Shown is a female White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) sitting on her nest, its’ summer feathers helping to camouflage it. This photograph was taken by Evan Lewis ca. 1899-1902, whose love of birds is commented on in his obituary published below from The Auk: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology, in 1905.

The white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura), also known as the snow quail, is the smallest bird in the grouse family. It is a permanent resident of high altitudes on or above the tree line and is native to Alaska and the mountainous parts of Canada and the western United States. Its plumage is cryptic and varies at different times of the year. In the summer it is speckled in gray, brown and white whereas in winter it is wholly white. At all times of year the wings, belly and tail are white. The white-tailed ptarmigan has a diet of buds, leaves, flowers and seeds. The nest is a simple depression in the ground in which up to eight eggs are laid. After hatching, the chicks soon leave the nest. At first they eat insects but later move on to an adult diet, their mother using vocalisations to help them find suitable plant food. The population seems to be stable and the IUCN lists this species as being of “Least Concern”. -Wikipedia (2024)

Evan Lewis: 1856-1904

Obituary: The Auk: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology: Vol. XXII, April, 1905 p. 229

NOTES AND NEWS.

Evan Lewis died in Pasadena, California, October 23, 1904. (1.) He was born in Berks Co., Pa., April 3, 1856, and there acquired his fondness for bird study which clung to him through his subsequent life. In 1881 he removed to Colorado, where he has since resided, in the vicinity of Idaho Springs.

Here he was engaged in mining interests, and his opportunities for observing the birds of that locality were exceptionally good, and most of his spare time was devoted to them. Probably few persons know the birds of a given district better than Evan Lewis did in his chosen field. His fondness for them frequently led him into the higher mountain regions where the White-tailed Ptarmigans make their summer home. He found numerous nests of these interesting birds, and secured a fine series of photographs, showing the female bird on the nest; the eggs and young ; as well as many interesting facts relating to their nesting habits. Eggs of this species taken by him, are in the Smithsonian collection, as well as in the private collections of J. P. Norris of Philadelphia and T. H. Jackson of West Chester, Pa.

Evan Lewis was an enthusiastic student of Nature. No climb was too difficult, no hardship too great to deter him from the pursuit of his favorite object, and his death will be felt as a distinct loss to those who knew him or of his work. — T. H. J.     

1. Evan Lewis’s brother John Lewis, writing from Denver, stated he died October 22, 1904 in Pasadena, CA. (Shields’ Magazine April, 1905, p. 63)