WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN 199 



Seeing that she did not appear frightened, I sat down 

 gently, stroked her on the back, and, finally, putting 

 both hands beneath her, raised her gently off the nest 

 and set her down on the grass, while she scolded and 

 pecked my hands, like a setting hen, and, on being 

 released, merely flew off a few yards and settled on 

 a rock, from which she watched me till I had gone 

 away. Late in July I came across a brood of young 

 ones, apparently not more than four or five days old. 

 They were striped with broad bands of white and 

 blackish brown, and looked precisely like little game 

 chickens. The mother flew in my face and hit me with 

 her wings, using all the little artifices that the quail 

 and partridge know so well how to employ, to draw me 

 away; while her brood, seven or eight in number, 

 nimbly ran and hid themselves in the dense grass and 

 among the stones. On another excursion above timber 

 line, toward the close of August, I found most of the 

 young ones nearly grown, and strong on the wing; 

 but one brood was of the size of quails, showing that 

 some birds must begin breeding much later than others, 

 or that they occasionally raise two broods. These 

 little ones were colored much like the older birds, hav- 

 ing blackish-brown bodies and pure white tails. About 

 the first of September the ptarmigan begins to change 

 color again, but, as in the spring, the process is very 

 gradual, white feathers appearing -one by one and 

 taking the place of the dark ones. The white on the 

 lower parts enlarges first, then the white areas on 

 the wings, and next, white specks appear on the upper 



