186 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



from the central part of the Brooks Range in winter. In summer, 

 arctic Alaskan willow ptarmigan are lighter, and their weight then 

 does not differ significantly from that of birds from Old Crow. They 

 are, however, significantly heavier than the average weight (522 

 grams) , found in 32 examples of willow ptarmigan from the Chugach 

 and Talkeetna Mountains in the southern Alaskan range of alascensis. 



Although not fat, none of the numerous willow ptarmigan brought 

 into the village appeared ill nourished. They fed on willow buds and 

 tips of twigs, reaching them from the ground or often from branches 

 as high as 20 feet, where they appeared clumsy and insecure while 

 reaching for the slender tips. 



Some ptarmigan burrows in the snow showed by the quantity of 

 droppings in them that they had been occupied throughout cold nights, 

 but in moderate weather some of the open roosting depressions in the 

 snow were shown by their content of droppings likewise to have been 

 occupied during the night. It is not correct, however, to conclude that 

 burrowing is for protection from the cold, because it certainly affords 

 concealment and it is doubtful if the insulation of snow is needed in 

 addition to the physiological adaptations which protect ptarmigan 

 from cold. In mild weather the snow is heavier and since it may form 

 a crust during the night, it seems to be generally unsuitable for 

 burrowing. 



At Old Crow, as in the Brooks Eange, some but not all willow ptar- 

 migan in white winter plumage have their feathers suffused with a 

 delicate shell pink like a faint but beautiful fluorescent dye. This 

 color appears in white ptarmigan and short-billed gulls in spring, 

 and is most striking in Ross's gulls when they appear at Barrow in 

 September. It disappears from specimens after a few days. 



The nine specimens listed were all obtained within a few miles of 

 Old Crow Village among the willows along the river. I had not no- 

 ticed that Arctic willow ptarmigan regularly concentrated according 

 to sex during migration. At Anaktuvuk, the sexes have been found 

 mixed in the usual flocks which migrate near the level of the river, but 

 Simon Paneak told me that in spring small flocks found occasionally 

 on the hillsides might contain a majority of either sex. There is evi- 

 dently some segregation by sex at times during migration. 



Near Old Crow during a walk of 10 miles along the river in early 

 April, several flocks of from 10 to 50 birds might be seen, but I did 

 not record seeing more than 100 birds on any day. The people of Old 

 Crow used the expression "no" ptarmigan and "no" rabbits in 1957 to 

 compare the scarcity in 1957 with the numbers common in other years. 

 The numbers of willow ptarmigan seen at Old Crow were few com- 

 pared with those seen on occasions during the winters 1951 to 1954 at 



