1746 The Zoologist— July, 1869. 



and two others seen by the settlers during ray residence at Cow 

 Head. 



Willow Grouse, Lagopus albus (Gmeliii). — Common throughout 

 the year, and the only lowland or subalpine species indigenous to 

 Newfoundland. From my own experience I think the willow grouse 

 invariably roost on the ground, although I have frequently shot them 

 when feeding in the tops of birch and alder trees, more especially 

 when the ground is covered with deep and light snow. Their food 

 consists chiefly of the buds and tender shoots of birch, alder, black 

 spruce {Abies nigra), juniper {Larix americana), &c., but they seem 

 ])artial at other seasons to the partridge berry {Mitchella repens) and 

 cranberry {Oxycoccus palustris). I do not possess specimens of 

 willow grouse from Europe or northern North America (Hudson's 

 Bay, &c.), but Professor Baird says, "I find a considerable difl'erence 

 in different specimens of the large ptarmigan [L. albus] before me. 

 Those from eastern Labrador and Newfoundland appear to have 

 decidedly broader, stouter and more convex bills than those from the 

 Hudson's Bay and more northern countries. I think it not impro- 

 bable that there may be two species " Professor Newton, 



however, informs me that " none of Professor Baird's later writings 

 have gone to strengthen the suspicion expressed by him formerly as 

 to the existence of a second species of willow grouse," and adds, 

 " I have compared a pretty good series of skins from many parts of 

 North America, extending from Alaska to Newfoundland, and so far 

 as I can judge I have no doubt they are all of one and the same species, 

 which is further identical with the willow grouse of Europe [Telrao 

 saliceti, Temminck ; T. suhalpinus, Nilsson)." I have never suc- 

 ceeded in driving the willow grouse into a bank of snow, as Sir John 

 Richardson states in ' Fauna Boreali Americana,' vol. ii,, p. 352, as 

 being a habit peculiar to the species, nor had the settlers observed 

 anything of the kind. They are sometimes so tame that they may be 

 killed with a stick ; at other times so wild that they will not allow 

 you to approach within gunshot, and such is generally the case in 

 winU-r when the snow is hard and crusty, and the noise of your rackets 

 (snow-shoes) alarms them. They are shot at all seasons by the set- 

 tlers, and generally when sitting on the ground, although there is 

 every excuse for doing so, especially in thick woods, for if once 

 flushed there is rarely a chance of coming up with the covey again, 

 and this is an important consideration where food and powder and 

 shot are not too plentiful among the poorer population. In one of my 



