1 88 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



are white. The lores and top of the head are black, 

 the ends of the feathers on the latter being tipped with 

 brown. Breast regularly barred with blackish and 

 light brown, and the sides the same, but with finer 

 black bars ; beneath, white. 



The summer plumage of the female is brighter, yel- 

 lowish or reddish, spotted and barred with black, and 

 having the quills and secondaries always white. The 

 lower plumage is somewhat paler and grayer; the dot- 

 tings and barrings are black, often quite fine; yet the 

 barrings show a tendency to form spots and heavier 

 bars. The head and neck are more yellowish and 

 barred with dusky. 



The rock ptarmigan, in its various forms, is scat- 

 tered over Arctic America in general, except the ex- 

 treme north, including Greenland and the Aleutian 

 Islands, and is found southeast as far as the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, occurring on Anticosti Island. 



Mr. Nelson reports it a common resident of the 

 mainland of Alaska, where it inhabits the higher 

 ground during the summer, but is driven down by 

 winter to the lower levels. Its habits do not appear 

 to differ greatly from those of the common willow 

 ptarmigan. It breeds in large numbers on the Barren 

 Grounds, from which Mr. MacFarlane reported on its 

 breeding habits, nests and eggs. It does not appear to 

 be so prolific a bird as the willow ptarmigan, its eggs 

 being fewer in number and apparently running from 

 nine down to four or five. The female sits closely on 

 her eggs, and her color harmonizes so well with that 



