A BIRD WITH A CHANGEABLE COAT 123 



White-Tailed Ptarmigan ' — in Colorado sometimes called 

 the "White Quail" — which lives in the Rocky Mountains 

 from the Liard River, British Columbia, to New Mexico. 

 It is said that another species (the Willow) does occasionally 

 wander down into northern New England. The majority of 

 the species are found in Alaska, but the Rock Ptarmigan covers 

 nearly the whole of Arctic America from Alaska to Labrador 

 and Greenland. Two of its subspecies inhabit Newfoundland. 



The Willow Ptakmigan^ may well be chosen as the 

 typical representative of the whole group, for its distribution 

 covers the arctic lands entirely around the pole. When De 

 Long and his party fought starvation at the mouth of the 

 Lena River, their last food was one of these birds, shot with 

 a rifle by Alexy, the Eskimo. In northern Greenland and 

 Grinnell Land Peary and Greely ate it, and in the Kenai 

 Peninsula flocks of it were photographed by Dall DeWeese 

 and others. In 1913 two specimens were taken at Mid vale, 

 Montana. 



This bird is almost constantly busy in changing its clothes. 

 In the spring it goes by slow degrees from winter white to 

 chestnut brown, barred with black. By July the dark plu- 

 mage of midsummer is fully developed; but not for long. By 

 the first of September, the trouble begins once more, and 

 feather by feather the plumage gradually changes to snowy 

 white. In winter the legs and feet of Ptarmigans generally 

 are heavily clothed with feathers, and often only the ends 

 of the toes are visible. 



1 La-go'pus leu-cu'rus. Length, about 12 inches. 

 ^ La-go'piis lagopus. Length, about 14 inches. 



