192 UPLAXD SHOOTING. 



same food in the East that they have in the West, and the 

 experiment of transplanting these game birds into regions 

 where the ruffed grouse is almost extinct is worth trying. 

 As Eastern fishermen whip the salmon-pools of Quebec 

 and Xova Scotia, so the opening of the great inter-mount- 

 ain and coast range region by the Canadian Pacific Eail- 

 way should give our American sportsmen the desire to 

 wander more widely, and become better acquainted with 

 the grouse and other game birds of the jS^orthwest. which 

 are as well worthy their attention as are the woodcock; 

 quaU, snipe and partridge of the Atlantic seaboard. 



PTAEMIGAN^S. 



The ptarmigan belongs to British America and to 

 Alaska, although it is found in the United States among 

 the higher Sierra, Eocky, and Cascade Ranges. As Doc- 

 tor Grinnell says: '' Their tracks in the snow and their 

 feathers are more often seen than the birds themselves." 

 But two species are to be found in this country. One, 

 the black-tailed or willow ptarmigan {Lagopus\^ is a 

 rare winter immigrant, coming down fi'om the Far 

 ISTorth to the heights of the Adirondacks and of Maine. 

 In these regions it may be found in mid-winter in packs, 

 but by March it has taken its departure for its Arctic 

 home. The second species is found upon the Alpine 

 summits of the Rocky Mountains, thence westward to 

 the higher ranges of Oregon, Washington, and British 

 Columbia. It is the white-tailed ptarmigan, white 

 or mountain quail, and is known to science as Lago- 

 pus leucurus. The fact that their habitat, except 

 when they are feeding, is above the timber-line, makes 

 them, although neither wild nor wary, a rare bird for the 

 sportsman to bag; but the trouble that one must neces- 

 sarily take to secure them does not pay in a region where 

 spruce and sharp-tailed grouse are abundant. It is a 



