WILLOW PTARMIGAN 173 
mortally injured, and thus tries to lead one from her 
chicks. The young at the same time try to escape by 
running away in different directions through the grass. 
At this season the female and male both moult and 
assume a plumage which differs considerably The 
young are fledged and on the wing at varying dates 
through July and are nearly full grown by the first 
to the tenth of August.” 
Mr. R. MacFarlane, long chief factor to the Hud- 
son’s Bay Company, but now retired and resident in 
Winnipeg, whose observations on the fauna of many 
parts of the Far North are so valuable, gives some 
interesting notes about the willow ptarmigan in one 
of the regions which he has made famous. He says: 
“This species is exceedingly abundant in the neigh- 
borhood of Fort Anderson, on the lower Anderson 
River, and in the wooded country to the eastward. 
It is not, however, common in the Barren Grounds, 
especially from Horton River to Franklin Bay, where 
it is replaced by L. rupestris. The nest is invariably 
on the ground, and consists of a few withered leaves 
placed in a shallow cavity or depression. The female 
sometimes leaves it only when almost trodden under 
foot, in fact, several were swooped upon and caught 
thereon by hand. They usually begin to lay about 
the end of May or the beginning of June. The process 
of moulting, or the gradual assumption of their sum- 
mer plumage, commences a week or two earlier. The 
female lays from seven to ten, twelve, and, occasional- 
ly, as many as thirteen eggs, which I find was the 
