346 THKOUGH THE MA(>KE¥ZIE BASIN" 



vaTiation in shape, colour, and size. All the specimens in 

 the U. S. ISTational Museum collection were taken in the 

 month of June, the majority about the middle of the month. 

 The food of the willow ptarmigan during the early spring 

 and summer consists principally of the buds and tender leaves 

 of the various species of birch and willows found in that 

 region, and of arbutus, cranberry and other berries, together 

 with insects, etc." 



There are five skins, four of which were secured by Dr. 

 E. Bell at Fort George, James Bay, Hudson Bay, and the 

 fifth at Port Chimo, Ungava, Labrador, by Mr. A. P. Low, 

 in the Ottawa Museum. Also four sets of eggs, ranging 

 from four to eleven, all taken in Labrador by Mr. Low in 

 1894 and 1896. 



302. Rock Ptarmigan — Lagopus rupestris (Gmelin). 



In 1885 a bird of this species was procured at Eond du 

 Lac, Great Slave Lake, and two also from Eort Resolution, 

 all of which were duly forwarded to Dr. Bell. It was not 

 observed by us in New Caledonia, nor in Cumberland, 

 although it is doubtless present in the country lying to the 

 northward of Reindeer Lake. I again beg to quote from 

 our Anderson experiences : " This ptarmigan is not nearly 

 so plentiful as L. lagopus, and we only met with it in any 

 considerable number from the Wilmot Horton River, Barren 

 Grounds, to the shores of Franklin Bay. Very few nests 

 were found to the westward of that river, or on the coast 

 or the ' barrens ' of the lower Anderson. Its nest is similar, 

 but it lays fewer eggs than L. lagopus, as nine proved to be 

 the rarely attained maximum among an aggregate record of 

 sixty-five nests — the usual number was six and seven, and 

 there were some which held only four and five eggs. Several 

 of these would doubtless have contained more had they been 

 discovered at a later date. It proved no easy matter, how- 

 ever, to find the nests of this species, as the plumage of the 

 birds and the colour of the eggs both strongly resembled the 



