1910] Grinnell—Birds: Alaska Expedition, 1908. 385 
No willow ptarmigan were to be found in the Prince William 
Sound region, and the rock ptarmigan were detected only on the 
higher mountain-tops of the larger islands. Dixon’s notebook 
contains the following data relative to the nature of the habitat 
of this ptarmigan: The type specimen was secured by him on 
Montague Island at an altitude of 1600 feet on the southern 
slope of a spur of a mountain haying an altitude of some 2500 
feet. It was flushed at a distance of 150 yards from a rock- 
covered slope just at timber-line, flymg along rapidly around 
the ridge and alighting upon a crag above the snow, from which 
it was secured. 
About 100 feet lower, or 1500 feet altitude, another bird was 
flushed from a thicket of spruce trees that had been so flattened 
by the wind that one could walk upon them. This ptarmigan 
plunged headlong down the ridge with the wind, uttering a loud 
eackle. Both of these birds were in almost full summer plumage, 
as only the primaries showed white during flight. 
The observations made by Dixon and Hasselborg on Hawkins 
Island on June 22 give an idea of the conditions surrounding 
this hardy bird in summer. In ascending the mountain, ptar- 
migan feathers and droppings were first noted in heather-covered 
areas free from snow, at an altitude of 1500 feet where the 
mountains are shrouded in dense banks of fog and are swept 
by iey winds. The jagged ridges above lay bare of snow on 
the southern slopes. In a snow-slide on the wind-swept, fog- 
girt, western slope Dixon came upon a patch of rocks covered 
with light gray moss. ‘‘When I was within twenty feet of this 
rockpile, a gray and white ptarmigan arose and stood looking at 
me in relief against the neighboring snow bank. I backed off 
as far as I could and still see the bird, scoring a successful shot. 
Hasselborg saw three more birds, and secured one from a dis- 
tance of fifteen feet. I believe that all the ptarmigan we saw 
were males.’’ 
Aside from the three islands where specimens were taken, 
ptarmigan were seen nowhere else; but Heller records ‘“‘sign’’ 
as being noted on a mountain on Dise Island, and also on Knight 
Island, where, Heller was informed, ptarmigan had been shot in 
winter. 
