GROUSE, PTARMIGANS, ETC.: PRAIRIE CHICKEN 207 
migan flew directly into my face, knocking my glasses to one side as he 
slapped my face with his beating wings.” When he was finally caught 
to be taken back to camp for a photograph, Mr. Dixon goes on, his 
devoted mate “came rushing at me and then crawled feebly about at 
my feet as though in mortal agony” (1927a, pp. 213-217). The thieving 
gulls and wandering red foxes and grizzly bears had apparently made the 
ptarmigan both suspicious and valiant. 
Other forms of this most interesting grouse, living on the high 
mountain slopes seldom visited by man, have preserved the trustfulness 
that gives the peculiar charm to birds in uninhabited regions. And in 
cases where the trust has not been betrayed, not only have the birds 
proved ready subjects for the enthusiast in bird photography, but the 
brooding mother has actually allowed herself to be lifted from the nest 
for a close inspection of her eggs. 
As the little Snow Grouse is at once one of the most delightful and 
notable members of New Mexico’s richly varied fauna, every effort 
should be made to guard the few peaks where it is making a last stand 
and save its remnant from wanton extermination. Excessive grazing by 
both sheep and cattle on the peaks above timberline, destroying the 
protecting ground cover as well as the food, has been largely responsible 
for the disappearance of this rare arctic bird but it has been accelerated 
by both lawless hunters and predatory animals. In its Montana home 
in Glacier National Park, the protected Ptarmigan ranks with the 
mountain sheep and goats as an object of keen interest to nature lovers. 
Shall New Mexico lose this rare asset? 
Additional Literature.—Bailey, Veknon and F. M., Wild Animals of Glacier 
National Park, Nat. Park Sendee, U. S. Dept. Interior, 139-144, 1918.— Bendire, 
C. E., Life Histories of North American Birds, I, 83-88, 1892.— Chapman, F. M., 
Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist, 357-366, 190S.— Conover, H. B., Auk, 
XLIII, 316-317, 1926.— Coues, Elliott, Birds of the Northwest, 425-429, 1874.— 
Grinnell, Joseph, Educational Leaflet 60, Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc.— Hill, 
G. A., Condor, XXIV, 105-108, 1922.— Seton-Tiiompson, E., Bird-Lore, III, 186, 
1901.— Taylor, W. P., and W. T. Shaw, Mammals and Birds of Mt. Rainier Nat. 
Park, pp. 140-146, 1927. 
LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN: Tympanuchus pallidicmctus (Ridgway) 
Description. — Male: Wing S.2-8.3 inches, tail 4-4.2. Female: Wing 8-8.2 
inches, tail 3.5-4. Legs scantily feathered to toes, in front and on sides; sides of neck 
xcith erectile tufts of elongated feathers, 2.5 inches or more in length. Adult male: 
Head with a slight soft crest, neck with inflatable air-sacs, yellow in breeding season; 
upperparts pale brownish* back barred in sets of threes, a wide brown bar enclosed by 
two narrow dusky bars, underparts, similarly barred. Adult female: Similar but 
neck tufts rudimentary. Young: Upperparts yellowish-brown, feathers with con¬ 
spicuous white shaft streaks and large black blotches; underparts yellowish-white, 
with grayish brown bars. 
Range. —Upper Sonoran Zone of Great Plains, from Kansas south to central 
Texas and eastern New Mexico. 
