Bird Life; of North Dakota 35 



102. Arcnaria interprcs vtorincUa (Linnaeus), Ruddy Turnstone. 

 JuDD, 1917, p. 15; tolerably common around Rock Lake in 1895. 



Tliis species was not seen in July and August, 1920, but at Devils Lake 

 in 192 1 they were very common after May 23, when about fifty were seen, 

 until June 11, when they left the lake. From May 25 to June 5 hundreds 

 were seen each day feeding or resting along the rocky shores of Creel Bay 

 and Fort Totten Bay. These were all in breeding plumage and quite tame. 



103. Bonasa umbellus iimbcUoidcs (Douglas). Gray Ruffed Grouse. 



Keeney, 1875, p. 220; found ruffed grouse along the Red River in scrub timber 

 near Fargo, October, 1875. Judd, 1917, p. 15; common in the Turtle Mountains. 



The species was found to be very common in the timber of the Turtle 

 Mountains in July and August, 1920. There were twelve mounted specimens 

 in the museum at the State Fish Hatchery at Lake Upsilon, which had been 

 taken in the vicinity. Most of these birds were light gray with black ruffs 

 and tail bands, but a few were a dark reddish chestnut with red ruff's and 

 copper tail bands. Mr. Alfred Eastgate, who has collected many of these 

 birds, says that both the red and gray forms occur in the same covey. My 

 own experience agrees with this and suggests a dichromatic phase. 



In the Museum of Zoology Collection are seventeen specimens from the 

 Turtle Mountains, ten with gray-colored tails and seven with brown- or 

 chestnut-colored tails ; all but two have black ruffs and tail bands ; the excep- 

 tions have chestnut-colored ruffs and copper-colored tail bands. This seems 

 to be almost the extreme of the red phase, for I saw but one other in North 

 Dakota that had more of the red color. 



104. Lagopus lagopus lagopus (Linnaeus). Willow Ptarmigan, 



Mr, Russell Reid reports that a poorly mounted specimen taken October, 

 1909, in the Kildeer Mountains, Dunn County, was sent to J. D. Allen, at 

 Mandan, 



The species is a, straggler or accidental winter visitant in the state. Sen- 

 ator Lewis F, Crawford, of Sentinel Butte, writes that he has seen one 

 specimen, killed a few years ago in the western part of the state near Kildeer. 

 This is probably the specimen referred to above, 



105. Tyinpanuchus amcricanus americanus (Reichenbach), Prairie Chicken. 



Thompson, 1890, pp. 514-515; in 1883 it began to be common at Pembina. Judd, 

 1017, p. 1=;: common summer resident. 



The species seems to gradually follow the settlement of the country and 

 to now have a quite general distribution over the state in the prairie regions. 

 There were thirty or more, August 9, 1921, in one flock near Bottineau, 

 fifteen miles south of the United States boundary. A few were seen near 

 Grafton in the Red River Valley, about forty miles south of Pembina, where 

 Dr. Coues did not find it in 1873. A few were found at Medora and at 

 Williston residents said it was common. 



