moss, besides a fallen stump; lined with a few feathers. Collector,
E. H. Montgomery.

[Illustration 186: Buff.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 185

304. WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. _Lagopus leucurus leucurus._

Range.--Higher ranges of the Rocky Mountains, from New Mexico north to
Alaska.

Ptarmigan are remarkable birds in that they are in an almost continual
state of molting, nearly every month in the year showing them in
different stages of plumage, ranging from the snow-white winter dress to
the summer one in which reddish-brown prevails on Willow Ptarmigan and a
black and gray barred effect predominates on the other species. Notice
that they are feathered to the toes, in winter the feathers on the toes
growing dense and hair-like, not only protecting the toes from the cold
but making excellent snowshoes which enable them to walk with impunity
over the lightest snow.

Ptarmigan form the staple article of diet for northern foxes, and were
it not for the fact that their plumage changes to correspond to the
appearance of the ground at the various seasons they would fare hardly
indeed.

In spring the little red combs above the eyes of the males are swollen
and conspicuous. At this season they strut and perform curious antics,
such as all Grouse are noted for.

This species differs from any of the preceding in having at all seasons
of the year, a white tail; it is also somewhat smaller than the Rock
Ptarmigan. They nest abundantly near the summits of the ranges in
Colorado, making their nests among the rocks, and generally lining them
with a few grasses. During June, they lay from six to twelve eggs having
a creamy background, speckled and blotched with chestnut brown. Size
1.70 x 1.15.

304a. KENAI WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. _Lagopus leucurus peninsularis._

Range.--Kenai Peninsular, Alaska. A similar but paler (in summer)
variety of the preceding. The nesting habits or eggs will not differ.

305. PRAIRIE CHICKEN. _Tympanuchus americanus americanus._

Range.--The prairies, chiefly west of the Mississippi; north to
Manitoba, east to Ohio, and west to Colorado.

This familiar game bird of the west is about 18 inches in length,
brownish above and grayish below, with bars of brownish black both above
and below. In the place of the ruffs of the Ruffled Grouse, are long
tufts of rounded or square ended feathers, and beneath these a peculiar
sac, bright orange in the

[Illustration 187: Olive Buff.]