594 



THE WHITE-TAILEU i'TARxMIGAN. 



iml a littk' llatU'rins;. The cmurast hftwcen tlic cock ami the lien in appear- 

 ance anil l)eha\inr was quite striking'. The male carried himself jauntily with 

 perking head and, at times, erected tail. 'I"he hen moved quietly, and sat 

 motionless as often as I forbore photographic persecution. 



The bird called "The Sluiskin Ptarmigan" was a male, banished, I took 

 it, while his male was incubating. He was startled from a heather bed 



between v^hiiskin Falls and the Stevens 

 Glacier, on the flanks of Mount Rainier. 

 The guileless fellow had no notion of 

 dying at first, and as often as I did not 

 press acquaintance fell to feeding on 

 the tender roots of the False Heather. 

 When the telephoto lens was replaced 

 b\- the Heliar, and a closer view de- 

 manded, lie sought to escape by scam- 

 pering past me into the weeds. Failing 

 in this, he retreated, somewhat sulkily, 

 t(i the edge of the snow-bank and halt- 

 ed while the photographer remarked 

 "Look i)leasant, please" at four feet. 

 iUil the bird could lly. Bless you, yes! 

 So when the sitting was quite over, he 

 lii'st ran tnft\- feet, paused, then 

 launched into tjie air with a rattling 

 wlu'rr, finishing with a sail on stiftened 

 wing, which carrier! him quite out of 

 sight. 



.\t the close of the nesting season 

 .-ind before the autumnal moult, 

 I'tarmigans sometimes become unac- 

 countaliK- wil<l. I Ikuc known tlicm to 

 llv with wild outcries at a hundred 

 yards, and this repeatedly, so that there 

 was no mistaking their terror. Yet it 

 is practically certain that these particu- 

 lar birds had never seen man before, 

 and in an earlier mood they might have 

 submitted to handling. Their shrieks 

 upon such occasions are altogether out of keeping with their previous mild 

 character, and we can onl\- suppose that growing pains or something in their 

 diet gets upon the nerves at this season. 



The mother bird clucks to her brood like anv old hen. and both birds 



I'rojii ii /';.•, I/, 1^1-, i/'/i, i.','l-'yi t.^lil , iQciN. hy 

 W. L. Dawson. 



THE SI.UISKIN PTAKMIG.\N-TH1-: W IiM';. 



