Photographing Ptarmigan 



173 



necessity here, for the snow was three to five feet deep and there 

 were no roads or trails. The birds appeared to be feeding on the 

 willow buds. Judging from the tracks we saw, they must be much 

 harassed by coyotes, for we observed the latter's tracks running in 

 every direction from one willow clump to another, as if beating the 

 ground for game. 



In May, 1900, I was camped on the south slope of Mt. Emmons, 

 working a mining claim. The snow still lay on the higher slopes, 

 but in the morning would be hard so that one could easily walk 

 on it. One morning I walked up toward the summit, near where 

 I secured the winter plumage pictures, and found one bird, in the 

 changing plumage. Its head and neck were thickly spotted with 

 black and brown, while there were numerous brown feathers in the 

 back. Below it was still white. As usual, it was tame and I could 

 observe it closely. Where I found it the ground was partly bare and 

 partl}^ covered with snow. On the 

 bare spots it found grass and was 

 nipping off the heads of this, and 

 also would pick industriously at times 

 into bunches of moss, getting the 

 seeds from them. 



On July II, I had my greatest 

 piece of luck. I had gone out to 

 look for Ptarmigan, hoping to find a 

 nest with eggs, and was coming back 

 along the crest of a ridge when I 

 saw a little chick running a few feet 

 in front of me, and, looking down, I 

 saw the old bird and more chicks 

 almost beside me. There were five 

 young altogether, apparently only a 

 few days old, as they were downy, 

 and the quills in the wings were only 

 just beginning to show. With this 

 family I had a most interesting time. 

 It was no trouble to get pictures of 

 the old bird, for she would stand still 

 and allow me to put the camera down 

 on the ground two or three feet away, 

 use the focusing cloth and focus, then change the shutter from time to 

 instantaneous exposures, put in the plate-holder and make the expos- 

 ures. I secured pictures of her thus when she was covering her whole 

 family, for whenever she stopped the chicks would nestle beneath her, 



Copyright, by E. R. Il'tirrf,, 



ADULT FEMALE PTARMIGAN IN SUMMER 

 PLUMAGE 



