Birds within Ten Miles of Point 
do Monts, Can, Coxaeau & Merriam 
79- Lagopus albus. Willow Ptarmigan. — Verj abundant during 
the 0 arly part of some winters, but during other years it does not occur at 
all. They generally arrive about the first of December, and a few remain 
till the first of May. They are always most abundant in December, and 
Mr. Comeau once killed six hundred before Christmas ! He has shot as 
many as eighty-two in a single morning. 
Bnli.N.O.O, 7,Oot. 1882.p,238 
^ The Ptabmigan Winter.— Last autumn we 
had published in the Quebec Chronicle a letter relative to the 
probable recurrence of the willow grouse or ptarmigan (L. 
albus Aud.) this winter. The prediction or surmise has 
proved correct as the following clipping from the Ottawa 
Citizen of March 3 will show : “It was repoited to-day by a 
farmer from the neighborhood of Pembroke that ptarmigan 
had been seen in the vicinity of the town. It is curious that 
if such be the case, none have been observed in other locali- 
ties generally visited by this polar bird during the severe 
winter south of the Arctic latitudes.” Some weeks ago 
another notice of the recurrence of the ptarmigan appeared 
in one of the Manitoba papers and was copied in the Mon- 
treal Witness. Of late years this bird has been very scarce 
and reports have been received at some of the Hudson Bay 
outposts, stating that Indian families, whose sustenance de- 
pended almost entirely on those birds, were in a starving 
condition. When the snowfall is very heavy in the north 
the birds appear to perish in large numbers— not from cold, 
but owing to the willow brush being covered up. During 
such winters there is a large migration southward of the 
ptarmigans, and numbers are killed by hunters and lumber- 
men to the northward of the 8t. Lawrence and Ottawa 
rivers. Some twenty years ago we have seen the birds 
brought into our markets at Montreal and Quebec in large 
numbers, but since then they have almost completely disap- 
peared. This, then, has been a “ptarmigan winter,” and a 
cold and severe one too it has been. — H. G. V. (MontreaL.-- 
March 3). k 
Labrador, arrived within the last week, and were 
offered at the .stalls at $l..iO to $3.00 per pair. 
Prom the way several prominent taxidermists 
are prospecting in the vicinity, we are led to be- 
lieve that more than one eye is on a future coi-iu 
in the market. — F. B. W., Boston. 
O.&O. 3?:.F«b.l8S.5. p. '32-- 
The Common or Willow Ptarmigan (Za- 
gopus albus) is still an abundant resident, 
even in the vicinity of St. John’s ; and 
thousands of them are killed annually on 
the peninsula of Avalon alone. It frequents 
rocky barrens, feeding upon the seeds and 
berries of the stunted plants that thrive in 
these exposed situations. The Rock Ptar- 
migan (Z. rupestris) is confined to the 
high mountains of the interior. 
O.&O. VIll. June.iSSS. p, V3- 
