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WILLOW PTARMIGAN.— WILLOW GROUSE. 



^Lagopus albus, GmeL 

 PLATE CCXCIX.—Male, Female, and Young. 



Although I have not seen this beautiful bird within the limits of the 

 United States, I feel assured that it exists in the State of Maine, as well as 

 in the northern districts bordering on the great lakes. Theodore Lincoln, 

 Esq., of Dennisville in Maine, shot seven one day, not many miles from 

 that village; and the hunter who guided me to the breeding-grounds of 

 the Canada Grouse assured me that he also knew where the "Red-necked 

 Partridge" was to be found. The places which he described as frequented 

 by them, seemed to bear as near a resemblance to those in which I found the 

 species in Labrador and Newfoundland, a* the difference of latitude and 

 vegetation could admit. I have also seen several skins of individuals that 

 were killed near Lake Michigan. 



The Willow Grouse differs in its habits from the Canada Grouse in several 

 remarkable circumstances. In the first place, neither myself nor any of my 

 party ever found the former solitary or single. The males were always in 

 the immediate vicinity of the nest while the females were sitting, and 

 accompanied them and the young from the time the latter were hatched 

 until they were full-grown; and whenever we met with them, we observed 

 that the males and the females manifested the strongest attachment towards 

 each other, as well as towards their young. In fact, so much was this the 

 case, that when a covey happened to come in our way, the parents would fly 

 directly towards us with so much boldness, that some were actually killed on 

 the wing with the rods of our guns, as they flew about in the agonies of rage 

 and despair, with all their feathers raised and ruffled. In the mean time, the 

 little ones dispersed and made off through the deep moss and tangled 

 creeping plants with great rapidity, squatting and keeping close to the 

 ground, when it became extremely difficult to find them. This is the only 

 American species of Grouse I am acquainted with that possesses these habits; 

 in all others found in the United States, the male not only leaves the female 

 as soon as incubation has commenced, but both fly from man and urge their 

 young to do the same from their earliest age. 



The Willow Ptarmigan, moreover, join their broods whenever an oppor- 

 tunity offers, and we found flocks of old and young, in which the latter were 



