PTARMIGANS. 183 
winter robes, standing guard on some rocky elevation, 
while his spouse, attired in a sober dress of brown, is 
building her nest and making preparations for the ex- 
pected family. She is somewhat smaller than the male, 
her weight seldom exceeding two pounds, while the latter 
tips the beam at two and a half pounds. The pairing 
season generally commences in June, but the exact 
time is largely dependent on the weather. The nest, 
which is rudely constructed of leaves, mosses, grasses, 
and a few feathers, occupies a natural depression 
in the ground, usually near some mossy tussock or shel- 
tering crag that is capable of breaking the force of the 
breezes which frequently blow over the land. The eggs 
are deposited in this day by day, one at a time, until the 
full complement is laid, and then the hen devotes all her 
attention to hatching them. They number from ten to 
twenty, are of a creamy ground color, and beautifully 
variegated with confluent blotches of dark-claret. 
This species, like the preceding, being monogamous, 
the male aids the female in the incubatory duties, taking 
her place when she goes for food, and even feeding her, 
it is said, if necessary. He seldom wanders far from her, 
and never: beyond call; and when he is not otherwise en- 
gaged he mounts guard on some bush, crag, or hillock, 
to watch for foes. If he detects the approach of any 
suspicious looking object he sounds an alarm ina few 
loud, rough notes; and if his nest is robbed by a foe, he 
watches the operation from some convenient eminence, 
and manifests his displeasure in the most vociferous man- 
ner. The spoliation of his home does not discourage him, 
however, for he begins anew, and in ten days his spouse 1s 
able to resume her motherly cares, and has her young 
family around her after sitting for twenty-one days. 
Ten is about the usual number of eggs dropped if the first 
are destroyed, so that the most a hen can lay in a season 
is from twenty to thirty, the average being fifteen or six- 
