44 GBOUSE AND WILD TURKEYS OF UNITED STATES. 



include Arctostaphylos pungens, A. nevadensis, and A. uva-ursi. Its 

 list of fruits also includes the following : 



Mountain twin berry. Service berry {Amelanchier alni- 



Ked elder (Sambucus pubens). folia). 



Honeysuckle (Lonioera involu- Salal (OauUheria shallon). 



crata; Lonicera conjtigialis). Huckleberry (Vaccinium ocoiden- 



Cherry (Prunus sp.)- tale). 



Mountain ash (Sorhus samiuci- Currant {Ribes cereum, Ribes san- 



foUa). guineum). 



Salmon bevvy {Rubus parviflor us). Gooseberry (Ribes menziesii) id 



The food habits of all young birds differ more or less from those of 

 their parents. Young blue grouse at first live chiefly on grass- 

 hoppers and other insects and on tender plant tops. Later in the sea- 

 son they subsist on berries, such as gooseberries and salal-berries, and 

 some seeds, such as those of the wild sunflower. Florence Merriam 

 Bailey, in writing recently of the habits of the dusky grouse in New 

 Mexico, says : " 



Near our camp at the foot of Pecos Baldy, Mr. Bailey discovered a winter 

 roosting tree of the grouse. The tree was on a sheltered part of the wooded 

 slope and was so densely branched that after a prolonged rain the ground 

 beneath was perfectly dry. The earth was strewn with winter droppings, com- 

 posed entirely of the leaves of conifers. Conifer needles had also been eaten 

 by three of the grouse that were taken * * * in July and August, but at 

 this season the birds were living principally on such fresh food as strawberries, 

 bearberries (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), sheperdia berries, flowers of the lupine 

 and paint brushy seeds, green leaves, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, and other 

 insects. One crop contained twenty-seven strawberries, twenty-eight bear- 

 berries, and twelve sheperdia berries, besides flowex's, leaves, and insects, while 

 the accompanying gizzard was filled with seeds, green leaves, and insects. 



THE "WILLOW PTAKMIGAN. 



(Lagopus lagopus.) 



Ptarmigans are characteristic of the arctic and arctic-alpine 

 j-egions. During summer they are mainly gray and browji, resem- 

 bling the mottled colors of the bare earth, but at the approach of 

 winter they change this plumage for one of pure white. Thus they 

 harmonize with their surroundings at all seasons and are better 

 able to escape their numerous enemies. There are four species of 

 these birds in the United States and Alaska. Of these the willow 

 ptarmigan, white ptarmigan, or willow grouse, as it is variously 

 known, is the largest, most abundant, and consequently the most 

 important. It is found in the arctic regions of both hemispheres, 

 and is widely spread and abundant throughout the tundra country 

 of Alaska, except on the Aleutian Islands. Throughout its range, 

 especially in winter, it is an important food bird. In the north 



1 Auk, vol. 21, p. 351, 1904. 



