CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTOET OF ALASKA. 155 



Ground color of back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts dark liver-brown, the nape and 

 crown light reddish-brown barred with black ; while the back and other posterior parts are very 

 finely and densely vermiculated with black, producing the dark liver-brown aspect. Chin and 

 throat white. The jugulnm similar to the crown and nape, but with the black bars broader and 

 more distinct, becoming finer and less distinct on the upper breast. The wing, including the 

 primaries, secondaries, and some of the tertiaries, white with few scattered feathers of the same 

 pattern of coloration as the upper back. The longer tail-coverts are somewhat darker than the 

 color of the back, owing to the finer vermiculation of the black and the brown colors. The black 

 stripe from base of side of bill much spotted with white. The lower breast, abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts white. Tail black with a very narrow tip of white. The outline of the tail is decidedly 

 rounded. 



The adult female breeding plumage of a specimen * obtained at Unalashka May 18, 1877, pre- 

 sents the following pattern of coloration : Upper parts, including head, neck, and upper tail-coverts, 

 bright brown ocher, the tips of each feather either brighter or else white ; coarsely barred, having 

 a tendency to spotting with black, which on elevating the superincumbent feathers is greater in 

 area on each side of the shaft. The lower parts, including fore neck, breast, and sides, bright yel- 

 low ocher with sparser, but more regular, bars of black. The wings, including primaries and sec- 

 ondaries, white. The wing coverts similar to the coloration of the hind neck. The flanks and 

 sides broadly barred with black and light yellowish ocher. The abdomen white. The lower tail- 

 coverts very distinctly barred with black and yellowish ocher, the latter color finely dotted with 

 black and narrowly tipped with white. The claws black, with light edges and tips. The tarsus 

 and toes of both sexes covered with fine downy, white feathers, containing but few bristles. 



The coloration of this bird is entirely distinct from that of the species occurring farther to the 

 westward, and is somewhat darker than birds from the interior of the mainland. 



302c. Lagopus. kupestris atkhensis (Turner). Turner's Ptarmigan. [See Plates III 

 and IV.] 



Catalogue number 85597; $ ad. Atkha Island, Alaska, May 29, 1879. 



Ground color of upper parts light olive brown, altogether lighter than in corresponding 

 plumage of rupestris. The whole surface very finely and densely vermiculated with black. The 

 tips of many of the feathers lighter and more grayish, with very narrow crescentic bar of whitish. 

 The ground color of head and nape above is more yellowish than on the back. The crown spotted 

 with black. Ground color of fore neck, jugulum, and upper breast, light fulvous or yellowish- 

 brown, distinctly and somewhat regularly barred with black. The upper breast, sides, and flanks 

 similar, but more finely and distinctly barred with dusky. The wing, lower breast, abdomen, and 

 under tail-coverts pure white. The inferior upper tail-coverts, in this example, are little lighter 

 than the rump, simply the obliteration of the prevailing color of the back. Tail black and de- 

 cidedly truncate, not rounded, as in rupestris, and narrowly tipped with white. 



No. 85598. 3 . June 7, 1879. Atkha Island. This example of few days later plumage pre- 

 sents no appreciable difference from the one of May 29. The distribution of the white on the up-, 

 per breast is little greater. The dusky shaft of the primaries is quite conspicuous in both exam- 

 ples. 



Catalogue number, 85600 2 ad. Atkha Island, May 29, 1879. 



Ground color of head, neck, breast, sides, flanks, and upper tail-coverts, light-brown ocher; 

 paler and much less rusty than in the corresponding plumage of rupestris. The upper parts irregu- 

 larly barred with black. The most of the feathers tipped with a narrow, crescentic bar of white, 

 the black bar immediately preceding it is much broader than the others. The fore part of the back 

 is irregularly spotted with black. Crown spotted with black, some feathers tipped with yellow- 

 ish-white. Jugulum and breast more sparsely but regularly barred with black. The sides and 

 abdomen similarly, but more broadly, barred with black and light yellowish-brown. But few white 

 feathers occur on the breast and abdomen. The under tail-coverts very distinctly barred with 

 black and light yellowish-brown. The wings white, the dusky color on the shafts not extending to 

 the tips. The tips of the upper tail-coverts and tail have a narrow band of white. 



* The bird occurring on Unalashka Island has since been described, by Dr. L. Stejneger, as a new sub-species, 

 under the name Lagopus rupestris nelsoni. (See "Auk," I, 1884, p. 226.) 



