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Bird - Lore 



and stretched out their necks, looking after him — then I took the 

 picture. 



After quenching their thirst at the tunnel the birds would start 

 up the hill, feeding as they went and acting much like a flock of 

 domestic fowls. They fed on grass and weed seeds, with an occa- 

 sional fly or other insect, which the young would often chase. 



The picture of the two birds in winter plumage was taken in 

 November, 1899, near the summit of Mt. Emmons, just across from 

 Redwell Basin, where I made my summer pictures. A heavy snow 

 had fallen in October, but after that the weather had settled and 



PTARMIGAN IN SPRING CHANGING TO SUMMER PLUMAGE 



melted the snow so that it was not bad traveling ; in fact, even to 

 the very top of the mountain there were bare spots. Here I found 

 these two Ptarmigan, young birds, I think, as they did not appear to 

 be quite full grown, and possibly some of those I had photographed 

 two months before. Like the others they were tame, and I could get 

 as close as I wished to them, the bare ground giving a contrasting 

 background for their white winter plumage. The picture of the bird 

 in winter plumage, on the snow, with part of a man on skis near by, 

 was taken in the valley of East River, about four miles east of 

 Crested Butte, in March, 1900. Here, among the willows in the 

 river bottom, were quite a good many Ptarmigan, some of which 

 were quite shy. Snowshoes, ten -foot Norwegians, or skis, were a 



