WILLOW PTARMIGAN. 145 
small to take care of themselves. The Indians destroy 
a great many, for chicken Grouse, even if still in the egg, 
is considered a great delicacy by them. 
During the winter Ptarmigan feed on the small twigs 
of the willow and various bushes, and as the snow dis- 
appears, on any berries that may have remained from the 
last autumn, frozen though they may be, and later, on 
insects of various kinds. In the spring the birds make 
a partial migration, coming from the shelter of the valleys 
and forests, where they have passed the winter, into the 
open country when the bare spots left by the vanishing 
snow begin to appear. In the autumn also they seek 
the shelter of the woods and travel to the southward, and 
when the snow has covered the landscape these birds, 
when migrating, assemble in great flocks, sometimes 
amounting to many thousands, and the noise of their 
myriad wings, as the great host rises from the ground, 
makes, as it has been expressed, “both the air and 
earth to tremble.” When young the flesh of the Ptar- 
migan is white and delicate, but that of the adult is dark 
and of little flavor, save when the bird has been feeding 
on the buds of the willow, when it is rather bitter. 
Immense numbers are taken in snares by the Esqui- 
maux and Indians of the frozen North; one man 
frequently, in a single day, capturing a_ sledge-load. 
This great slaughter is accomplished while the birds 
are migrating to or from their summer resorts. A 
number of bushes is set out across the line of their 
march and the branches filled with nooses of sinew, 
and the birds come in such great numbers that they 
are captured in thousands, entering the snares so 
fast that a man cannot kill and release them quickly 
enough. Another method is to take advantage of the 
pugnacity and amorous feeling of the male during 
