In North- West Canada. 97 



will be found at Morley. Of winged game, the dusky or 

 Richardson's grouse, is plentiful in the wooded foothills above 

 Morley, they are found especially numerous northward among 

 the high bluffs, which are covered with dense pine trees. 

 They are also found in Northern Montana. A set of nine 

 eggs in my collection, collected north of Morley, June 4th, 

 1890, were taken from a nest made on the ground, near a 

 fallen tree ; the nest consisted of a hollow in the ground, 

 lined with leaves, and the eggs are rich, creamy buff, finely 

 spotted all over with reddish brown, and average 1.85x1.30. 

 The white-tailed ptarmigan also inhabits this section of the 

 Rocky Mountains. They are found above the timber line, 

 among the craggs of the highest peaks ; the nest is merely a 

 depression in the ground, lined with grass, and the eggs are 

 light buff brown, thickly spotted with chocolate brown, size 

 1.68x1.15, The eggs of this bird are difficult to obtain, and 

 are exceedingly rare in collections. 



The willow ptarmigan also breeds in the Rocky Mountains 

 of Alberta; although the birds are plentiful, the eggs are diffi- 

 cult to procure. They breed in the valleys, and do not ascend 

 to the highest peaks like the white-tailed ptarmigan. The 

 willow ptarmigan is common in Northern Europe, and I have 

 a large series of eggs collected in Lapland. The nests are de- 

 scribed as being merely hollows in the ground, lined with 

 grass and leaves, and the number of eggs to a clutch is from 

 eight to twelve. The eggs of this bird are very handsome, 

 varying from a ground colour of cream to yellowish buff, 

 thickly spotted with rich brown and black. They are, how- 

 ever, surpassed in beauty of colouring by the eggs of the rock 

 ptarmigan, although both Mr. Ridgway and Mr. Oliver Davie 

 say the reverse. In "Nests and Eggs of North American Birds," 

 by Oliver Davie, it is stated that " the eggs of the rock ptar- 

 migan, with certainty, cannot be distinguished from those of 

 the willow ptarmigan, but are described as usually less heavily 

 spotted arid less densely marked, averaging lighter in colour 

 and less in size." Now I have found this to be just the reverse 

 as regards colour and marking; although the eggs of the rock 



