tetraonidjE: grouse. 



745 



Fig. iJOl. — Willow Ptarmigan, winter plumage, \ nat. size. (From 

 Brehm.) 



from end of September through winter and most of spring. Pairing in April, laying from 

 late in May through June. Nest on the ground, of a few leaves, etc. ; eggs G-12, measuring 

 about 1.75 X 1.25, ranging from 

 1.85 X l-<35 down to l.GO X 1-15; 

 they are very heavily colored, ordi- 

 narily, with bold confluent blotches 

 or smears of intense burnt sienna 

 color, almost black in effect, upon 

 a more or less reddish-tinted buff 

 ground, seldom evenly marked with 

 small discrete spots. All the eggs 

 of birds of this family are colorless 

 when the shell first forms higli in the 

 oviduct, acfjuiring pigment as tliey 

 pass down ; in Ptarmigan, where 

 the coloring is so heavy, an egg cut 

 from the pigment-secreting part of 

 the passage is as if covered with 

 fresh paint, soft and sticky, which 

 maybe rubbed ofl' before it "sets" 

 on the shell. X. alhus of most au- 

 thors, as of former editions of the 

 Key, after Tetrao alhus Gm. ; but 

 as this species is the prior Tetrao 

 lagopus Lixx., our rules now require 

 the tautonym L. lagopus. It is also T. or L. Japponicus, rehusak, cachinnans, suhalpinus, 

 saliceti, and hrncloj(hict>jlHS of various writers. 



L. 1. al'leni. (To Dr. J. A. Allen, first president of the A. 0. U.) Allex's Willow Ptar- 

 .MiGAX. New^foundland Willow Ptarmigax. Like the last; said to be distinguished 

 by having both secondaries and primaries black-shafted, and these and some of the coverts 

 marked on their webs with blacUish. Newfoundland only. L. alha alleni Stej. Auk, Oct. 

 1884, ji. .'J(J9. L. lagopus alleni Kiugw. Man. 1887, p. 113; A. 0. U. No. 301 a. 

 L. rupes'tris. (Lat. rupestris, relating to rupis, a. rock; rupestrine.) Rock PTARMIGAN. 

 Bill slenderer for its length tlian that of lagopus, its depth at base under 0.40, and less than 

 distance from nasal fossa to tip; wh<de cuhnen 0.67; bill always black. J 9 > •" winter: As 

 in L. lagopus, but a black transocular or loral stripe. ^ 9)1" summer: Plumage, ex- 

 cepting umch of wings, and tail, barred with blackish-brown and brownish-yellow, niostly iu 

 rather coarse zigzags, but also blotched on the back. Lower i)arts except breast and siiies 

 white in $. Rather smaller than lagopus. Length 13.00-14.75; win-x 7.00-7.50; tail 4.50. 

 The black stripe on the head is usually evident at all seasons, but may be lacking iu the 9- 

 Arctic America, including S(»me parts of Greenland ; nm S. to the U. S. ; supposed not to occur 

 from N. Labrador northward, tliat region being prudently reserved for L. r. reinhardti ; allowed 

 on tliose Alt;utian islands wliich are not reserved by the classifiers for some other Rock Ptar- 

 migan ; N. Asia; Iceland. The bird has never been found S. of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 or anywhere in the U. S. except Alaska. It is a near relative of the Kumpean L. viutus or 

 alpinus, indistincuishablo in winter plumage, separable in summer. In North America its 

 breethni,' rantje is practically coincident with its general distribution. In the Barren Grounds, 

 of which the Rocker is so characteristic, tlie egps are laid in June and July: they rescmblo 

 those of lagopus, but average fewer, usually (5-10, rarely mi»re ; tliey are al.so darker and nither 

 smaller: sizr about 1-70 X IIi^- "The summer plum:ige is assumed at variable periods of 



