

Photo by George Shiras. 3rd 



THK SAJlE liUI.L .MOOSE 



"After taking a few more pictures, I concluded that I would lie doing a very poor service 

 to leave him in this unsophisticated state of mind. Tt was plain he now no longer feared the 

 sight or scent of man, and would doubtless soon fall a victim to a party of hunters camping- 

 half a mile down the shore" (see page 449). 



down a rock slide, evidently trailing but 

 not seeing his quarrjr. With a iield-glass 

 I could make out a brood of rock ptarmi- 

 gan scurrying ahead. When the birds 

 reached the bank of a small ravine, filled 

 nearly to the surface with snow, the hen 

 flew up about ten feet, alighting on the 

 snow, and the little ones with an efTort 

 did likewise ; and, thus concealed from 

 the immediate vision of the fox, they ran 

 a short distance and squatted, resembling 

 very much the detached rocks and soil 

 dotting the edges of the snow. 



When the fo.x reached the bank he 

 looked intently about and, seeing noth- 

 ing, descended, sniffing along the sur- 

 face of the snow below where the birds 

 alighted. Evidently thinking that they 

 had fl^wn across or gone further down, 

 he climbed up the opposite bank. Here 

 a large fat marmot, extracting a root 

 only a short distance away, attracted his 

 attention, and although they were about 

 the same size, the sudden flight of the 

 latter induced pursuit, which ended un- 

 successfully a few yards away, at the 

 opening of the burrow. 



So little time was spent on the moun- 

 tain summits that I had small chance to 



observe the habits of the rock ptarmigan. 

 In no case did the cock accompan)- the 

 brood, and it seemed as though these 

 birds had no fear whateA'cr <_ii the 

 larger forms of animal life. The hen 

 had two warning notes for the young, 

 one causing them to remain stock still or 

 crouch wherever they happened to be — 

 and so faithful was the obedience that I 

 could pick the young up — and another 

 note, which caused the young to imniedi- 

 atelv seek an overhead protection, either 

 beneath the broken rocks or under the 

 rims of snow or ice. 



Once I saw seven small ptarmigan run 

 beneath the edge of a block of ice, and 

 all I could see was the projecting row of 

 small black bills ; and in another case the 

 voung bird, alarmed by the mother's note, 

 sciueezed in between my shoes and re- 

 mained there until relieved by a reas- 

 suring call. Hawks and foxes are the 

 principal enemies, while moose, caribou, 

 sheep, or man seem to be regarded in 

 the light of friends. 



THE .\L.\SK-V S.^L.MOX .\ND THE TK.\r,EDY 

 OE THE Sr.AWNIXG GROUNDS 



j\Iany know that the salmon industry 



457 



