54 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



Lagopus lagopus alascensis Swarth 



3 males 



Dee. 13, 1948- 



mean weight (25), 





May 31, 1952 



641 g., std. var. 

 75 



4 females 



November 1948- 



mean weight (38), 





May 30, 1952 



602 g., std. var. 

 78 



These Alaska willow ptarmigan inhabit a territory ascribed to 

 Lagopus lagopus alascensis^ and compare well with specimens of that 

 species in the U. S. National Museum. 



The willow ptarmigan are Kadgimk in Nunamiut, which is ex- 

 plained simply to signify "real ptarmigan." They are so familiar to 

 the Eskimo life and economy that for them the name has no known 

 descriptive meaning. The pebbles which are regularly found in the 

 gizzards of ptarmigan are called "heaters" by the Nunamiut, using 

 the designation of the stones which in former times were heated in 

 the fire outside and then brought in to warm the people in their skin 

 tents. The "heater" stones which the rounded pebbles in a ptarmigan's 

 gizzard resemble were specially selected fire-resistant stones, well 

 rounded by water. Many stones, even well rounded ones, crack and 

 even burst dangerously in the fire, but the kind selected for heating 

 were probably free from strain and thus less likely to burst. There 

 is no implication that the function of the pebbles in the gizzard is 

 for heating. 



In summer a few willow ptarmigan remain in the mountain valleys 

 and occasionally nests are found. In July 1951, William Irving and 

 Simon Paneak saw several adults with young birds in the Killik 

 Valley. On Contact Creek I obtained a female with developing eggs 

 25 mm. in length on May 30, and several pairs were courting on the 

 open valley and among the willows. 



By the first of October many ptarmigan come from the north into 

 the valley, and through the autumn their movement is southward, 

 but I have not found the southbound movement of any birds to be 

 as evident as their northward migration, so the southward movement 

 of ptarmigan is ill defined in our records. In January the traffic 

 api^ears to be least, and in February a northward movement becomes 

 apparent and continues through May, but with relaxed intensity 

 during the middle of the migration. 



The Nunamiut say that the ptarmigan migrate in two waves sepa- 

 rated, around the end of March, by an interval of less frequent appear- 

 ance. This pause in migration is evidently regular, for the Nuna- 

 miut sometimes date events as occurring during the first or second 

 migration of ptarmigan. It seems to be an established schedule in 

 the habits of ptarmigan but I do not know of any distinguishing form 



