182 GROUSE, BOB-WHITES, ETC. 



the warmer region of its range it roosts habitually among the thickets 

 of evergreen. — Ernest E. Thompson. 



300a<. B. u. togSitSi (Linn.). Canadian Ruffed Grouse; Par- 

 tridge. — To be distinguished from the preceding by the prevailing color of 

 the upper parts, which are gray instead of rufous, and the more distinctly 

 barred under parts, the bars on the breast and belly being nearly as well de- 

 fined as those on the side ; the tail is generally gray. 



Range. — Nova Scotia, northern half of Maine, northern Vermont, New 

 Hampsliire, and New York northward and westward to Hudson Bay and 

 Oregon. 



301* liagopus la<gopus {Linn.). Willow Ptarmigan. Ad. $ in 



summer. — Prevailing color above rufous, or black thickly barred or mottled 

 with rufous and bufty or whitish ; tail fuscous, tipped with white ; middle 

 tail-feathers like the back ; throat, breast, and sides like the head and neck ; 

 belly white. Ad. $ iti summer.— 'Similar to the male, but the bars both above 

 and below broader and more numerous. Winter plumage. — Outer tail-feathers 

 as in summer, rest of the plumage white. L., 15'00 ; W., 7'50 ; T., 4'40 ; B. 

 from N., -42; depth of B. at N., -44. 



Remarks. — Both this species and its subspecies alleni may be distinguished 

 from our other Ptarmigans by their more rufous color and larger bills. 



Range. — " Northern portions of the northern hemisphere, south in winter; 

 in America to Sitka, Alaska, the British Provinces, and^occasionally within 

 the northern border of the United States" (Bendire). 



Nest, on the ground. LJggs, seven to eleven, varying from cream-butf to 

 rufous, heavily spotted and blotched with blackish, 1'75 x 1-20. 



This abundant and characteristic arctic bird does not nest south of 

 central Labrador, but migrates southward in winter to the St. Law- 

 rence, and has once been taken in northern New York and once in 

 New Brunswick. An extended account of its habits will be found in 

 Nelson's Report on Natural History Collections made in Alaska, p. 131. 

 It is quoted by Captain Bendire in his Life Histories of American 

 Birds (p. 70), where will be found practically all we know concerning 

 the habits of this and the following members of this genus. 



301a/. Li. 1. alleni Stejn. Allen^s Ptarmigan. — Diifers from the pre- 

 ceding in having the "shafts of secondaries black, and quills (sometimes a 

 few of the wing-coverts also) more or less blotched or mottled with duskv. 

 Summer plumages and young unknown" (Eidgvv.). 



Range. — Newfoundland. 



*' It frequents rocky barrens, feeding on seeds and berries of the 

 stunted plants that thrive in these exposed situations" (Merriam, 

 Orn. and Ool., viii, 1883, p. 43). 



302. Liagopusrupestris(6^mg/.). Kock Ptarmigan; Rocker. Ad. 

 i in summer. — General color above grayish, the feathers black basally ; head 



