86 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



"As near as I can decide, they nest about the middle of June and hatch 

 out their young about the middle of July. It is very rarely that a female is 

 seen from the beginning of June until noticed in company with her brood. 

 At this season I have frequently met with the males singly, and sometimes as 

 many as five together ; and I do not think that they take any share in the 

 duties of incubation. 



"I met with two broods, one with, I think, seven chicks just hatched out, 

 and the other of five, nearly two weeks old. The latter showed no white ; they 

 had, in both cases, a general gray appearance; the newly hatched brood was 

 in the downy phase. There was a disposition, clearly proven with the chicks 

 of both broods, to hide when the hen signaled danger; but some of the older 

 ones flushed and flew at least 50 yards. The females were very tame and 

 would not flush-, in fact they could not be induced by mild treatment to leave 

 the place where the young had hidden. They walked around me so close that 

 I could have touched them with my hand, and showed a marked concern for 

 the safety of their broods, clucking in a manner very similar to our domestic 

 hen. I am of the opinion that this species is very much less numerous now 

 than they were ten years ago, and I believe the conditions generally favor a 

 yearly contraction in their numbers; at least this will be the case wherever 

 their summer range is available for stock to graze over." 



The crop of a bird of this species, kindly sent me by Mr. Gale for exami- 

 nation as to the nature of its food, was filled with the buds and catkins of a 

 species of birch, Betula glandulosa. 



The number of eggs to a set are variously stated at from four to fifteen. 

 From eight to ten may be considered a fair average. Notwithstanding the 

 fact that the nests of the White-tailed Ptarmigan are said to have been found 

 repeatedly, but very few of the eggs of this species have as yet found their 

 way into collections. The U. S. National Museum has an incomplete set of 

 four, taken by Mr. A. D. Wilson, one of the chiefs of the Hayden Geological 

 Survey, in the San Juan Mountains, southern Colorado, at an altitude of 12,300 

 feet. He told me that he accidentally stumbled on the nest, while crossing 

 a rocky mesa, on the morning of July 15, 1875. The nest was placed between 

 a couple of lichen-covered rocks, and contained, if he remembered rightly, five 

 or six nearly fresh eggs. The female skulked off as he was in the act of step- 

 ping over her, and hid amongst the rocks some 20 feet away. 



Dr. Elliott Coues, in an article "On the breeding habits, nest, and eggs 

 of the White-tailed Ptarmigan," describes this nest as follows: "The nest in its 

 present, state measures scarcely 5 inches in diameter by about an inch in 

 depth. It thus seems rather small for the size of the bird, but is probably 

 somewhat compressed in transportation. The shape is saucer-like, but with 

 very litle concavity of surface. The bottom is decidedly and regularly convex 

 in all directions, apparently fitting a considerable depression in the ground. 

 The outline is to all intents circular. The nest is rather closely matted, the 

 material interlacing it in all directions, and retains considerable consistency. 



