

WILLOW PTARMIGAN IJJ 



a hawk in the sky. When at last we walked away, 

 leaving the family alone, she also walked off into the 

 alder bushes. The wings and a few breast feathers 

 of this mother bird were white, but the rest of her 

 plumage was black and tawny, much like that of a 

 female spruce grouse. 



Of this species at Ungava, in Labrador, Mr. L. M. 

 Turner says : 



"In the spring these birds repair, as the snow melts, 

 to the lower grounds and prepare for the nuptial sea- 

 son. About the loth of April they may be heard 

 croaking or barking on all sides. A male selects a 

 favorable tract of territory for the location of the nest, 

 and endeavors to induce a female to resort to that 

 place. He usually selects the highest portion of the 

 tract, whence he launches into the air, uttering a bark- 

 ing sound of nearly a dozen separate notes, thence 

 sails or flutters in a circle to alight at the place whence 

 he started, or to alight on another high place, from 

 which he repeats the act while flying to his former 

 place. Immediately on alighting he utters a sound 

 similar to the Indian word, chu-xwan (what is it?), 

 and repeats it several times, and in the course of a 

 few minutes again launches in the air. Early in 

 the morning hundreds of these birds may be heard, 

 continuing until nearly eleven o'clock, when the bird 

 then becomes silent until after three o'clock, when he 

 again goes through the same performance, though 

 with less vigor than in the morning. In the course of 

 a few days a female may be found in the vicinity. The 



