WILLOW PTARMIGAN 189 



the chosen drift, so that there will be no telltale trail for some keen nose to 

 follow to the sleeping-place. And this the bird invariably does, going at speed 

 and butting its way into the snow, leaving never a print to betray its re- 

 treat, from which it flies in the morning. The game of life and death is in- 

 terestingly played up North — where the weak white snow-shoers are ever 

 hiding from the strong white snow-shoers forever searching over a field of 

 baffling ice-bound white. 



Doctor Nelson (1887) describes another method of roosting: 



On November 25, 1877, they were numerous, in large and small flocks, along 

 the bushy gullies and hill slopes on the shore of Norton Sound, but were shy. 

 In many places where they had stopped the night before, their sleeping-place 

 was well marked. In each instance they had occupied a small clear spot in 

 the midst of a dense thicket, and in no case had the birds approached on foot, 

 but had flown in over the top and plumped down into the soft snow, where 

 they had remained during the night, each bird thus making a mold of itself 

 in the snow. In some instances there were fifteen to twenty of these molds in 

 the snow in an area of a few feet. In leaving their stopping-place the birds arose 

 and flew directly from their " forms," as was shown by the marks of the wings 

 on each side as they touched the snow in rising, so there were no tell-tale tracks 

 to or from these places ; the open places were undoubtedly chosen to allow the 

 birds an unobstructed escape in case they were surprised by prowling foxes, 

 which hunt these thickets for food. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — The range of the willow ptarmigan as a species is circum- 

 polar, extending in the Old World from Scandinavia, Russia, and 

 Siberia south to Turkestan, and in North America from Greenland, 

 Newfoundland, the Arctic Archipelago, and Alaska south through 

 Canada. The species is casual in winter in the Northern United 

 States. 



Breeding range. — The North American breeding range extends 

 north, to Alaska (Cape Lisburne, Wainwright, Point Barrow, Smith 

 Bay, Delta of Colville River, Camden 33av, Humphrey Point, and 

 Demarcation Point) ; Franklin (Bay of Mercy, Port Kennedy, Felix 

 Harbor, and Igloolik) ; northern Quebec (Fort Chimo) ; and Labrador 

 (Okkak). East to Labrador (Hamilton Inlet) and Newfoundland 

 (Raleigh and St. Johns). South to Newfoundland (St. Johns and 

 south coast) ; west-central Quebec (Carey Island) ; northern Ontario 

 (40 miles south of Cape Henrietta Maria) ; northern Manitoba 

 (50 miles north of York Factory and Fort Churchill) ; southern 

 Mackenzie (Artillery Lake and Fort Resolution) ; central British 

 Columbia (Moose Pass, Icha Mountains, and Ninemile Mountain) ; 

 and southeastern Alaska (San Juan Island). West to Alaska (San 

 Juan Island, Kruzof Island, Glacier Bay, Nushagak, Nelson Island, 

 Igiak Bay, Askinuk Range, Pastolik, St. Michael, Nome, Mint River, 

 Cape Blossom, and Cape Lisburne). 



