WILLOW PTARMIGAN. 



MS 



small to take care of themselves. The Indians destroy 

 a great many, for chicken ( irouse, even if still in the egg, 

 is considered a great delicacy by them. 



During the winter Ptarmigan feed on the small twigs 

 of the wiliow and various bushes, and as the snow dis- 

 appears, on any berries that may have remained from the 

 last autumn, frozen though they may be, and later, on 

 insects of various kinds. In the spring the birds make 

 a partial migration, coming from the shelter of the valleys 

 and forests, where they have passed the winter, into the 

 open country when the bare spots left by the vanishing 

 snow begin to appear. In the autumn also they seek 

 the shelter of the woods and travel to the southward, and 

 when the snow has covered the landscape these birds, 

 when migrating, assemble in great flocks, sometimes 

 amounting to many thousands, and the noise of their 

 myriad wings, as tHe great host rises from the ground, 

 makes, as it has been expressed, " both the air and 

 earth to tremble." When young the flesh of the Ptar- 

 migan is white and delicate, but that of the adult is dark 

 and of little flavor, save when the bird has been feeding 

 on the buds of the willow, when it is rather bitter. 



Immense numbers are taken in snares by the Esqui- 

 maux and Indians of the frozen North; one man 

 frequently, in a single day, capturing a sledge-load. 

 This great slaughter is accomplished while the birds 

 are migrating to or from their summer resorts. A 

 number of bushes is set out across the line of their 

 march and the branches filled with nooses of sinew, 

 and the birds come in such great numbers that they 

 are captured in thousands, entering the snares so 

 fast that a man cannot kill and release them quickly 

 enough. Another method is to take advantage of the 

 pugnacity and amorous feeling of the male during 



