A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY. 291 
Snow Grouse or Ptarmigan (Zagopus albus) rise with a 
whirr, showing their black tail-feathers as they seek a 
more retired spot. Scarcely to be distinguished from the 
snow, nor less immaculate, we must be more sharply on the 
lookout if we would secure a brace next time. They are 
better to look at than to eat; for the dark colored flesh is 
dry and tasteless, and if we want specimens the better plan 
is to apply to the next Indian girl we meet. She, for a 
needle apiece, will furnish us with birds caught in snares, 
without a feather ruffled, or a speck on their shining coats. 
Their legs and feet are feathered down to the toes, and other 
stockings would be superfluous were we ourselves so warmly 
clad. 
As we near a clump of poplars on a bend in the river, we 
see that the bushes are alive with tiny birds. The Black 
Cap (Parus atricapillus) and the Hudson Bay Titmouse E ue 
Hudsonicus), chatter to each other from the swaying twigs 
of alder, and a little farther on is a countless flock of the 
Rosy Crowned Sparrow (-Zgiothus linaria) bold and saucy, 
with their crimson crests and rosy bosoms setting off their 
graceful shapes and lively motions. 
Chip! chip! chee! cries an angry Squirrel (Seiurus Hud- 
sonius) from yonder poplar; he evidently wants to know 
why we intrude on his privacy with guns and things, mak- 
ing ourselves disagreeable. A look, and he darts behind the 
trunk, only showing his head and ears, repeating his angry 
ery in apparent astonishment at our obstinacy in remaining. 
Finding us unmoved "a change comes o'er the spirit of his 
dreams” and he seeks refuge in the deserted nest of a 
Golden-winged Woodpecker (Colaptes auratus), and waits 
for better times. You ask what is yonder broad trail in the 
snow; too small for a bear, too broad and heavy for a fox. 
It is the track of a Wolverine ( Gulo luscus), known here by 
the more euphonic name of rossamorga. The Indians tell 
strange stories of his cunning, his perseverence in destroying 
their traps, and his almost human powers of reflection. The 
