NELSON'S PTARMIGAN. 





'T^HIS is a little-known race of Ptarmigan, specimens 

 * of which were procured by Mr. Nelson on Unalaska, 

 one of the Aleutian Islands. It is said by Mr. Turner 

 to be very abundant there, and also in Uminak, Akutan, 

 and Akun, other islands of the same chain, and is a resi- 

 dent wherever found, seldom leaving the island in which 

 it was born. It prefers rocky ledges, but roosts and rears 

 its young in the valleys. The mating season commences 

 in May and lasts about three weeks, and the nest is 

 usually placed in the tall grass. It is a very careless 

 affair, composed of a little grass and some feathers from 

 the hen's breast, and before incubation is completed the 

 eggs are generally lying on the bare ground. The num- 

 ber of these varies from nine to seventeen, but eleven is 

 the usual number. The period of incubation was not 

 ascertained. The birds never go in large flocks, those 

 that were seen being apparently the parents and their 

 brood of a previous year. 



LA GOP US RUPESTRIS NELSONI. 



Geographical D/s/nfiu/ion.— Inlands of Unalaska, Unimak, 

 Akutan, and Akun. Aleutian Chain. 



Adult Male in Summer. — General color of entire plumage, 

 dark russet, finely vermiculated with black, the center of the 

 feathers showing occasionally as blotches; feathers of head and 

 neck, tipped with ochraceous, giving this part a lighter hue than 

 the rest; lores and space beneath the eyes, black; comb over 

 eye, scarlet; throat, white, barred with black; jugulum, breast, 

 and flanks, much lighter than the back, vermiculated with black, 



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