Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-23

although they form an almost infnitesima
portion of bird-life in the summer tame,
when the aquatic life that migrates in the
fall pours back into the Arctic regions foz
rearing their young and that covers almos,
every lake and open strip of shore water
between the ice-peaks.
AS / have said, in the summer the ptar.
migan changes coat to a notified brown and
they are no longer seen in droves or hocks,
having spread out in pairs and single birds
to make their nests, hatch their eggs and
rear their young. At this season they are
truly "as tough as setting hen" and even
if the sportsman's conscience did not revolt
against staying them, except in cases of di.
rect necessity, his stomach would bring him
around to that opinion after eating, or try.
ing to eat, the first bird. They are in the
best condition in the fall after they have fat
tened up on moss-buds and other food, and
before the snow gets so deep that they have
to work too hard at scratching for living.
At this time, properly cooked, they are
simply delicious. and far ahead of any pral-
RE chicken, pheasant or blue grouse that
ever fell into the hands of a cook, at least
as far as my personal experience goes.
The glacial grouse of the North seem to
be the most numerous whenever storm is
raging. have never yet been caught out
in storm travelling in the Arctic that
have not seen dozen to score of these
pretty creatures. At such times they will
not run more than a step or two before fly.
ing, and one seldom sees them then EXCEPT
On the wing, or Just as they are rising. It
is really cheerful sight to see life under
such lonesome circumstances as a boreal
blizzard, and the kind hearted sportsman
hardly feels like destroying them from
sympathy, strongly backed by the practical
fact that he might get his fingers frozen if
he essayed it in the wind.
Ihave often thought their being so much
more numerous in stormy weather than
during fine days, even when the latter great
ly predominated, was much more apparent
than real, and could be easily explained. In
the stormy times they do not see or hear
the hunters approach OWNS to the drifting
snow and noise Of wind until he is very
near, and then attempt to hide by squatting
down and avoiding his attention until past
AS he passes near some they are frightened
into flying and that starts the whole flock
buzzlng around to escape, and nothing
could be more noticeable
On fine days the approaching party is
seen coming far away; the crealsing of the
sledge can be heard on the hard, frozen
snow, and they run, like quail, so far of
the course that they do not have to rise to
escape, and as to seeing them so far ahead.
unless one had the eyes of the hawk, would
be as much out of the question as seeing
SNOWFALL rolling over the snow drifts at
that distance Again, during heavy storms
the wind is blowing the snow OF the ridges
and tops and hills, and here the ptarmigan
End the old moss buds and vegetable debris
on which they manage to live.
Should one desire, who was visiting GER
tain parts of the Arctic country, to have an
abundance of these birds. think it would be
quitee easy by taking small gauge shot-guns
like some handy repeating shot-guns, and
them among the small Eskimo
boys, to be able to secure them by the barrel.
and preserve them by that best of known
methods, the intense polar cold, for at least
two-thirds of the year. An English ex.
plorer spending winter in Hudson's Bav,
far south of my camp in the extreme north
ern part, chronicles that "they killed no
less than 500 dozen ptarmigan.'
FREDERICK SCHWkrKA