Across the Fields. 285 



shaped marks, and the sides and flanks are barred and spotted with a like 

 shade. 



The female is smaller and has the middle tail feathers but little longer 

 than the others. 



The nest is built on the ground, and from ten to fourteen buffy eggs, 

 usually dotted with fine reddish brown, are laid. They are about an inch 

 and two thirds long and a little less than an inch and a quarter broad. 



These birds inhabit the Plains east of the Rocky Mountains, are resident 

 where they occur, and range as far east as Wisconsin and Illinois. 



There are five kinds of Ptarmigans which are recognized by naturalists 

 as occurring in Eastern North America. 



In winter these birds are characterized by a general snow white plumage. 

 In the breeding season a dark plumage is assumed that differs much in the 

 several kinds. 



In nesting the Ptarmigan usually gathers some coarse grasses and dry 

 leaves, with which they line a shallow depression in the ground in a protected 

 place. The number of the eggs is from seven or eight to as many as fifteen. 

 The ground color varies from pale buff to deep brown, more or less specked 

 and otherwise marked by differing shades of brown. In size they are about 

 an inch and four fifths long, by an inch and a quarter in their other diameter. 



These birds are feathered with a thick filamentous hairy-like covering 

 on their feet that reaches to the ends of the toes, almost concealing the 

 nails. 



The Willow Ptarmigan is found throughout the northern part of the 



Northern Hemisphere. In America they migrate south in the winter to 



Sitka and the British Provinces. They have been re- 



^"iTia^o'^us^ifn*"' ^^'^'^^'^ ^^ '^^^"^^' "'^ accidental, in New England. In 

 summer the male, a bird about fifteen inches long, is red- 

 dish brown above, irregularly and finely barred, and mottled with black. 

 The middle tail feathers are like the back. The remainder are blackish, 

 tipped with white. The throat, breast, and sides are similar in color to the 

 upper parts, and the belly is white. In the female the markings are more 

 numerous and wider. In the winter the birds are entirely white, except the 

 outer tail feathers, which are blackish with white tips. 



