348 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



blotelies, as is frequently the case in the eggs of that species. 

 The ground colour ranges from a pale cream to a decided 

 yellowish-buff, and in many specimens this is entirely hidden 

 by a vinaceous rufous suffusion. The spots and blotches 

 range from a dark clove-brown to a dark claret-red, with 

 paler coloured edgings; they are of various sizes, from the 

 size of a buckshot to that of No. 10 shot, and are irregularly 

 distributed over the egg. The average measurement of the 

 ninety-nine specimens now in the U. S. National Museum 

 collection is 42 by 30 millimetres., The largest egg in this 

 series measures 44 by 32.5 ; the smallest 39 by 29 milli- 

 metres. No. 14,997 (plate 2, figure 15) is from a set of 

 ten eggs, taken in the Gens-du-large or Romanzof Mountains, 

 Alaska, by Chief Eactor James McDougall, of the Hudson's 

 Eay Company, in the latter part of May, 1869." Both Sir 

 John Eichardson and Mr. B. E. Eoss state that the white- 

 tailed ptarmigan, Lagopus leucurus, is a resident of the 

 northern Eocky Mountains to La Pierre's House. Its breed- 

 ing range is only found on or near the summit of the higher 

 mountains, and apparently always above the timber line. It 

 is always a resident wherever it is met with. Their nests 

 are a slight hollow in the ground lined with a few small 

 twigs, grasses, leaves and feathers, and, on the whole, a much 

 warmer and more compact affair than that used by L. lagopus 

 and L. rupestris. In number the eggs vary between four 

 and ten. 



The Ottawa Museum collection contains nine fine skin 

 specimens in both winter and summer plumage, but no eggs ! 



308. Shabp-tailed Geouse — Pediocoetes phasianellus 



(Linn. ) . 



On the 16th of May, 1880, Mr. John Eeid found a nest 

 composed of leaves and grasses in a shallow depression m the 

 ground near Fort Providence. It contained nine fresh eggs, 

 and the parent bird was shot in the vicinity. They were later 

 forwarded to Mr. Dalgleish, while a male example killed 



