454 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
horn growth as do the higher altitudes 
further south. 
The writer earnestly contends that it 
is a false pride which always leads a 
sportsman to pass by a beautiful antler 
and a false standard which always re- 
quires their removal from the head of a 
personally slaughtered animal. To the 
public, for the use of museums and in 
the comparison and differentiation of the 
various types of horns, shed antlers are 
just as valuable and just as interesting 
as many having a narrative of blood and 
wastefulness in their taking. 
Photographing wild animals requires 
all the skill and endurance demanded by 
the most ardent and experienced sports- 
man, and the finding of the discarded 
antlers of a giant moose adds a zest to 
the photographic hunt and a valuable 
trophy for the trip, and surely not less 
sportsmanlike because its former owner 
is still permitted to roam the wilderness 
as the largest antlered animal of modern 
times. 
Fortunately for this branch of sport, 
it requires patience, persistence, a fair 
knowledge of the animal's habits and 
range, and when the best horns only are 
selected the collection will represent 
quite as much skill and value as when 
secured by killing the unfortunate owner 
thereof. 
the; ALASKA PTARMIGAN AND HOW 
CLEVERLY THLY PROTECT THEIR 
YOUNG 
To the mountain climber of the north- 
land there are no birds more interesting 
than the ptarmigan. One species, the 
willow grouse, or willow ptarmigan, oc- 
cupies the thickets bordering the tree 
limits, and a hardier and more humbly 
plumed kind, the rock ptarmigan, lives 
■on the rocky slopes and snow-clad sum- 
mits of the higher ranges. This interest 
is largely due to the ease of observation, 
for the birds are tame and numerous, 
and again because they can be counted 
upon to supply the larder with a port- 
able and well-flavored article of food. 
For several weeks we were in the 
midst of these birds, and when making 
daily rounds to the grassy plateaux, 
where the sheep were apt to be found, I 
spent a good deal of time following up 
the smaller streams in order to study 
and photograph the birds in their nat- 
ural surroundings. 
Familiar with many other species of 
grouse, I was particularly impressed by 
one characteristic of the cock willow 
ptarmigan, which differed so from the 
conduct of male grouse of the forest and 
prairie, in that he almost invariably re- 
mained with or accompanied the female 
during the entire breeding season and, 
moreover, was the most aggressive par- 
ent of the two in times of peril. 
One's proximity to the family was 
usually foretold by the sudden fluttering 
out of the cock, which, with a limp and 
trailing wing, employed the usual de- 
vices of most ground-breeding birds in 
the effort to coax in futile pursuit any 
known or suspected enemy, and then, if 
successful in leading such away from 
the spot where the young crouched by 
the side of their silent mother, the cock 
would take wing, uttering loud and rau- 
cous notes, finding concealment in a 
near-by thicket. 
But if one persisted in trying to locate 
the yovmg, then the female would renew 
the effort to distract attention, and if this 
did not succeed she would utter a pecu- 
liar note signaling the male to return, and 
then between the two of them some plan 
would be devised to prevent the discovery 
or injury of the young birds. 
In a hundrecl or more observations 
the cock was apparently absent only half 
dozen times, which might be accounted 
for by his untimely death in defense of 
his family or by a temporary absence in 
search of a particular kind of food. 
Two instances of this strategic co- 
operation of the parents may be quoted 
from my notebook : 
"August p. 
"Following the creek bottom for nearly 
a mile, we found the ptarmigan un- 
usually abundant, for the day was warm 
and quiet and the birds were sunning 
themselves on the gravel bars or dust- 
ing their feathers in basins hollowed out 
in the sloping banks. One brilliantly 
colored cock rushed out at us from a 
patch of dried grass and I followed him 
down the stream a few rods with the 
