BIRDS. 137 



wheu flushed would fly uear the ground until behind the first knoll or rise of the surface, then 

 turning suddenly to one side they would crouch and remain motionless until they were approached 

 closely. 



The first American record of Ptarmigan in these islands was made under the title of Lago- 

 pus albus by Mr. Dall in his paper on the ornithology of this region, and has been corrected 

 by me in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club for June, 1878. The male specimen 

 secured at Unalaska, and upon which this identification and correction was based, is figured in the 

 present .report with the characteristic mountainous surroundings. All the records of Lagopus 

 albus upon the Aleutian chain apply solely to this species, with the single exception, perhaps, of the 

 easternmost island, which lies next the mainland of the Alaskan Peninsula, where the ordinary 

 albus is found, according to the information given me by residents of the islands. 



Concerning this bird Mr. Dall gives us the following notes in his paper before cited : It is 

 more or less abundant throughout the chain. The eggs which he speaks of having found upon 

 the islands of Attn and Kyska are to be referred to the new race, atTchensis. The Ptarmigan eggs 

 found by Dall on the Shumagin Islands, June 20, were either those of the present species or 

 of albus; this latter bird is known to occur upon these islands, as is shown by the specimens 

 secured by Dr. Beau. As mentioned in describing the habits of this species, it frequents the 

 more elevated portions of the country, its range complementing that of albus. The latter 

 keeps more strictly to the lower and more level parts of the country, and frequents the open 

 stretches of moss and grass covered tundra in the summer, or keeps the center of deeply bor- 

 dered water-courses and ravines during winter. Bupestris keeps to the mountain sides and sum- 

 mits in summer and about their bases in winter. This difl:erence in the habits of the two birds 

 may account for the presence of rupestris alone in the Aleutian chain, for the ijrecipitous slopes 

 and rugged cliffs, which arise from the water on every side, among this chain of islands, afford 

 none of the low flats and bushy shelters congenial to the tastes of albus. With the exception of 

 the Aleutian Islands, where rupestris alone occurs, this latter species is less numerous than albus, 

 the ratio perhaps being one to ten, though the disproportion increases as the country becomes 

 more mountainous, as I had occasion to observe in the vicinity of Bering Straits. In the portions 

 of the country where flats occur, as between the Lower Yukon and the Kuskoquim, albus alone 

 is found. Korth of British America Captain Sabine records rupestris as abundant in summer on 

 Melville Island, in latitude 75° north, where it arrived May 12 in full winter dress. Some 

 males retained this plumage unaltered until the middle of June. In winter it makes a partial 

 migration from this region. As this bird occurs on the American side of Bering Straits it un- 

 doubtedly occurs upon the adjacent Asiatic shore and should be looked for about the mountain 

 summits of that coast. Specimens of lagopus taken at the mouth of the Lena River, latitude 71° 

 north, during April, by Seebohm, are said by ISTewton to be referable to rupestris and not to 

 mutus. The male differs from the female in having the ochraceous bars narrow and interrupted by 

 more numerous lines, thus making the plumage darker and richer. During the recent English 

 Arctic Expedition Ptarmigan were found in latitude 83° 06' north, which were referred to this 

 species by Captain Fielden, This was at the highest northern point of land at that time visited 

 by man. The birds were again seen in latitude 82° in September, after which they migrated south, 

 returning by March 11 the following spring.* 



*While examining tlie series of Ptarmigan contained in tlie National Museum, during the preparation of this 

 work, I was surprised to find a bird from Cumberland Gulf on the American shore of Davis Strait, and from the 

 Greenland shore of the same coast, ditfering very decidedly from the many specimens of rupestris and albus in the 

 collection. This led me to examine the matter more thoroughly, and I find that nearly all the older writers credit four 

 species of Ptarmigan to America, whereas the later authors have united in ignoring one of the species and placing it 

 as a synonym of rupestris. My search through the various forms has resulted in satisfactorily determining that the 

 bird found on the coast of Greenland and the adjoining portion of the American mainland is totally distinct from 

 the ordinary Lagopus rupestris. It may be well to give a slight review of the Ptarmigan mentioned by the several 

 authors who have written upon the region in question. Hearne mentions the Eock Grouse {rupestris) as plentiful in 

 the region northwest of Hudson's Bay, and this with alius may comprise the two forms with which he was acquainted. 

 Parry found birds on the shores of Davis Strait which are considered to be exactly similar to the Scotch Ptarmi- 

 gan, or Tetrao lagopus of Gmelin. In the North Georgian group, at a later date, another species was found more 

 abundantly, to which he refers as T. rupestris of Gmelin. In the appendix.to Parry's First and Second Voyages it is 

 S. Mis. 156 ] 8 



