228 The Ptarmigan Family 



and the officers of the fur company. But of late 

 many settlers have invaded the once lonely 

 ranges, and the destruction has, as a natural con- 

 sequence, been vastly increased. 



Scientists claim that the ptarmigan is in a con- 

 tinuous state of moult, and the writer is inclined 

 to this belief, as he cannot recall the handling 

 of a specimen which did not somewhere show 

 imperfectly developed feathers. The late winter 

 birds naturally showed least trace of it, but the 

 skinning of specimen after specimen in the win- 

 ter dress betrayed the correctness of the scien- 

 tific view. The process of changing from the 

 white to the summer plumage is a gradual one, 

 it being no uncommon thing to see every phase 

 of it among the birds of one small area. Some 

 will show a few darker feathers on the neck, 

 others look not unlike small-pile game-fowl, 

 while others again are piebald. The autumnal 

 change to the white is much more abrupt. The 

 writer once went to the wilds of Quebec in quest 

 of specimens for mounting, and the best he could 

 get showed only a trifle of white on the lower 

 parts. About two weeks later he received a 

 number of very fair white birds from the same 

 grounds which had failed to show him a speci- 

 men. That the plumage had changed in that 

 time only corroborated the statements of the resi- 

 dents, who had promised plenty of white birds 

 within a couple of weeks. 



