362 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



Sp. Ch. In size, general form and plumage, greatly resembling the Pediocceles 

 phasianellus (Linn.) Baikd, but differing as follows: In having a broad, bright 

 orange or red patch of naked skin over the eye ; by the constriction of the white 

 markings on the feathers about the neck, anterior parts of the breast and 

 shoulders. The dark markings being thus rendered larger, give the bird a 

 general darker hue, which the eye instantly notices. For the opposite reason, 

 specimens of the true P. phasianellus at first glance seem very light colored. 

 The feathers of the latter are finely mottled, and the larger spot markings on the 

 neck and breast generally V-shaped. The dark markings on the scapulars, 

 neck, back and tail coverts, are in the more southern species light brown, more 

 or less mottled. 



In the P. Kennicotti there is au excess of black on the feathers of the neck 

 and fore-breast, while the spots of white on the wing coverts and scapulars are 

 larger, on a ground of a uniform dusky black, free from fine mottling. 



The white spots on the middle of the long anterior feathers of the breast are 

 restricted so as to be very nearly nothing but shaft lines. Each feather has 

 also a narrow border of white. Feathers from the same region on P. phasian- 

 ellus have the white in excess. 



Habitat. Arctic America, near Great Slave Lake. Obtained by Robert 

 Kennicott, Esq., through Mr. Clark, from Fort Rae and Big Island in the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company's Territory. 



This is a strongly marked species, readily distinguished from the Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse of the United States when a comparison of skins is made. 

 In a few words, this bird may be described as nearly black and white ; with 

 scarcely any of the ferruginous and light ochry colors observable in the P. pha- 

 sianellus what little of the ferruginous or brownish yellow exists being found 

 mostly on the back posteriorly and rump. 



It might be supposed that Douglas, in his " Observations on some species of 

 the Genus Tetrao" &c. published in the Transactions of the Linnsean Society, 

 vol. xvi. 1833, (read Dec. 16th, 1828), had described this species under the name 

 of Tetrao urophasianellus. Indeed, Sir John Richardson so understood it when 

 he said "on examination, Mr. Douglas's 3 specimens in the Edinburgh Museum 

 appeared to me to be merely the young of the Sharp-tailed Grouse with ferru- 

 ginous plumage." (Richardson, in F. B. A., 1831, 861.) Douglas's descrip- 

 tion of T. urophasianellus was based on birds obtained west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and found in the same localities as the preceding kind, (T. uro- 

 phasiitnus, or sage fowl,) " with whom they associate and seem to live in 

 harmony." "The sage fowl," he says, "is plentiful throughout the barren 

 arid plains of the river Columbia, also in the interior of North Carolina. They 

 do not exist on the banks of the river Missouri ; nor have they been seen in 

 any place east of the Rocky Mountains." Further discussion regarding the locality 

 whence Douglas's specimens were obtained is scarcely necessary. The follow- 

 ing extract from characters assigned to the speeies by him, however, will set 

 the question at rest: 



" Head, neck and back brownish gray, waved with bars of a reddish and darker 

 tinge" This description by no means applies to specimens of the species now 

 described for the first time ; one of the principal features of which being the 

 absence of brownish gray and reddish tints. 



Specimens of the true Sharp-tailed Grouse from the Columbia region, and 

 North California, are contained in the Smithsonian collection. They agree re- 

 markably well with each other, and with those from the Rocky Mountains, Mis- 

 souri river and Minnesota all being tinged with brown ferruginous and ochry, 

 and consistently disagreeing with the specimens and species described as P. 

 Kennicotti. 



For the foregoing reasons we believe we are justified in the following de- 

 ductions: 1st. That the Tetrao urophasianellus of Douglas is but a synonym of 

 the true Sharp-tailed Grouse {Pediocceles phasianellus of Baird) ; 2d. That the 



[Nov- 



