58 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 14 



concerned. 1 am ol' tlie opinion that tuyata only should be listed from the state, 

 and that those birds showing the characters of umbelloides should be considered 

 individual variants. Until more extensive collecting has been done, this appears 

 to be the best solution of the problem. 



i)9. Lag-opus lagopus lagopus (Linnaeus) 



Willow Ptarmigan 



Three birds of this species were taken in the Glacier National Park in the 

 winter of 1918-14 (Stanford, 1914, p. 899). These are now mounted and dis- 

 played in the lobby of the Glacier Park Hotel, 



100. Lagopus leucurus leucurus (Swainson) 



White-tailed Ptarmigan 



Resident of the high mountains of the northwestern part of the state, south 

 to northern Lewis and Clark County along the continental divide. Found in 

 several ranges west of the divide, but just where the southern limit occurs in 

 these ranges is not determined. Records: Bitterroot Mountains and St. ]\rary's 

 Lake (Bendire, 1892, p. 83) ; Teton and northern Lewis and Clark counties 

 (Saunders, 1914a, p. 181) ; Glacier National Park, found about Sperry Glacier 

 and other high points. There are no data on the nesting of this species in the 

 state, but broods of lialf grown young may be seen in Glacier Park early in 

 August. One was taken in the Beartooth Mountains of Ctirbon County by 

 sportsmen (Thomas, MS). 



101. Tympanuchus americanus americaims (Reichenbach) 



Praikie Chicken 



One bird taken by John R. Bane on the Hervey Bench, southwest of Hunt- 

 ley, in the fall of 1917 (Thomas, MS). At present the only record for the state. 



102. Pedioecetes phasianellus columbianus (Ord) 



Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse 



A fairly common permanent resident of the mountain valleys in the western 

 half of the state, intergrading eastward with ((iiHpr.'ifris. The line between tlu; 

 ranges of this and the next subspecies is not very well worked out. but it is pr-oba- 

 ble that west of the divide all ])ir(ls belong to coJiunbinn^is. Those from mountain 

 valleys east of tlie divide have proven mostly iutergrades, while those of the 

 prairies are probably caynpestrix, though some specimens, from as far east as 

 the Dakota border show the characters of the western race. 



This hii-d was Foriiiei'ly very conunon, but is becoming rarer each year, 

 though, except in the vicinity of the larger cities, it still occurs in considerable; 

 numbers. It is confined to open grass lands and grain fields of tlie valleys though 

 occasionally found among eottonwoods and willows or pine hills in winter. Tt 

 is not found in the mountains, nor anvwhere hii,dier tiian the Transition /one. 



