146 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
the breeding season. A native takes a stuffed skin of 
a cock and secure it to a stick thrust in the body. He 
then seeks a spot where a pair are busily occupied with 
their marital duties, and, fastening a small net, which 
he carries with him, to the ground, places the decoy bird 
near it. In a few moments the live male sees it and 
comes immediately forward ready for a fight, frequently 
seizing the counterfeit and pulling and tugging at it with 
great determination. While so engaged the net is 
dropped over him, and his warfare is soon finished. 
Like the Ruffed Grouse and other members of the 
family, the Ptarmigan frequently passes the night under 
the snow, diving into it head first, and emerging again 
in the morning with a sudden leap into the air. Neither 
when entering or leaving the snow is a foot ever put 
upon it, and this precaution is doubtless to prevent the 
discovery of the bird’s hiding place by any quadruped 
who might otherwise be able to track it by following the 
scent left by the feet, and pounce upon it in its sleeping 
quarters. Doubtless many perish in such places by a 
crust forming during the night, when the birds would be 
imprisoned, but probably, in the high latitudes in which 
Ptarmigan usually dwell, thaws are very infrequent 
and the danger from that source much lessened. The 
change from the summer dress to the pure white one of 
winter takes place in the autumn, and is effected much 
more rapidly than is the assumption of the summer 
plumage. The feathers change on the abdomen first 
and on the back and head last, the reverse of the spring 
moult. In the far North this bird, together with the 
caribou, constitutes the most important food supply 
of the natives of those bleak regions, without which they 
would frequently be in danger of starvation; but the birds 
abound in such numbers, and they are naturally so fear- 
