1926] Swarth: Birds and Mammals from the Atlin Region 83

In the course of this study I had occasion to examine five adult
Dendragapus (in the D. R. Dickey collection) from the coastal side of
White Pass, above Skagway, Alaska, and, most unexpectedly, these
birds proved not to be of the subspecies sitkensis. They are exactly
similar to specimens of fuliginosus from Vancouver Island. Prior to
this I had seen but two specimens of Dendragapus from a mainland
point in Alaska, a male and a female from Glacier Bay. The female
was recognized as darker colored and less reddish than any island
specimens of sitkensis, but it is in badly worn plumage, and this worn
condition, it was assumed, might account in part for the difference.

Fig. G. Tail of Dendragapus fuliginosus fuliginosus, showing variation due
to age; immature male (M.V.Z. no. 15579); % natural size. Four centrai
immature rectrices were lost by this bird in some way other than by the regular
molt. The four longer rectrices that replaced them are of the adult type. The
shorter lateral rectrices are of the immature type and have their full length.
This bird, shot June 22, would not have molted for two months.

In the light of the additional specimens from Skagway, however, a
revision of this view is necessary. It looks as though the subspecies
Dendragapus fuliginosus fuliginosus must occur northward continu-
ously along the mainland coast of British Columbia and southeastern
Alaska, leaving sitkensis restricted to an island habitat.

In the Atlin region the ‘‘blue grouse’’ is resident and fairly com-
mon at high altitudes. It is a favorite game bird of the region, both
from its large size and from the excellent quality of its flesh. Its
habitat is about timber line, where there is open country interspersed
with clumps of balsam firs. The dense thickets of these stunted trees,
with their gnarled and spreading branches, afford shelter from enemies
and from inclement weather, and in the foliage food also is furnished
when other sources fail.