LAGOPUS LEUCURUS, WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. 427 



and food, occasionally straggling as low as 10,000 feet. It begins to 

 change color about tbe middle of March, when a few specks of blackish- 

 brown begin to appear in the plumage of the oldest males ; but the 

 change is very slow, and it is late in AprU before there is much black 

 visible, and the close of May, or early in June, before the summer plum- 

 age is perfect. The Ptarmigan builds its nest in the latter part of June, 

 and commences hatching toward the close of the month or early in July. 

 The nest — which is almost always placed on or near the summit of a 

 ridge or spur, many hundred feet above timber-line — is merely a depres- 

 sion in the ground, lined with a few straws and white feathers from the 

 mother's breast. The eggs are eight in number, of a light buffbrown, 

 thickly sprinkled with spots of dark chocolate-brown, somewhat thicker 

 at the larger end. While on her nest, the bird is very tame. Once, 

 while walking near the summit of the range, I chanced to look down, 

 and saw a Ptarmigan in the grass, at my very feet ; at the next step I 

 should have trodden upon her. Seeing that she did not appear fright- 

 ened, I sat down gently, stroked her on the back, and finally, putting 

 both hands beneath her, raised her gently ofl' the nest and set her down 

 on the grass, while she scolded and pecked my hands like a setting hen ; 

 and on being released, merely flew off a few yards and settled on a rock, 

 from which she watched me till I had gone away. Late in July I came 

 across a brood of young ones, apparently not more than four or five days 

 old. They were striped with broad bands of white and blackish-brown, 

 and looked precisely like little game chickens. The mother flew in my 

 face and hit me with her wings, using all the little artifices that the 

 Quail and Partridge know so well how to employ, to draw me away ; 

 while her brood, seven or eight in number, nimbly ran and hid them- 

 selves in the dense grass and among the stones. On another excursion 

 above timber-line, toward the close of August, I found most of the young 

 ones nearly grown and strong on the wing ; but one brood was of the 

 size of Quails, showing that some birds must begin breeding much later 

 than others, or that they occasionally raise two broods. These little 

 ones were colored much like the older birds, having blackish-brown 

 bodies and pure white tails. About the first of September the Ptarmi- 

 gan begins to change color again; but, as in the spring, the process is 

 very gradual, white feathers appearing, one by one, and taking the place 

 of the dark ones. The white on the lower parts enlarges first; then the 

 white areas on the wing ; and next, white specks appear on the upper 

 parts, becoming larger and more numerous as the season wears on ; but 

 so gradual is the change, that a month after it begins there is not much 

 difference in the plumage perceptible, the general aspect being that of 

 summer. There is much more of the light rufous, however, and the ap- 

 pearance is lighter and grayer, as though bleached. The dark areas 

 predominate, however, throughout October ; and, as I have been in- 

 formed by persons who have killed them througbout the yeai', it is late 

 in December or January before tliey become pure white, some few birds 

 showing occasional dark spots even throughout the latter month. 



" The Ptarmigan feeds upon the leaves and stalks of various alpine 

 plants, being particularly fond of those of a species of Cassia (1), the 

 flowers of which I have frequently taken from its crop. It also lives 

 largely upon insects, and in winter is said to subsist on the buds and 

 leaves of the pines and firs. Its flesh is light colored, though not as 

 white as that of the Gray Grouse, to which it is usually considered 

 inferior for the table. In localities where it is seldom molested it is 

 very tame, and I have been inforiued by persons whose word is worthy 

 of belief, that they have frequently killed it with sticks. But when 



