Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

WILLOW PTARMIGAN.

301. Lagopus lagopus. 15 inches.

These are Grouse-like birds, feathered to the toe-nails; they have many changes of plumage, in winter being nearly pure white and in summer largely reddish brown, mottled and barred with black. This bird has a black tail and bill, the latter very stout. In the breeding plumage they have a bright red bare spot over the eye.

Nest.—They nest on the ground in hollows of the rocks filled with moss, lining the nest with leaves and grass, and sometimes a few feathers. They lay from six to sixteen eggs, which have a ground color of buff, heavily speckled, blotched and marbled with blackish brown (1.75 × 1.25).