Photo 
liiras, 3rd 
THE SAMK BULL MOUSL 
"After taking a few more pictures, I concluded that I would be doing a verj- poor service 
to leave him in this unsophisticated state of mind. It was plain he now no longer feared the 
sight or scent of man, and would doubtless soon fall a victim to a party of hunters camping 
half a mile down the shore" (see page 449). 
down a rock slide, evidently trailing but 
not seeing his quarry. With a field-glass 
I could make out a brood of rock ptarmi- 
gan scurrying ahead. When the birds 
reached the bank of a small ravine, filled 
nearly to the surface with snow, the hen 
flew up about ten feet, alighting on the 
snow, and the little ones with an efifort 
did likewise ; and, thus concealed from 
the immediate vision of the fox, they ran 
a short distance and squatted, resembling 
very much the detached rocks and soil 
dotting the edges of the snow. 
When the fox reached the bank he 
looked intently about and, seeing noth- 
ing, descended, snifling along the sur- 
face of the snow below where the birds 
alighted. Evidently thinking that they 
had flown across or gone further down, 
he climbed up the opposite bank. Here 
a large fat marmot, extracting a root 
only a short distance away, attracted his 
attention, and although they were about 
the same size, the sudden flight of the 
latter induced pursuit, which ended un- 
successfully a few yards away, at the 
opening of the burrow. 
So little time was spent on the moun- 
tain summits that I had small chance to 
observe the habits of the rock ptarmigan. 
In no case did the cock accompany the 
brood, and it seemed as though these 
birds had no fear whatever of the 
larger forms of animal life. The hen 
had two warning notes for the young, 
one causing them to remain stock still or 
crouch wherever they happened to be — 
and so faithful was the obedience that I 
could pick the young up — and another 
note, which caused the young to immedi- 
ately seek an overhead protection, either 
beneath the broken rocks or under the 
rims of snow or ice. 
Once I saw seven small ptarmigan run 
beneath the edge of a block of ice, and 
all I could see was the projecting row of 
small black bills ; and in another case the 
young bird, alarmed by the mother's note, 
squeezed in between my shoes and re- 
mained there until relieved by a reas- 
suring call. Hawks and foxes are the 
principal enemies, while moose, caribou^ 
sheep, or man seem to be regarded in 
the light of friends. 
THE ALASKA SALMON AND THE TRAGEDY 
OE THE SPAWNING GROUNDS 
]\Iany know that the salmon industry 
457 
