190S.] 



BIEDS. 



345 



On his second northern journey he noted the ' willow partridge * at 

 Fort Franklin the last of October, 1825.^ Kichardson, under the 

 name Tetrao salketi, made many general observations on the habits 

 and other characteristics of the species, and gave a description of a 

 male killed in Jtily in the Eocky Mountains in latitude 56°.* Dur- 

 ing his third northern trip he recorded the sj)ecies from Fort Frank- 

 lin, where it commenced to asstime the summer phmiage toward the 

 end of April/ In the winter of 1833-34 King noted the presence of 

 Avillow ptarmigan at Fort Eeliance. at the eastern end of Great 

 Slave Lake, where they arrived abotit December 7.^ Thomas Simp- 

 son, probably referring to this species, stated that ptarmigan had 

 become perfectly white on September 24, 1837, on Dease Bay. Great 

 Bear Lake:^ and he found them mimerous and mating at Dease 

 Eiver on Jtme 8. 1838/ "Wliile crossing Great Bear Lake between 

 Cape McDonnell and the Scented Grass Hills in the autumn of 1839, 

 he observed many white partridges which had been drowned in cross- 

 ing the lake.^ 



Under the name Lagopus alhus, Eoss listed the species as having 

 been collected at Fort Simpson.'' AVillow ptarmigan have been re- 

 corded, under various names, from a number of points on the Arctic 

 islands. J. C. Eoss states that they were seen at Port Bowen every 

 month except January during the winter of 1824-25;' and that one 

 pair was seen on the east side of Boothia in latitude 71°, and a few at 

 Felix Harbor.-' "Walker records the species from Port Kennedy.''^^ 

 Armstrong states that willow grouse were tolerably common in 

 Prince of "Wales Strait near Princess Eoyal Islands. May 31, 1851.' 

 He also states, referring to the willow grouse (since he elsewhere 

 states that no rock ptarmigan were killed there), that ptarmigan 

 were killed at Mercy Bay, Banks Land, every month between Octo- 

 ber, 1851. and April, 1853.'« 



In the early sixties MacFarlane found the willow ptarmigan ex- 

 ceedingly abundant in the neighborhood of Fort Anderson and in 

 the wooded country to the eastward, and found many nests. The 



« Narrative Second Expeclitiou to Polar Sea, p. 60, 182S. 



* Fauna Boreali-Aniericana, II, p. 358, 1831. 

 '^Arctic Searching Expedition, II, p. 254, 1851. 



^ Narrative Journey to Arctic Ocean, I, p. 161, 1836. 



^ Narrative Discoveries on North Coast of America, p. 198, 1843. 



f Ibid., p. 248. 1843. 



Ibid., p. .396, 1843. 

 ''Nat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 284, 1862. 



* Parry's Third Voyage, Appendix, p. 101, 1826. 



^ Appendix to Ross's Second Voyage, p. xxviii, 1835. 

 ^Proc. Roy. Soc. Dublin, III, p. 63, 1860. 

 ^ Narrative Discovery Northwest Passage, p. 337, 1857. 

 "•Ibid., p. 601, 1857. 



