| Once a White-tailed Ptarmigan was seen to step into 
the shadows of a matted, stunted hemlock. Clucking notes 
- told that young birds were there. The careful use of an 
- alpenstock persuaded the mother and two babies, the latter 
still showing bits of grayish-brown down, to walk sedately _ 
— over to a bed of red heather. The toenails of the mother — 
- were almost covered by her soft white boots, and the mottled 
tawny and white plumage showed that she was wearing her 
- between-season suit. How would she have looked as a bride 
oo OL the winter when she had put on her white garments, or 
as apparently a different bird in the tawny feathers of her | 
summer dress? | | 
A little grove of hemlock and alpine fir in Summer 
Land gave shelter to a family of Shufeldt Juncos. These 
birds clicked their bills and scolded an intruder as she 
followed their white ‘banner marks” into its gloom. She was _ 
rewarded, not by a nest, but by catching sight of the gay 
- Louisiana Tanager with its crimson head, oeiuted body, and 
black back, wings, and tail. 
As she pursued its lure along a lateral moraine she ran 
across the haunts of a male Rufous Hummingbird. He ~ 
courageously tried to drive her away, coming so close that 
the atom seemed almost dangerous as his loud piercing 
warcry exploded so near her eyes. His tiny crimson gorget _ 
fairly blazed with indignation as he tried to scare this 
_ intruder into private quarters out of his sight. 
To quiet him she wandered on to a group of “ghosts” 
_ of an old forest which was the lounging place of a number of 
birds. A Red-shafted Flicker, a Steller Jay, a pair of Clarke 
-Nuterackers, and also a family of Oregon Jays were seen 
sunning themselves there at one time or another. Nearly 
all travellers will recognize a flicker with its spotted wood- — 
pecker style of dressing. The blue feathers of the crested — 
Steller Jay is also well known, but not many people are 
acquainted with the Clarke Nutcracker. Yet the latter is | 
not at all bashful and will introduce himself by a raucous 
1380 | 
