454 



THE NATIONAIv GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



horn growth as do the higher altitudes 

 further south. 



The writer earnestly contends that it 

 is a false pride which always leads a 

 sportsman to pass by a beautiful antler 

 and a false standard which always re- 

 quires their removal from the head of a 

 personally slaughtered animal. To the 

 public, for the use of museums and in 

 the comparison and differentiation of the 

 various types of horns, shed antlers are 

 just as valuable and just as interesting 

 as many having a narrative of blood and 

 wastefulness in their taking. 



Photographing wild animals requires 

 all the skill and endurance demanded by 

 the most ardent and experienced sports- 

 man, and the finding of the discarded 

 antlers of a giant moose adds a zest to 

 the photographic hunt and a valuable 

 trophy for the trip, and surely not less 

 sportsmanlike because its former owner 

 is still permitted to roam the wilderness 

 as the largest antlered animal of modern 

 times. 



Fortunately for this branch of sport, 

 it requires patience, persistence, a fair 

 knowledge of the animal's habits and 

 range, and when the best horns only are 

 selected the collection will represent 

 quite as much skill and value as when 

 secured by killing the unfortunate owner 

 thereof. 



ThS ALASKA PTARMIGAN AND HOW 



CLEVERLY THEY PROTECT THEIR 



YOUNG 



To the mountain climber of the north- 

 land there are no birds more interesting 

 than the ptarmigan. One species, the 

 willow grouse, or willow ptarmigan, oc- 

 cupies the thickets bordering the tree 

 limits, and a hardier and more humbly 

 plumed kind, the rock ptarmigan, hves 

 ■on the rocky slopes and snow-clad sum- 

 mits of the higher ranges. This interest 

 ds largely due to the ease of observation, 

 ior the birds are tame and numerous, 

 and again because they can be counted 

 upon to supply the larder with a port- 

 able and well-flavored article of food. 



Eor several weeks we were in the 

 midst of these birds, and when making 

 daily rounds to the grassy plateaux, 

 -where the sheep were apt to be found, I 



spent a good deal of time following up 

 the smaller streams in order to study 

 and photograph the birds in their nat- 

 ural surroundings. 



Familiar with many other species of 

 grouse, I was particularly impressed by 

 one characteristic of the cock willow 

 ptarmigan, which differed so from the 

 conduct of male grouse of the forest and 

 prairie, in that he almost invariably re- 

 mained with or accompanied the female 

 during the entire breeding season and, 

 moreover, was the most aggressive par- 

 ent of the two in times of peril. 



One's proximity to the family was 

 usually foretold by the sudden fluttering 

 out of the cock, which, with a limp and 

 trailing wing, employed the usual de- 

 vices of most ground-breeding birds in 

 the effort to coax in futile pursuit any 

 known or suspected enemy, and then, if 

 successful in leading such away from 

 the spot where the young crouched by 

 the side of their silent mother, the cock 

 would take wing, uttering loud and rau- 

 cous notes, finding concealment in a 

 near-by thicket. 



But if one persisted in trying to locate 

 the young, then the female would renew 

 the effort to distract attention, and if this 

 did not succeed she would utter a pecu- 

 liar note signaling the male to return, and 

 then between the two of them some plan 

 would be devised to prevent the aiscovery 

 or injury of the young birds. 



In a hundred or more observations 

 the cock was apparently absent only half 

 dozen times, which might be accounted 

 for by his untimely death in defense of 

 his family or by a temporary absence in 

 search of a particular kind of food. 



Two instances of this strategic co- 

 operation of the parents may be quoted 

 from my notebook: 



"August p. 



"Following the creek bottom for nearly 

 a mile, we found the ptarmigan un- 

 usually abundant, for the day was warm 

 and quiet and the birds were sunning 

 themselves on the gravel bars or dust- 

 ing their feathers in basins hollowed out 

 in the sloping banks. One brilliantly 

 colored cock rushed out at us from a 

 patch of dried grass and I followed him 

 down the stream a few rods with the 



