GROUSE 



21 



breast, rich chestnut or cinnamon-rufous, top of head 

 spotted with black, chest and neck with bars of the 

 same color; entire upper parts except wings, more 

 brownish-rufous, broadly and closely barred with black; 

 most of the wings and rest of the under parts, white. 

 Adult Female in Summer: Entire plumage except 

 wings, tawny-brown, heavily spotted and barred above, 

 and uniformly barred below with black. Adults 

 IN Wintek; Snowy white; tail-fcalhcrs, black lipped 

 li'ith zchilc: middle pair with tail-coverts which extend 

 to end of tail, white. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A mere depression in the 



ground, lined with leaves, grass, or feathers. Eggs: 

 7 to 12, varying from pale yellowish to dark chestnut- 

 brown, heavily spotted with rich browns and black. 



Distribution. — Arctic regions; in America breeds 

 from northern Alaska, northern Banks Land, and cen- 

 tral Greetdand south to eastern Aleutian Islands, central 

 Mackenzie (in the mountains to west-central Alberta), 

 central Keewatin, James Hay, and southern Ungava; 

 south in winter to northern British Columbia, Sas- 

 katchewan valley, Minnesota, Ontario, and Quebec; 

 accidental in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Maine, 

 and Massachusetts. 



The extreme northern portion of the northern 

 hemisphere is the summer home of the Willow 

 Ptarmigan. Here, often well above the tree line 

 on the boundless moss-covered tundra where 

 the ground thaws only to a de[)th of a few feet, 

 the student may seek for this bird. The rich 

 chestnut-brown plumage in no way renders it 

 consi)icuous in summer and in winter when all 

 the region about it is peqjctually white, the 

 Ptarmigan has a coat as white as the snowy 

 wastes it inhabits. From seven to twelve spotted 

 eggs are laid in the simple grass- or feather- 

 lined nest on the ground. One observer states 

 that all the coloring matter can so be washed 

 from a freshly laid egg that only the pale creamy 

 white of the shell is left. 



The male of many of the Gallinaceous birds, 

 not content with one mate, gathers unlo himself 

 several helpmates. The male Willow Ptarmigan, 

 let us record, is not one of these polygamous 

 individuals. He has only one mate and for her 

 sweet sake he wages furious battles in spring 

 with other covetous blades of the frozen wastes. 

 For her he undergoes punishment and loses 

 many feathers. So frequent and so furious are 

 these battles that apparently few except the 

 strong birds are able to win and be the proud 

 head of a family. Such provision is doubtless wise 

 in a country where the conditions of climate are 

 certainly not ideal for bird-life. During the mat- 

 ing season the male is very noisy and his hoarse 

 calls and hoots may be heard on all sides. The 

 uproar reaches its greatest height between lo 

 P. M. and 2 A. M., this being the period of the 

 twenty-four hours when there is less daylight, 

 and doubtless takes the place of the dawn which 

 birds farther south are fond of making resonant 

 with their songs. 



The Willow Ptarmigan is migratory and after 

 the breeding season retires southward as far as 

 Sitka in south Alaska, and the central Briti.sh 

 provinces. A few have even been known to 

 wander to the northern edge of the United 

 States. 



The food of this bird in summer consists of 

 various insects and herbs. In autumn it finds 

 many berries and in winter it appears to subsist 

 almost entirely on tlie buds and terminal twigs 

 of the dwarf alder and willow that flourish in 

 bush-grown gullies of the tundra. 



Ptarmigans constitute a popular article of diet 

 with the human inhabitants of the Far North. 

 A method at times employed in hunting them is 

 thus described by Mr. E. W. Nelson: 



" At the Yukon mouth on the evening of ^lay 

 24, these Ptarmigans were uttering their hoarse 

 notes all about. As we were sitting by the tent 

 my interpreter took my rifle and going off a short 

 distance worked a hump of snow to about the 

 size of one of these birds. Fixing a bunch of 

 dark-brown moss at one end of the snow to rep- 

 resent the bird's head, he set his decoy upon a 

 bare mossy knoll ; then retiring a short distance 

 behind the knoll he began imitating the call of 

 the male until a bird came whirring along, and 

 taking up the gauntlet lit close by its supposed 

 rival and fell victim to the ruse." 



T. Gilbert Pearson. 



Allen's Ptarmigan ( Lagopus lagopus allcni) 

 is similar to the Willow Ptarmigan, having the 

 same seasonal variations, but in all plumages the 

 pritnaries are usually mottled with fuscous or 

 have some fuscous along the shaft. It occurs on 

 the rocky barrens of Newfoundland and feeds on 

 seeds and berries. 



