ated, and evidently was about to perish from exhaustion. Such trag¬ 
edies are common in bird-life. 
Although so far north, Alaska has within its borders several 
species of grouse. The sharp-tailed grouse ranges westward from 
the Yukon Territory, in Canada, to the vicinity of Fairbanks on the 
Tanana River. The gray ruffed grouse and the spruce partridge oc¬ 
cupy the forested parts of the interior, and the Oregon ruffed grouse 
and Franklin’s grouse inhabit the forests of the southern parts of 
the Territory. In addition to these handsome birds Alaska is the 
home of several species of ptarmigan, living on the bare mountains, 
or on open tundras, wherever arctic conditions prevail. 
All of the ptarmigan of Alaska have a mottled buff-and-brown 
summer plumage, changing at the approach of winter to an almost 
entirely snowy white one, which is worn until the ground begins to 
become free of snow in spring. Of these grouse the white-tailed 
ptarmigan, which lives above timberline on the bare mountain-tops 
south of the Yukon, is least numerous and not often seen. It may be 
distinguished from the others by its pure white tail, the others having 
black tails hidden under the long overlying white feathers of the 
rump. The rock ptarmigan is a little larger, and is more generally 
distributed than the white-tailed species. The only remaining species, 
the willow grouse, or willow ptarmigan, is generally distributed over 
all the tundras and open barrens of the Alaskan mainland. It is the 
largest and by far the most abundant of all the ptarmigan, and soon 
becomes a familiar bird to everyone who travels across country in 
that region. 
In winter these birds gather in enormous flocks, numbering 
hundreds, along willow-grown bottoms south of the Yukon River. 
When one comes on such a congregation, and the pure white birds 
suddenly take wing, it looks like an explosion of the snowy surface 
of the ground. Small coveys, probably families of the previous sum¬ 
mer, occur here and there wherever food is to be found. Being ground- 
roosting birds, they are in constant danger of being stalked at night 
by foxes, and sometimes by lynxes. In order to avoid making a trail 
likely to lead an enemy to them, these small coveys, when going to 
roost, often fly to the middle of a patch of scrubby alders, or other 
small bushes, and drop into the snow in their midst. Here they re¬ 
main imbedded to the level of their backs in the snow until morning, 
when they take flight by springing straight up, leaving clean-cut 
moulds of their forms, and fan-shaped marks on each side in the snow 
showing where the tips of their wings cut the surface at the first 
30 
