470 



The Outer's Book 



same, except that the ground-color is of a 

 tawny shade, a few black feathers being 

 interspersed. 



So it goes with other subspecies of these 

 birds, and even the scientific ornithologists 

 can easily be misled and make mistakes in 

 identifying the majority of these snow grouse. 

 So it will be just as well to remember the 

 caution of, Mr. D. G. Elliot in his "Game 

 Birds of "North America," when he says, 

 "Comparisons of ptarmigans should be made 

 between individuals not only from the same 

 locality, but also taken in the same month, 

 if possible the same day, for these perplexing 

 birds, beirg in a constant state of moult, a 

 few days difference in their time of capture 

 exhibits much change in their appearance, 

 and one who has not studied them carefully 

 with sufficient material, could easily be led 

 to form an erroneous opinion regarding the 

 status of a subspecific or even a specific 

 form." 



As I have said above, Welch's ptarmigan 

 is a well-marked species of Newfoundland, 

 and Evermann's ptarmigan of Attu, Alaska, 

 is different from any of the foregoing forms 

 (see Fig. 3, Part I.). It is found only upon 

 the Island of Attu. 



Grinnell, in describing Dixon's ptarmigan, 

 says that it resembles Nelson's in the cor- 

 responding plumage, but is much darker; 

 "in extreme blackness of coloration nearly 

 like Lagopus evermanni, but the feathers of 

 chest and back more or less finely vermicu- 

 lated with hazel." 



The Adak ptarmigan (L. r. chamberlaini) 

 differs but slightly from Townsend's ptarmi- 

 gan. 



We have a very distinct species in the 

 white-tailed ptarmigan or the Rocky Moun- 

 tain snow grouse (L. leucurus leucurus) which 

 I here portray in Fig. 13, drawn from speci- 

 mens in the collections of the U. S. National 

 Museum. There is no difficulty in recognizing 

 this bird specimens of which have been sent 

 me in the flesh from Colorado by Mr. Robert 

 B. McLeod of Leadville it being rearer 

 mutus of the Old World than it is to our rock 

 ptarmigan. Both the male and the female 

 are pure white in winter. In summer, 

 the white persists in the lower part of the 

 breast, the wings and the tail white, the 

 remainder of the plumage differing some- 

 what in nearly every specimen is minutely 

 variegated with grayish, brown, tan, and 

 black and white. 



There is but one good subspecies known 

 of the white-tailed ptarmigan, namely the 

 Kenai white-tailed ptarmigan of Alaska as 

 given above. Mr. Chapman, who first de- 

 scribed this form (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist, 

 xvi, 1902, 236), says, "nuptial plumage 



differs from corresponding phase of plumage 

 of L. leucurus in having the black areas of 



Greater extent, the buff areas much paler, 

 n fall, transition or "preliminary" plumage 

 differs from similarly plumaged specimens 

 of L. leucurus in being decidedly grayer." 



This is all I intend to say here about our 

 ptarmigans or snow grouse. Sportsmen will 

 appreciate from what I have collected 

 together for them above that they are a 

 very difficult group of birds to study, 

 especially to indentify the many forms of 

 them in the great and puzzling differences 

 of the plumages, particularly when taking 

 the two sexes, the seasons and ages into 

 consideration. However, there is a good 

 insight into the group given here, which, 

 with a knowledge of their distribution 

 also given and the figures presented, ought 

 to assist almost any one interested in our 

 grouse to make a correct identification; if it 

 does this much, my labor will not have been 

 in vain. 



We next have to deal with an elegant 

 genus of American grouse, the genus Tym- 

 panuchus. known to hunters everywhere as 

 the prairie hens or prairie chickens. There 

 are, in the United States, three species of 

 these, with two subspecies included in the 

 first one. In the A. O. U. "Check-List" 

 they are arrayed thus: 



Tympanuchus americanus: Range Central 

 North America from southern central 

 Canada south to northern Texas to east 

 (formerly) Ohio. 



Tympanuchus americanus americanus: Prai- 

 rie chicken. Range Southeastern Saskat- 

 chewan and southern Manitoba to eastern 

 Colorado, northeastern Texas, Arkansas, 

 western Kentucky, and Indiana; probably 

 extinct east of Indiana, but formerly 

 reached southwestern O.itario, Michigan, 

 and northwestern Ohio. 



TympuniH'hus amrricunus atlwateri: Att- 

 water's Prairie Chicken. Range -Coast 

 region of Texas and southwestern Louisiana. 



Tympanuchus cupido: Heath Hen. Range 

 Island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachu- 

 setts. Formerly southern New England 

 and parts of the Middle States. 



TympatmcktU pallidicinctus: Lesser prairie 

 chicken. Range Great plains, from Kan- 

 sas south to west central Texas. 



The deriviation and meaning of the word 

 Tympanuchus has already been given in 

 I'art I of this series; the meaning of ameri- 

 (iintis is self-evident, and attwatcri is for 

 Mr. H. P. Attwater, to whom Bendire 

 dedicated the subspecies. 



