THE OREGON BUFFED GROUSE. 69 



western Oregon, and northwestern California, it having been taken near Huni- 

 holdt Bay. Like the preceding, it is a constant resident and breeds wherever 

 found, its general habits differing in no particular from those of its allies. In 

 central Washington and Oregon it intergradea with the Canadian Ruffed Grouse, 

 the majority of specimens approaching closer to the last-mentioned race. 



According to Dr. Suckley, owing to the mildness of the season in the vicinity 

 of Fort Steilacoom, the males commence drumming aa early as January, and 

 in February they are heard to drum throughout the night. In the autumn 

 they collect in great numbers in the crab-apple thickets near the salt marshes 

 at the mouths of the rivers emptying into Puget Sound. There they feed for 

 about six weeks on the ripe fruit of the northwestern crab-apple, the Pyrus 

 rivularis of Nuttall. 1 



Nidification begins about the middle of April and lasts sometimes till late 

 in June. April 14 is the earliest date I have on which eggs have been found 

 a record given me by Prof. O. B. Johnson, of the Washington University, 

 Seattle, Washington. 



The number of eggs to a set varies from seven to thirteen, rarely more. 

 A small set of six, partly incubated, were collected for me near North Saanich, 

 Vancouver Island, British Columbia, June 28, 187(>; probably a second laying, 

 the first brood having been destroyed. The nest, a slight hollow in the ground 

 scratched out by the bird, was placed under the fallen branches of a spruce tree. 

 The cavity was lined with dead leaves and spruce needles, as well as a feu 

 feathers. This nest was found close to a small creek and was well concealed. 

 Mr. A. W. Anthony found a nest in a similar situation near Beaverton, Oregon, 

 on May 16, 1885. It contained seven eggs and incubation had commenced. A 

 sino-le brood is usually reared in a season. 



The average measurement of twenty specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection is 41 by 30.5 millimetres, the largest egg of the series 

 measuring 44 by 31.5, the smallest 38 by 29 millimetres. The type specimen 

 (No. 6886, PI. 2, Fig. 4) was taken by Mr. James Hepburne, near Victoria, 

 British Columbia, in the spring of 1862. 



24. Lagopus lagopus (LINN^US). 



WILLOW PTARMIGAN. 



Tetrao lagopus LINNAEUS, Systoma Naturae, ed. 10, I, 1758, 159. 

 Lagopus layopus STEJNEGER, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, vm, 1885, 20. 

 (B 467, 470, C 38G, R 474, C 5GS, U 301.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : Northern portions of northern hemisphere, south in 

 winter, in America to Sitka, Alaska, the British provinces, and occasionally within 

 the northern border of the United States. 



The breeding range of the Willow Ptarmigan, or Willow Grouse, is con- 

 fined to the Arctic regions of America, the so-called fur countries, seldom 



History of North Americau Birds, 1874, B. B. and R., Vol. HI, p. 454. 



