182 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 
they are so tame that they will not fly sometimes even 
when a person is in their midst. When the land is 
open they may, however, be readily detected, as their 
color presents a strong contrast to the surrounding rocks, 
The willow grouse, or ptarmigan (L. albus), is only: 
found in a few places in the eastern part of the United 
States, but it is very abundant in British America and 
Alaska, for large numbers are snared annually by the 
Aleutians and other tribes of the latter country. It is dis- 
tinctly a northern bird, being scarce south of the forty- 
ninth parallel, and met with only in a few places. It is 
so common. throughout Canada, except in the barren 
grounds, where it can tind neither food nor shelter, that 
it is barrelled and shipped to London, where it is fre- 
quently sold as the Scotch moor-cock, which it resembles 
so much that few ordinary persons can distinguish them 
apart. The flesh of both looks and tastes alike in the 
early part of the season, but, at a later period, the bird 
of Scotia is deemed to be the better of the two, on ac- 
count of the character of its food, which does not give it 
the bitter taste of the other. 
The willow ptarmigan turns to a snowy whiteness in 
winter, the only parts which show any coloration being 
the tail, which is composed of fourteen glossy black feath- 
ers, with white tips; the shafts of the primaries, which 
are dusky-brown; and the tips over the eyes, which are 
scarlet-red; but as soon as the snow disappears the plu- 
mage undergoes a most rapid and decided change in hue. 
Isolated patches of yellowish-brown first appear among 
the white on the sides, and these gradually increase in 
size until they blend together and form a deep fulvous- 
brown, the head, throat, and neck assuming a cinnamon 
rufous, and all being barred with black. The hens do 
not differ much in hue from the males, but they fre- 
quently don their spring attire a fortnight earlier, so 
that it is not unusual to see a gallant, arrayed in his 
