GROUSE 



23 



WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN 

 Lagopus leucurus leucurus (Su'oiiisini', 



A. O. U. Number J04 



Other Names. — Mountain Quail ; Snow Grouse ; 

 Rocky Mouiuaiii Snow Grouse; White Quail. 



Description. — Length, 13 inches. Entire foot feath- 

 ered ; tail less than -,! length of wing; tail-coverts 

 reaching to end of tail. .'Xnui.TS in Summkr: Tail, 

 most of wing, and lower parts from tjreast, pure white; 

 rest of plumage, finely marked with grayish-brown, 

 white, and black, varying with almost every specimen. 

 .Adults in Winter: Entirely snoz>.' ti7ii(.-; bill, black. 

 Young: Tail, gray. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On ground in open situa- 

 tions ; sometimes a mere depression in the ground, at 

 others, quite a well-built structure of grass, leaves, and 

 weed stalks, lined with feathers. Eggs: 10 to 16, pale 

 buffy or light rusty-brown spotted or marbled with 

 small dots or burnt-sienna over entire surface. 



Distribution. — Rocky Mountains from northern 

 l!rili^.ll Columbia and central .Mberta south to Van- 

 couver Island, Washington, northwestern Montana, 

 Colorado, and northern New Mexico. 



It was on Piegan Pas.s in Glacier National 

 Park, Montana, that I first saw the White-tailed 

 Ptarmigan. An hour before we had left the 

 tree line behind and had since been climbing 

 steadily. Snow fields were all about us and beds 

 of heather were abundant, in fact it was clear 

 that we were now in the heart of the Ptarmigan 

 country. We had all but reached the stniimil 

 when stiddenly, within thirty feet of the trail and 

 almost on a level with my eyes, as I sat on my 

 horse, a Ptarmigan appeared with five young. 

 Their color matched their stirroundings so nearly 

 that liad they elected to sit still no eye in the 

 party would have detected them. A low cluck- 

 ing call from the mother bird was the only sound 

 we heard. She exhibited no uneasiness and made 



no move to leave. Twenty minutes later, when 

 a halt was made and some of us walked back 

 with our cameras, the little family was still in 

 the same place, and readily allowed themselves to 

 be photographed at a distance of twelve feet. 

 1 lere on these Al])inc heights the Ptarmigan lives, 

 with the Rosy Finches and the Pipits for its 

 neighbors. 



In winter when all the world tlie Ptarmigan 

 knows is covered deep in snow, we find that 

 nature has also worked a miracle with the bird, 

 for then its plumage is of snowy whiteness. In 

 few birds is protective coloration exhibited to 

 such an extent as in these Ptarmigans that live 

 along " the top of the world." 



T. Gilbert Pearson. 



Photo by Nelson W. Logue Courtesy of Nat. Asso. Aud. Soc. 



WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGANS IN SUMMER PLUMAGE 

 Male Female 



Taken July 14, 1905, at Willow Lake, Colorado, above the timber line, elevation 11,500 feet. All the white is snow 



