THE OKEGON BUFFED GROUlSE. 69 



westei'u Oregon, aud northwestern California, it liaving been taken near Hum- 

 boldt Bay. Like the preceding, it is a constant resid(»nt and breeds wherever 

 found, its general habits differing in no particular from those of its allies. In 

 central Washington and Oregon it intergrades with the Canadian Ruffed Grouse, 

 the majority of specimens approaching closer to the last-mentioned race. 



According to Dr. Suckley, owing to the mildness of the season in the vicinity 

 tif Fort Steilacoora, the males commence drunnning- as early as January, and 

 in February they are heard to drum throughout the night. In the autunm 

 they collect in great numbers in the crab-apple thickets near the salt mai-shes 

 at the mouths of the rivers emptying into Puget Sound. There they fecil for 

 about six weeks on the ripe fruit of the northwestern crab-apjjle, the I'jirHs 



rivularis of Nuttall. 



Nidiiication begins about the middle of April and lasts sometimes till late 

 in June. April 14 is the earliest date I have on which eggs have been found — 

 a record given me by Prof. O. B. Johnson, of the Washington University, 

 Seattle, Washington. 



The number of eggs to a set varies from seven to thirteen, rarely more. 

 A small set of six, partly incubated, were collected for me near North Saanich, 

 Vancouver Island, British Columbia, June 28, 187(!; probably a second laying, 

 the first brood having been destroyed. The nest, a slight hollow in the ground 

 scratched out by the liird, was placed under the fallen branches of a spruce tree. 

 The cavity was lined with dead leaves aud spruce needles, as well as a few 

 feathers. This nest was found close to a small creek and was well concealed. 

 Mr. A. W. Anthony found a nest in a similar situation near Beaverton, Oregon, 

 on May 16, 1885. It contained seven eggs and incubation had commenced. A 

 single brood is usually reared in a season. 



The average measurement of twenty specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection is 41 by 30.5 millimetres, the largest egg of the series 

 measuring 44 by 31.5, the smallest 38 by 29 millimetres. The type specimen 

 (No. 6886, PI. 2, Fig. 4) was taken by ^h: James Ilepbnrne, near Victoria, 

 British Columbia, in the spring of 1862. 



24. Lagopus lagopus (Linn^us). 



WILLOW PTAKMIGAN. 



Tetrao lagnp}is LiNN^us, Systema Natui'ie. ed. 10. i, 17.5S. l.'iO. 

 Layupus la<ju2)tis Stejneger, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, vill, 1885, 30. 

 (B ir>7. 470. C 38G, R 47-1, C 508, U .-iOl.) 



Geographical range : Northern portions of northern hemisphere, south in 

 winter, in America to Sitka, Alaska, the Bi'itisli ])roviuces, aud occasionally within 

 the ntjrthern Ijorder of the United States. 



The breeding range of the Willow Ptarmigan, t>r Willow Grouse, is con- 

 fined to the Arctic regions of America, the so-called fur countries, seldom 



' History of North Americau Birds, 1874, B. B. and K., Vol. iii, p. 454. 



