194 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



much like the male, but is smaller. The spring and 

 autumn moults give the male a more uniform coat of 

 reddish-gray, in which are irregular black patches, and 

 the head and neck are more regularly barred. At this 

 season the female is somewhat more tawny th-an is the 

 male, and she always moults before he does. These 

 changing colors most wonderfully adapt themselves to 

 the storm-beaten rocks among which the birds are found 

 in summer; to the snows where they make their winter 

 home. The nest is made of mosses or lichens, and is gen- 

 erally sheltered by some overhanging rock. In it are 

 deposited ten or twelve eggs — buff, sprinkled with a lus- 

 trous black. While upon the nest the female will not 

 leave the eggs for any enemy, nor will the male hesitate 

 to do battle in behalf of his mate, and this devotion and 

 bravery are exhibited until the young brood leaves its 

 parents. 



In the latter part of the summer, the best time for 

 hunting them, the white-tailed ptarmigans will be found 

 in small coveys at the upper timber-line, where there are 

 a few stunted pines and heather, within easy distance of 

 snow on one side, and of twigs and berries on the other. 

 They are very tame, and, if alarmed, will fly but a few 

 yards, hence a very light charge of powder and shot 

 will suffice for their destruction; but I doubt if dogs are 

 an assistance in hunting them. Generally they cluck so 

 loudly that there is no trouble in finding their location. 

 If we fire into the flock for the piirpose of alarming them, 

 they will run to cover rather than take to flight. If the 

 snow is of any depth, they will burrow in it, and so, 

 almost instantly, sink out of sight. Their burrows are 

 quite deep, and in this respect they differ from the tun- 

 nels of the sharp-tailed grouse. As, in autumn, the 

 snow-line descends the mountain, the ptarmigan goes 

 with it. The lower he goes the more wild does he become, 



