ROCK PTARMIGAN 189 
of the surrounding vegetation that usually when dis- 
covered she is seen only by accident. 
In Alaska the eggs are laid in May and in the Bar- 
ren Grounds somewhat later, usually between the mid- 
dle of June and July. The eggs are quite like those 
of the willow ptarmigan, but are slightly smaller. The 
ground color runs from cream color to yellowish, and 
the spots and blotches vary from a dark brown to a 
claret red. Sometimes these spots are so numerous as 
almost to hide the ground color. 
Reinhardt’s ptarmigan, a sub-species of the rock 
grouse, is found in Greenland and throughout Labra- 
dor, and Mr. L. M. Turner, whose notes on the birds 
of Labrador and Ungava are so familiar to ornitholo- 
gists, tells us about all that is known of it. He says 
that it prefers open ground, and rarely enters even the 
skirts of the wooded tracts. 
“The mating season begins in May, and during this 
period the male acts in the strangest manner to secure 
the affection of its mate. He does not launch high 
in the air and croak like the willow ptarmigan, but 
runs around his prospective bride with tail spread, 
wings dragging like those of the common turkey, or 
else with head and neck stretched out and breast in 
contact with the ground, pushing himself in this man- 
ner by the feet, which are extended behind. The male 
at this time ruffles every feather of his body, twists his 
neck in various positions, and the supra-orbital pro- 
cesses are swollen and erect. He utters a most peculiar 
sound, something like a growling kurr-kurr, and as 
