62 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



means merely more food and fewer enemies, the Pelican is too specialized 

 for survival ; it can adapt itself only to insular life and an abundance of 

 fish. It must be saved through the creation of government reservations 

 for the purpose. An important step toward the protection of western 

 water-fowl was taken by President Roosevelt in August, 1908, when he 

 set aside the Lower Klamath Lake and Lake Malheur Reservations. 



The third group carries us to the Canadian Rockies at Ptarmigan 

 Lakes. Li the foreground are White-tailed Ptarmigans in mixed white 

 and brown plumage, for it is the height of the Alpine Spring (July 15) 

 and the birds' white plumage of Winter is giving place to the summer 

 coat. A nest of five spotted eggs is set among gray rocks and lichens, 

 only a few feet from the border of an unmelted snowfield, yet surrounded 

 by the star-like flowers of Dryas, by heather in bloom and by anemones 

 two inches across. One Ptarmigan is shown with six downy chicks in 

 spirited attitudes. The apparent fragility but real endurance of this 

 life is enhanced by what is to be seen on lifting the eyes from the ground, 

 a circle of austere snow-covered mountain peaks and, far below, the 

 ice and blue water of an opening lake. 



The Ptarmigan is a boreal type. It is found as far south as New 

 Mexico, but only at high altitudes, the species possibly having survived 

 in these Arctic-Alpine regions when left stranded there by the retreating 

 ice of the Glacial Period. Ptarmigans not only present one of the most 

 striking cases of coloration like the environment of the season, nor only 

 an instance of gradation of color from above downward to counteract the 

 shadow gradation from below upward and produce the effect of unsub- 

 stantiality, but they also have correlated w^ith this color protection, the 

 instinct to remain motionless in the face of the enemy. 



The fourth group, showing the Sage Grouse, keeps us in the W^est, 

 descending from Alpine regions to the high sage-brush plains of Wyo- 

 ming. The Sage Grouse is the largest of North American game birds 

 with the exception of the Wild Turkey. The group illustrates some of 

 the remarkable performances of the birds at the mating season. 



The remaining two groups, representing the Western Grebe and 

 the Wild Goose, show the rolling treeless plains of Western Canada, 

 at Crane Lake, Saskatchewan. The Grebe group illustrates instincts 

 such as always prove a lin-e afield to the bird student. One parent bird 

 is swimming in stately fashion, while, pee])ing from the warm cradle 

 between her back and wings, four eager and contented young birds are 



