590 THE WHITE-TAILED PTA RMIGAN, 
fearlessly exposing her person, until she is assured that the babies are all safe. 
At such times she utters a whining sound, or adds to it a vocal undertone, 
dsut dsut dsut deut, which is not unlike the chittering of a chipmunk or a 
Chickadee. The youngsters peep lustily, once the ban of silence has been 
removed, and if the bird-watcher lingers quietly, he may hear the motherly 
clucking which reassembles the brood. 
The food of the Bush Pheasants consists largely of insects, worms, 
seeds, buds, green leaves, and berries. They are fond of the fruit of 
the Cascara, which they gather from the ground; and wild crab-apples are 
favorites in season. These last ripen about the middle of October, and from 
that time until the alders bud again these Grouse are often to be found in 
evergreen trees. 
No. 235. 
WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. 
A. O. U. No. 304. Lagopus leucurus Swains. & Rich. 
Synonyms.—Mountain Grouse. SNow Grouse. “Foor HEN.” 
Description.—Adults in full summer dress: Head and neck all around, 
forebreast and upperparts, including scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and central 
pair of rectrices, white, mottled and barred with black, finely upon head and 
neck, broadly elsewhere, the black, in turn, except on breast, finely barred and 
vermiculated with ochraceous tawny or grayish brown; remaining plumage, in- 
cluding wings and tail (with exceptions noted) pure white; bill and nails black. 
Adults in winter: Entire plumage pure white. Specimens in summer plumage 
vary interminably both in the amount and intensity of the black and ochraceous 
or tawny, the coloration of the central pair of tail-feathers being apparently the 
last character assumed in this moult. “Young: Above light brownish gray, or 
grayish brown, densely vermiculated with black, and with scattered irregular 
patches of the same; two outer quills partly white, four innermost ones entirely 
white, the rest dull grayish; tail-feathers mottled brownish like back; anterior 
and lateral lower parts dull buffy, irregularly barred, vermiculated and spotted 
with black ; rest of lower parts plain dull buffy grayish white” (Ridgway). Length 
of adult: 13.00-14.00 (330.2-355.6); wing 7.00-7.25 (177.8-184.2); tail 3.50 
(88.9). 
Recognition Marks.—Little Hawk size; mottled black of upperparts, and 
pure white of wings, tail and underparts of summer plumage unmistakable, 
Nesting.—.Vest: a grass-lined depression, in heather-bed or on grassy slope 
near timber-line. Eggs: 8 or 10, sometimes 14, creamy buff or pale ruddy, 
speckled and round-spotted, rather sparingly, with burnt sienna, Av. size, 1.78 x 
1.16 (45.2% 29.5). Season: June, July; one or two broods, 
