The Willow Ptarmigan 223 



trap-shots what he would think of being asked 

 to shoot at a lot of snow-white pigeons against a 

 background of snow. A ptarmigan crouched 

 upon snow, and perhaps surrounded by a dozen 

 roundish, white irregularities of surface, is about 

 as easy to distinguish as would be a green glass 

 button on a lawn. And while most people might 

 fancy the black tail would be fatally distinct, the 

 reverse is the actual fact, for this reason. Every 

 projection above clean snow is apt to cast a more 

 or less decided shadow, and thus cause a darker 

 spot. This the black tail of the crouching ptar- 

 migan so closely imitates that the intelligent 

 observer cannot fail to detect Nature's purpose 

 in the one peculiar mark. When the bird flushes, 

 too, the black tail catches the eye against the 

 white background, which is apt to cause even a 

 good shot to hold on the most visible mark, and 

 thereby shoot below, or behind birds, as the 

 flight happens to be straightaway or crossing. 



Another of Nature's beautiful provisions, with- 

 out which the bird could not exist in many of 

 its present haunts, is what I will term the snow- 

 shoe foot. During the short summer of the 

 North the foot is almost bare, but in winter it is 

 thickly covered with a growth of hairlike feath- 

 ers, which not only protects the toes from deadly 

 cold, but forms a veritable snow-shoe to support 

 the plump body. A slim-toed, barelegged bird 



