WILLOW PTARMIGAN 185 
after that date there was a gradual whitening of the 
primaries, and in many cases only the shafts were 
white. 
“During the last two migrations, taking the best 
years, 1895 and 1904, I took some trouble to try and 
find out approximately how many birds were killed 
between certain points. During the first year men- 
tioned, between Mingan and Godbout, 175 miles of 
coast, 30,000 were killed. In the second (1904), 
14,000, but I am sure that during 1885 nearly 60,000 
must have been shot or snared. When a flight begins, 
every man, woman and boy able to handle a gun is out. 
To avoid accidents, which are very rare indeed, each 
gun occupies a certain point or station, and shoots at 
all the birds that pass or light in his vicinity. The 
ladies keep watch of those that may light near the 
houses. The bags vary, of course, according to the 
skill of the shooter and his method of shooting. If he 
is there for business he will take all the pot shots. He 
can frequently get five or six in one shot. I have seen 
fourteen killed in a single shot. A few will only shoot 
on the wing, but there are many days when the wing 
shooter comes out ahead. The biggest bag I ever 
made (it was in 1885), shooting at flying birds, was 
eighty-two brace in one morning. At Caribou Islands, 
that winter, nets were tried, but they were not very 
successful, more being got by shooting. Indians fre- 
quently snare them by setting their snares around wil- 
low clumps, where the birds feed. It is a very simple 
arrangement. A twig is stuck in the snow, a twine 
