FAM. XXXIV. GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, ETC. 225 



Willow Ptarmigan 



This is an abundant bird in the Arctic regions, but does not 

 nest farther south than central Labrador, though in winter 

 it migrates southward, even into northern New 

 York. The ptarmigaais have the toes fullj' 

 feathered. 



Length, 14-17 ; wing, 71 ; tail, 4' ; culmen, 

 \. Northern portions of the northern hem- 

 isphere ; south in winter occasionally 

 into the northern border of the United 

 States. Tlie Rock Ptarmigan (302. 

 Laybpus rupeslris),nt Arctic Amer- 

 ica south to the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, has in winter 

 the outer tail feathers 

 blaclcish, generally tipped 

 with white, and the lores 

 black, while the rest of the 

 plumage is pure white. In 

 summer it has mottled and barred grayish plumage with almost no I'ufous. 

 Welch's Ptarmigan (3():!, Larjopus welchi), of Newfoundland, has in win- 

 ter the whole tail blackish, except the white tips of the central feathers, 

 and the lores black, wliile the rest of the plumage is white. In summer 

 the upper parts are black with wavy lines of buff and white, and the 

 belly white. Probably none but the Willow Ptarmigan has ever been 

 found in the United States. 



8. Prairie Hen (305. Tympaniichus americdnus). — A large, 

 ground-living, short-tailed, very much mottled, brownish, some- 

 what crested grouse, 

 with a tuft of ten or 

 more, narrow, stiff- 

 ened, mottled, black 

 feathers on the side 

 of the neck, under 

 which there is a 

 patch of bare, inflat- 

 able, yellow skin. 

 The peculiar neck 

 feathers have their 

 Prairie Hen tips rounded, and 



apgar's birds. — 15 



