 on a study of a large series of western birds in California collections, 

 together with 3 from the west coast of Hudson Bay and 10 from Fort 

 Chimo, Ungava. He writes: 



Comparison of these birds with the series in this museum convinced me of 

 the existence of the following recognizable subspecies of the willow ptarmigan 

 on the North American mainland: (1) Lagopus lagopus ungavus from the 

 region east of Hudson Bay, as defined by Riley; (2) Lagopus lagopus alius 

 from the west shore of Hudson Bay westward to the coast, ranges of northern 

 British Columbia, and for an undetermined distance northward; (3) an unde- 

 scribed subspecies from the Alaskan mainland and extending for an undeter- 

 mined distance eastward in the extreme north. 



Swarth (1926) then goes on to describe the northern bird, alascen- 

 sis, as quoted above and says further : 



Conditions in these western races of willow ptarmigan parallel to some extent 

 those found in the rock ptarmigan. In each species the northern Alaskan sub- 

 species is an extremely ruddy-colored bird compared with the others, and la 

 each the British Columbia subspecies seems to reach an extreme of grayness. 

 In each species, too, the Labrador birds are much more grayish than are those 

 from Alaska. Thus the Labrador willow ptarmigan (ungavus) and the British 

 Columbia bird (albus) are much alike as regards color but differ in size of bill. 



