WILLOW PTARMIGAN 173 



mortally injured, and thus tries to lead one from "her 

 chicks. The young at the same time try to escape by 

 running away in different directions through the grass. 

 At this season the female and male both moult and 

 assume a plumage which differs considerably The 

 young are fledged and on the wing at varying dates 

 through July and are nearly full grown by the first 

 to the tenth of August." 



Mr. R. MacFarlane, long chief factor to the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, but now retired and resident in 

 Winnipeg, whose observations on the fauna of many 

 parts of the Far North are so valuable, gives some 

 interesting notes about the willow ptarmigan in one 

 of the regions which he has made famous. He says : 



"This species is exceedingly abundant in the neigh- 

 borhood of Fort Anderson, on the lower Anderson 

 River, and in the wooded country to the eastward. 

 It is not, however, common in the Barren Grounds, 

 especially from Horton River to Franklin Bay, where 

 it is replaced by L. rupestris. The nest is invariably 

 on the ground, and consists of a few withered leaves 

 placed in a shallow cavity or depression. The female 

 sometimes leaves it only when almost trodden under 

 foot, in fact, several were swooped upon and caught 

 thereon by hand. They usually begin to lay about 

 the end of May or the beginning of June. The process 

 of moulting, or the gradual assumption of their sum- 

 mer plumage, commences a week or two earlier. The 

 female lays from seven to ten, twelve, and, occasional- 

 ly, as many as thirteen eggs, which I find was the 



