THE WHITE-TA ILED PTAEMIGAN. 87 



The material is chiefly fine dried-grass stems; with these are mixed, however, 

 a few small leaves and weed tops and quite a number of feathers. The latter, 

 evidently those of the parent birds, are imbedded throughout the substance of 

 the nest, though more numerous upon its surface, where a dozen or so are 

 deposited; there may have been some loose ones lost in handling." 1 



A set of these rare eggs has recently been obtained by Mr. Thomas H. 

 Jackson, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who kindly allowed me to examine 

 it, and placed all the information regarding it at my disposal. This set, con- 

 taining but four eggs, in which incubation had already begun, was taken by 

 Mr. Evan Lewis, in the vicinity of the Chicago Lakes, in Clear Creek County, 

 Colorado, on June 19, 1890, at an altitude of about 12,200 feet. The nest 

 itself was but a slight hollow in the . ground, lined with a few small twigs, 

 blades of grass, and a few feathers. It was about such a nest as a Bantam hen 

 would make. 



Mr. Lewis says: "The bird did not leave the nest until I stepped within a 

 foot of it; then she strutted around, dragging her wings, very much like a 

 Turkey does. When I returned to get the eggs, she allowed me to stroke her 

 with my hand, and was about as tame as an average hen is when sitting. 

 Foxes are very numerous around here, so that I did not dare to leave the eggs 

 to see if others would be laid. I saw several of these birds, both males and 

 females, the latter always between 3 and 5 o'clock p. m. The location of this 

 nest, just above timber line, on the level top of a ridge, near isolated patches 

 of dwarf willows, made me think they always nested in such places; but one 

 sitting bird I saw feeding started up the mountain, running a short distance, 

 then flew about a thousand feet, and after resting a few seconds repeated its 

 flight and disappeared over the top of the mountain. 



"I met a covey of young Ptarmigan about July 17, 1886, near the top of 

 the mountain, at an altitude of about 13,000 feet. They were not very shy, 

 and my companion and I counted them. I am not quite positive as to the 

 number, but am under the impression there were nine or fifteen. I judged 

 them to be nearly two weeks old. I ran after one, which tried to creep 

 under a large rock, and I readily caught it. The old bird flew around my 

 head and came close enough to knock my hat off, and as soon as we were 

 about 100 feet away she began to call her flock together. I never saw 

 more than two adult birds together, and should two males meet they imme- 

 diately commence fighting, till one finally drives the other away." 



The shape of the White-tailed Ptarmigan's eggs is an elliptical ovate. 

 Their ground color varies from a creamy buff to a pale reddish or salmon 

 buff. The markings are few, generally small in size and well defined. Some 

 eggs, however, are much more heavily spotted than others, and in these the 

 markings are more irregular and in the shape of blotches. These markings 

 vary from reddish brown to chocolate brown. 



'Bulletin U. S. Geological Surveys of the Territories, 2d series, v, 1875, p. 3. 



