194 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Mr. Hersey's notes contain the following observations : 

 The birds were usually found in parties of 3 or 4 to as many as 11 and 13 

 and, as many were in a plumage that indicated they were birds of the year, 

 it was assumed that these flocks usually represented a pair and their grown-up 

 young. They were very erratic in the matter of taking flight, on some occa- 

 sions not flying until nearly stepped on and again taking wing before a person 

 was within 100 yards of them. As a general thing they were wildest on sharp 

 frosty days or when rather windy and would lie closest when the day was 

 warm and calm. I do not believe the ptarmigan range over any large area 

 at this season. Birds were seen day after day on the same ridges and were 

 believed to be the same flocks. On bright clear days a flock often spends several 

 hours crouched on the ground in the sunlight, particularly in rocky places, 

 where one or two males will take up a position on the rocks. These sentinels 

 perform their duty poorly, as it is usually rather easy to approach and shoot 

 such birds and then secure one or more from the flock with the remaining 

 barrel as the birds take wing. At times the birds on the ground will not 

 flush, even after one or more has been shot. I remember one very warm day 

 when I came upon three birds crouched on the ground a few feet apart. I 

 was unable to flush any of them and was obliged to back away and shoot 

 them on the ground one at a time, the remaining birds paying no attention 

 to the sound of the discharge. When flushed they are frequently silent, but 

 some birds give voice to a harsh cack-cack-cack-cack-cack. On foggy mornings 

 birds, presumably males, may be heard " crowing," at least the notes sound 

 very similar to the spring call of the male. They may be a signal or flock call. 



Game. — Allen's ptarmigan, known also as " willow grouse " or 

 " partridge," is by far the most important game bird in Newfound- 

 land. It is jealously guarded during the close season, only to be shot 

 in enormous numbers during the open season. Many parties of gun- 

 ners go out every fall from St. Johns, as well as visiting sportsmen 

 from Canada and the United States, camp along the line of the rail- 

 way, and kill hundreds of the birds. Fortunately for the birds, 

 there are immense tracts of uninhabited country, inaccessible by 

 branch lines or by roads, where they are not disturbed, so that they 

 do not seem to be in any immediate danger of extermination. 



Winter. — Mr. Whitaker says that " quite a number perish during 

 the winter; they make a shallow scratching in the snow in which to 

 roost and are frequently buried by drifts and are imprisoned; I 

 have often found them dead in the spring when the snows are melt- 

 ing, and once saw seven within a few feet of each other that had met 

 this fate." 



LAGOPUS LAGOPUS ALEXANDRAE Grinnell 



ALEXANDER'S PTARMIGAN 

 HABITS 



The willow ptarmigan of the humid coast region of southern 

 Alaska and northern British Columbia is darker and more richly 

 colored than birds from northern Alaska and Labrador, with a 



