to discern against the blank whiteness of their surroundings. Even 

 when fresh foot-prints in the snow and occasional calls told of their 

 near vicinity I have often found myself to be within but a few yards 

 of the birds before they would take flight with startling whirr of 

 wings and hoarse notes of alarm ; then, as one would alight at some 

 distance, it would seemingly vanish from the sight, not infrequently 

 defying rediscovery altogether. 



On the occasional cloudless day, when the sun shines unob- 

 structed, even white objects are brought out in sharp relief by the 

 long, dark shadows cast upon the snow. If approached at right 

 angles to the rays from the sun, ptarmigans may then be discerned at 

 several hundred yards distance ; but they are then shy, for they have 

 a marvelous way of appearing to know whether or not the hunter is 

 actually aware of their exact whereabouts. 



During the eight months of winter, the willow ptarmigans feed 

 upon the buds and tender terminal twigs of the dwarf alder and wil- 

 low, and virtually upon nothing else, save that quartz-gravel is reg- 

 ularly gathered from the river-bars where the wind bares the ground 

 of snow. 



The willow ptarmigan is by nature gregarious. Especially is 

 this trait exhibited in the autumn months, when in the most northern 

 localities a partial migration proceeds a few hundred miles to the 

 south, or into great valleys where more food and better cover are 

 afforded, for the birds show a predilection for the vicinity of brush- 

 patches, or even of tracts of stunted spruce trees where these exist. 

 Not infrequently they escape from the dash of a falcon by taking 

 refuge in a bush among whose stems the snow rests lightly, and into 

 which the frightened bird is able to plunge quite out of sight. 



In the early spring, long before the thaw begins in earnest, the 

 male ptarmigans begin to change to a rich chestnut-brown color on 

 the head and chest, and a bright red comb develops above each eye. 

 For a time, in April and early May, the males, with their deep brown 

 mantles and white bodies, are very conspicuous. They are then more 

 noisy than at any other season, uttering at frequent intervals until 

 late dusk a low, harsh cackle, roughly imitated in the Eskimo name, 

 a-kaze-rh-gak. 



The male ptarmigans wear this special courting-plumage until 

 June, when another change, involving the whole body-plumage, leads 

 to a brown-black-and-buff plumage, which is worn until autumn. The 

 females, meanwhile, change rapidly in early May, about the time the 

 snow begins to disappear, to a mottled and barred black-and-brown 



65 



