46 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 13, 1912 
WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN ON NEST. 
A Perfect Blend 
By CHARLES S. MOODY 
"¥ OOK out! Do not step on that bird!’’ I 
called to my companion who was slightly 
in advance as we were climbing the steep 
side of a western mountain one day in June. 
He halted and looked in surprise. "What 
bird?” he asked. 
“The one right beneath your feet.” 
He looked again, saw nothing and started 
forward. I seized him by the arm and pointed 
to where a brownish bird flecked with gray, sat 
upon her nest in the grass not two feet from 
where we stood. 
“That is wonderful!” he exclaimed. “What 
is it?” 
“That is a white-tailed ptarmigan in her 
housekeeping dress,” I explained. 
The white-tailed ptarmigan of the western 
mountains is one of the most striking examples 
of “protective harmony” in coloration. The 
birds frequent the higher mountains above or 
near timber line. During the winter season they 
are nearly snow white, well nigh invisible 
against the background of snow. This change 
does not take place suddenly, but by regular 
gradations. In October the summer dress begins 
to moult the feathers, giving place to white. By 
the time the first snows come in November, the 
plumage is in perfect harmony with the half 
snow-covered rocks. When the ground is en¬ 
tirely covered with snow, the birds are almost 
white. As the snows begin to melt in the spring, 
the birds take on their summer dress, and by the 
time the ground is bare, are brown blotched with 
gray. 
The female ptarmigan chooses her nesting 
site more with an idea of outwitting her enemies 
than for its attractive outlook. The nest is al¬ 
ways placed somewhere on the talus of slide rock 
where the vegetation is either stunted or entirely 
wanting. In the one event the grass soon be¬ 
comes parched and brown, perfectly blending 
with her plumage; in the other, the red earth 
and gray rocks afford a like perfect setting. 
Once located on her nest, and it requires a keen 
eye to detect her. Her own sharp black eyes 
are the only betrayal. She cannot keep from 
closing the lids, and the glint of the sunlight 
discovers her presence. The bird is a close 
sitter, clinging to her treasures what though your 
next step will crush her. Many times I have 
lifted a sitting ptarmigan off her eggs the same 
as you might lift old Biddy in the hay loft, and 
with about the same resistance, a vicious peck. 
The ptarmigan is naturally more wary than this 
would seem to indicate, and beyond doubt the 
nesting bird depends upon her neutral color to 
protect her from discovery. The eggs carry out 
the deception, being dark brown blotched with 
umber, so nearly the color of the ground upon 
which they lie, that it is next to impossible to 
locate them unless by accident. 
Hunting in California. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
The open season for deer hunting com¬ 
menced on July 1 in Districts No. 2, 4 and 5. 
except in such counties as have passed ordi¬ 
nances shortening the season. Reports that have 
come from the mountain sections of Central Cali¬ 
fornia, in which these three game districts are 
located, are to the effect that the deer are in 
very poor condition, the bucks being still “in 
velvet” and the fawns too young to care for 
themselves. Conditions are worse than they 
were last season when the Fish and Game Com¬ 
mission received letters from more than 250 per¬ 
sons who had found fawns wandering alone. So 
numerous have been these complaints that it is 
considered likely that the game law will be 
amended at the next session of the Legislature, 
making the opening of the season a month or so 
later. It was anticipated that the supervisors of 
Alameda county would shorten the season in that 
county by two weeks this year, this having been 
decided upon last May, but at the last moment 
the regular opening date was decided upon. 
Last season the State realized about $150,000 
from the sale of hunting licenses, and this 
amount is expected to be considerably larger this 
year. In the sale of hunting licenses this State 
is led by but two other States in the LTnion, New 
York and Illinois. The entire cost of maintain¬ 
ing the Fish and Game Commission and conduct¬ 
ing its work is met from this revenue and from 
the fines imposed for violations of the law. For¬ 
merly the State was compelled to appropriate as 
much as $80,000 a year from the public funds 
for this work. This year there have been 
printed 171,000 licenses, the value of these being 
in excess of $200,000. 
The Alameda County Fish and Game Pro¬ 
tective Association held its annual meeting at 
Livermore, Cal., and elected officers as follows: 
President, C. L. Crellin, of Pleasanton; Vice- 
President, C. W. Heyer, Mayor of Hayward; 
Secretary, Earl Downing, Pleasanton; Treasurer, 
C. E. Beck. Livermore; Directors, John Mc- 
Glinchey, of Livermore; C. A. Gale, of Pleas¬ 
anton ; C. W. Riser, of Centerville, and Fred G. 
Hoyt, of Hayward. Hayward was selected as 
the place for the annual barbecue which will be 
held early in the fall. At the recent meeting a 
silver cup was presented to E. T. Ellis as a re¬ 
ward for killing the largest number of bluejays 
during the past year 
A beautiful specimen of the scarlet ibis killed 
in Southern California, near the border line of 
Mexico, has been received by the museum cura¬ 
tor at Golden Gate Park, and is now on exhibi¬ 
tion. This bird is now very rare, having been 
almost exterminated by the Indians who are fond 
of its rich scarlet plumage. 
Hatching Pheasants in Illinois. 
Bloomington, Ill., June 6 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: E. H. Werner and Wm. McCarthy, 
well-known sportsmen of Will county, paid a 
visit to the State game farm at Auburn this 
week and were promised a consignment of game 
birds during the coming summer. The State 
hatcheries will distribute 70,000 English ring¬ 
necked pheasants. Eight hundred Plymouth 
Rock hens are assisting the pheasants in hatch¬ 
ing the pheasant eggs, and it is hoped to give 
each county in the State a supply of the young 
birds. The State commissioner is conducting a 
series of experiments with various species of the 
birds, and the hardiest and those best adapted to 
Illinois will be given the preference next year. 
E. E. P. 
Two unusual bird incidents were reported 
in Central Illinois recently. Mrs. J. P. Daniels, 
of Clinton, was attacked by a woodpecker and 
so severely injured about the head that it was 
necessary to call a physician to dress her wounds. 
At Minonk, a bluejay was detected killing and 
eating young chickens. Ornithologists assert 
that such a cannibalistic trait was unsuspected, 
as the jays usually subsist only upon insects. 
