XIV 



THE PTARMIGAN 



THE ptarmigan is the smallest of all the grouse and 

 is only found in the Arctic regions and high up 

 in our Western mountains. It is fond of the snow, and, 

 like the Northern hare and some other birds and animals, 

 it turns white in winter for protection. The variety 

 makers have been especially industrious with this race 

 and have given us a long line of sub-species, but they 

 are all small birds, gray and brown in summer and 

 pure white in winter, excepting the tail, which contains 

 black feathers in most of the varieties. The white-tailed 

 ptarmigan is the bird seen on the alpine summits of 

 the mountains of Western North America, from Mex- 

 ico to British America. This bird was some years 

 ago fairly abundant in the mountains of Colorado, but 

 it is now rare in most places. A friend who had some 

 mines well up in the mountains told me that the birds 

 came down to their camps in winter and that his miners 

 killed many of them. They were not very wild and 

 not difficult marks. Many no doubt were shot sitting, 

 and it is no wonder that as the number of shot-guns 

 increased, these handsome birds diminished. 



Although I went several times to the mountain tops 

 in the Rocky Mountains to look for these birds, I never 

 was fortunate enough to see one alive. 



In Alaska they are quite abundant, and the Indians 



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