BIEDS. 137 



when fluslicil would fly uear tbe grouud until behind the first knoll or rise of the surface, then 

 turning suddenly to oue side they would crouch and remain motionless until they were approached 

 closely. 



The first American record of Ptarmigan in these islands was made under the title of Layo- 

 pus (dbus by Mr. Dall in his paper on the ornithology of this region, and has been corrected 

 by me in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club for June, 1878. The male specimen 

 secured at Unalaska, and upon which tliis identification and correction was based, is figured in tbe 

 present .report with the characteristic mountainous surroundings. All the records of Lagopus 

 aVous upon the Aleutian chain apply solely to this species, with the single exception, perhaps, of the 

 easternmost island, which lies next the mainland of the Alaskan Peninsula, where the ordinary 

 alhus is found, according to the information given me by residents of the islands. 



Concerning this bird ^Ir. Dall gives us the following notes in his paper before cited : It is 

 more or less abundant throughout the chiiin. The eggs which he speaks of having found upon 

 the islands of Attn and Kyska are to be referred to the new race, atMensis. The Ptarmigan eggs 

 found by Dall on tbe Shumagin Islands, June 20, were either those of the present species or 

 of albns; this latter bird is known to occur upon these islands, as is shown by the specimens 

 secured by Dr. Bean. As mentioned in describing the habits of this species, it frequents the 

 more elevated portions of the country, its range complementing that of alhus. The latter 

 keeps more strictly to the lower and more level parts of the country, and frequents the open 

 stretches of moss and grass covered tundra in the summer, or keeps the center of deeply bor- 

 dered water-courses and ravines during winter. Rupestris keeps to the mountain sides and sum- 

 mits in summer and about their bases in winter. This difference in the habits of the two birds 

 may account for the presence of rupestris alone in the Aleutian chain, for the precipitous slopes 

 and rugged cliffs, which arise from the water on every side, amoug this chain of islands, afford 

 none of the low flats and bushy shelters congenial to the tastes of alh(s. With the exception of 

 the Aleutian Islands, where rupestris alone occurs, this latter species is less numerous than alhus, 

 the ratio perhaps being oue to ten, though the disproportion increases as the country becomes 

 more mountainous, as I had occasion to observe in the vicinity of Bering Straits. In the portions 

 of the country where flats occur, as between the Lower Yukon and the Kuskoquim, alhus alone 

 is found. North of British America Captain Sabine records rupestris as abundant in summer on 

 Melville Island, in latitude 75° north, where it arrived May 12 in full winter dress. Some 

 males retained this plumage unaltered until the middle of June. In winter it makes a partial 

 migration from this region. As this bird occurs on tiie American side of Bering Straits it un- 

 doubtedly occurs upon the adjacent Asiatic shore and should be looked for about the mountain 

 summits of that coast. Specimens of lagopus taken at the mouth of the Lena River, latitude 71° 

 north, during April, by Seebohm, are said by Xewton to be referable to ru2}estris and not to 

 mittus. The male differs from the female in having the ochraceous bars narrow and interrupted by 

 more numerous lines, thus making the plumage darker and richer. During the recent English 

 Arctic Expedition Ptarmigan were found in latitude 83° OC north, which were referred to this 

 species by Captain Fieldeu. This was at the highest northern point of land at that time visited 

 by man. The birds were again seen in latitude 82° in September, after which they migrated south, 

 returning by March 11 the following spring.* 



"While examining the series of Ptarmigan contained in the National Museum, during the preparation of this 

 work, I was surprised to iind a bird from Cumberland Gulf on the American shore of Davis Strait, and from the 

 Greenland shore of tbe same coast, diliering very decidedly from the many specimens of riq>esiria and albus in the 

 collection. This led me to examine the matter more thoroughly, and I find that nearly all the older writers credit four 

 species of Ptarmigan to America, whereas the later authors have united in ignoring one of the species and placing it 

 as a synonym of rupestris. My search through the various forms has resulted in satisfactorily determining that the 

 bird found on the coast of Greenland and tbe adjoining portion of the American mainland is totally distinct from 

 the ordinary Lagopus rupestris. It may be well to give a slight review of the Ptarmigan mentioned by the several 

 authors who have written upon the region in question. Hearne mentions the Rock Grouse (rupestris) as plentiful in 

 the region northwest of Hudson's Bay, and this with albus may comprise the two forms with which be was acquainted. 

 Parry found birds on the shores of Davis Strait which are considered to be exactly .similar to the Scotch Ptarmi- 

 gan, or Tetrad Ingopus of Gmeliu. In the North Georgian group, at a later date, .another species was found more 

 ab\indautly, to which he refers as T. ruiiestris of Gmelin. In the appendix to Parry's First and Second Voyages it is 

 S. Mis. 15G 18 



