174. AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
greatest number recorded; and we had reason to know 
that some, at least, of the nests were used by ptarmigan 
several seasons in succession. When very closely ap- 
proached as stated, the female would frequently flut- 
ter off, sometimes spreading her wings and ruffling 
her feathers, as if to attack or frighten away intrud- 
ers, and at other times calling out in distressed tones, 
and acting as if she had been severely wounded. 
“In one instance, where an Indian collector had 
found a nest which contained seven eggs, he placed a 
snare thereon; but on returning to the spot a few hours 
afterward, he was surprised to find that six of the 
eggs had disappeared in the interim, and as no egg- 
shells were left behind they were in all probability re- 
moved by the parents to a safer place. The male bird 
is generally not far away from the nest, and his pe- 
culiar hoarse and prolonged note is frequently heard, 
the more especially between the hours of 10 p.m. and 
2 A.M. Both, however, displayed great courage and 
devotion in protecting from capture their young, which 
we often encountered on our return coast trips. 
“About the end of September, during October, and 
early in November L. lagopus assembles in great 
flocks, but during the winter it was seldom that more 
than two or three dozen were ever noticed in single 
companies. They are, however, most winters very 
numerous in the neighborhood of Fort Good Hope and 
other Hudson’s Bay Company posts in the Mackenzie 
River district; but as spring sets in, they begin to mi- 
grate northward, and it is very doubtful if many breed 
