White-tailed ptarmigan than forest grouse, but still prefers running to flying. It ranges from Alaska and western Canada south to northern New Mexico. Males return from their wintering areas to establish territories on spruce-willow timber line breeding grounds in April. Females arrive in early May and pairs are formed. The white-tailed ptarmigan is the only bird in North America to reside permanently in the alpine zone. Its habitat includes areas of boulders, krummholz, snowfields, rock slides, frost-heaved soil and upland herbage. Even in winter it stays in high valleys and mountain slopes where alder, willow, birch and spruce poke through the snow
Arctic hare new fur, from brown or grey in the summer to white in the winter, like some other Arctic animals including ermine and ptarmigan, enabling it to remain camouflaged as their environments change. However, the Arctic hares in the far north of Canada, where summer is very short, remain white all year round. The Arctic hare is one of the largest living lagomorphs. On average, this species measures from long, not counting a tail length of . The body mass of this species is typically between , though large individuals can weigh up to . The Arctic hare is a herbivore,