WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN 199 
Seeing that she did not appear frightened, I sat down 
gently, stroked her on the back, and, finally, putting 
both hands beneath her, raised her gently off the nest 
and set her down on the grass, while she scolded and 
pecked my hands, like a setting hen, and, on being 
released, merely flew off a few yards and settled on 
a rock, from which she watched me till I had gone 
away. Late in July I came across a brood of young 
ones, apparently not more than four or five days old. 
They were striped with broad bands of white and 
blackish brown, and looked precisely like little game 
chickens. The mother flew in my face and hit me with 
her wings, using all the little artifices that the quail 
and partridge know so well how to employ, to draw me 
away; while her brood, seven or eight in number, 
nimbly ran and hid themselves in the dense grass and 
among the stones. On another excursion above timber 
line, toward the close of August, I found most of the 
young ones nearly grown, and strong on the wing; 
but one brood was of the size of quails, showing that 
some birds must begin breeding much later than others, 
or that they occasionally raise two broods. These 
little ones were colored much like the older birds, hav- 
ing blackish-brown bodies and pure white tails. About 
the first of September the ptarmigan begins to change 
color again, but, as in the spring, the process is very 
gradual, white feathers appearing one by one and 
taking the place of the dark ones. The white on the 
lower parts enlarges first, then the white areas on 
the wings, and next, white specks appear on the upper 
