WILLOW GROUSE ; WHITE PTARMIGAN. 175 



peared, no one could tell where, returning about the mid- 

 dle of March as suddenly as they had gone away, remain- 

 ing a few weeks, then resorting to the mountains and open 

 country to breed. In 1867 they disappeared February 

 15 and returned April 1, leaving for the mountains May 3. 

 The following year they left February 10, returning March 

 21. and left for the mountains April 28, going and coming 

 in large flocks. They begin to moult about the middle of 

 April, the feathers of the head, edges of wings, and upper 

 (ail-coverts, changing first. At this time the capillaries 

 in the skin of the abdomen become engorged with serous 

 fluid, and give to the bird a disgusting appearance. Mr. 

 Dall obtained eggs in an open tundra near the mouth of 

 the Yukon in the latU-r part of June. The female defend- 

 ed her nest bravely, and rather than desert her eggs allow- 

 ed herself to be torn to pieces by a dog. 



Mr. Bannister was also struck with the strong attach- 

 ment shown to each other by both sexes during the breed- 

 ing season. He has known the male bird to sacrifice his 

 own life, rather than desert his wounded mate. He men- 

 tions them as common at St. Michael's and the adjoining 

 mainland during the greater part of the year, but espe- 

 cially abundant in the spring, when they are fouud singly 

 or in pairs all over the country. In the fall and winter 

 they kept more to the thicket of willows. The greater 

 part of them were supposed to have gone into the wooded 

 districts of the interior for better shelter and more abun- 

 dant food. 



The eggs of this species vary considerably in length and 

 breadth, they average about 1.85 inches in length and 1.20 

 in breadth and are oval in shape, one end a little less ob- 

 tuse than the other. They are all beautifully variegated 

 and marked with bold confluent blotches of a dark claret 

 color, upon a ground of a deep cream tinged with a red- 

 rlish shading. Baird, Brewer and Eidgway. 



