. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. Photo by George Shiras. 3rd THK SAJlE .MOOSE "After taking a few more pictures, I concluded that I would lie doing a very poor service to leave him in this unsophisticated state of mind. Tt was plain he now no longer feared the sight or scent of man, and would doubtless soon fall a victim to a party of hunters camping- half a mile down the shore" (see page 449). down a rock slide, evidently trailing but not seeing his quarrjr. With a iield-glass I could make out a brood of rock ptarmi- gan scurrying ahead. When
. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. Photo by George Shiras. 3rd THK SAJlE .MOOSE "After taking a few more pictures, I concluded that I would lie doing a very poor service to leave him in this unsophisticated state of mind. Tt was plain he now no longer feared the sight or scent of man, and would doubtless soon fall a victim to a party of hunters camping- half a mile down the shore" (see page 449). down a rock slide, evidently trailing but not seeing his quarrjr. With a iield-glass I could make out a brood of rock ptarmi- gan scurrying ahead. When the birds reached the bank of a small ravine, filled nearly to the surface with snow, the hen flew up about ten feet, alighting on the snow, and the little ones with an efTort did likewise; and, thus concealed from the immediate vision of the fox, they ran a short distance and squatted, resembling very much the detached rocks and soil dotting the edges of the snow. When the reached the bank he looked intently about and, seeing noth- ing, descended, sniffing along the sur- face of the snow below where the birds alighted. Evidently thinking that they had fl^wn across or gone further down, he climbed up the opposite bank. Here a large fat marmot, extracting a root only a short distance away, attracted his attention, and although they were about the same size, the sudden flight of the latter induced pursuit, which ended un- successfully a few yards away, at the opening of the burrow. So little time was spent on the moun- tain summits that I had small chance to observe the habits of the rock ptarmigan. In no case did the cock accompan)- the brood, and it seemed as though these birds had no fear whateA'cr <_ii the larger forms of animal life. The hen had two warning notes for the young, one causing them to remain stock still or crouch wherever they happened to be— and so faithful was the obedience that I could pick the young up—and another note, which caused the young to
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