WILLOW GROUSE AVIllTE PTARMIGAN. 173 



hia presence known by i^i^'iiig uttcrivnce to veiy peculiiir 

 I'ouo-h notes, indicative of alarm and distress at the ]>ro- 

 ceedings. In one instance a nest was found in the midst 

 of a clump of very small stunted willows, within thirty 

 feet of the spot where Mr. Mac Farlane's tent was pitched. 

 This was on the 21st of June, but the nest escaped notice 

 until the 22d of July, when the female was almost trodden 

 on as she was sitting on her eggs, where she had probably 

 had her nest during their entire stay. The eggs were 

 warm when taken, and their contents were slightly de- 

 veloped. During the night the male Ptarmigan disturbed 

 the encampment bj^ keeping up a constant utterance of 

 his rough and rather unpleasant notes. In another in- 

 stance the female fluttered off, calling, and pi-etending to 

 be badly wounded ; while the male bird, in the vicinity. 

 made his near presence known by the loud manner in which 

 he expressed his disapprobation of such proceedings. 



In one instance where an Indian had found a nest of 

 this Ptarmigan, which then contained seven eggs, the fe- 

 male was seen, and the notes of the male bird were heard. 

 He placed a snare about the eggs, but on returning to the 

 nest a few hours afterwards, he was surprised to find that 

 six of the eggs had disajipeared during his brief absence. 

 He supposed a fox had taken them ; but as no egg-shells 

 were left behind, Mr. Mac Farlane has no doubt they were 

 removed b}- the parent birds. 



When the young are hatched they follow the parents, 

 both of whom keep about them, and display great courage 

 and devotion whenever there is any occasion, suffering 

 themselves to be very closely approached, and utterly re- 

 gardless of consequences in their desire to save their 

 young. The latter are very hard to recognize, owing to 

 their close resemblance to the grass, in which they squat, 

 and remain perfectly still. 



In September and October of each season these Ptarmi- 

 gan assemlde in large flocks, but during winter seldom 

 more than two or three dozen were ever noticed in single 

 companies. They would often alight and feed in the im- 



