.136 Mr. Douglas on some Species 



tone, not unlike the sound produced by blowing into a large 

 reed. Nest on the ground, under the shade of Furshia and 

 Artemisia, or near streams among Phalaris arundinacea, care- 

 lessly constructed of drj'' grass and slender twigs. Eggs 13 to 

 17, about the size of those of a common fowl, of a wood-brown 

 colour, with irregular chocolate blotches on the thick end. Pe- 

 riod of incubation twenty-one to twenty-two days. The young 

 leave the nest a few hours after they are hatched. 



In the summer and autumn months these birds are seen in 

 small troops, and in winter and spring in flocks of several hun- 

 dreds. Plentiful throughout the barren arid plains of the river 

 Columbia ; also in the interior of North California. They do 

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

 seen in any place east of the Rocky Mountains. 



The short notice of this species, by the above-quoted distin- 

 guished ornithologist, appears to have been taken from a young 

 male in indifferent plumage ; it is correctly observed by him to 

 represent T. Urogallus in the New Continent. Its vernacular 

 name among the Kyuse Indians who reside on the Columbia, is 

 Pyamis. 



2. T. Urophasianellus. Mas. Griseo-brunnescens, albo ferru- 

 gineo nigroque undulatus, nucha alisque albo maculatis, 

 abdomine albo lateribus brunneo-fasciatis, rectricibus me- 

 diis 4 elongatis. 



Fcem. Mari tertio minor, subpallidior, nucha nigro fasciatfi, 

 rectricibus subelongatis. 



Male. Bill brown. Head, neck and back, brownish-gray, waved 

 with bars of a reddish and darker tinge. Plumage of the 

 head and neck short and fine ; breast and belly dusky-white 

 edged with brownish-gray, and mixed with darker gray or 

 brown spots. Quills 22 ; webs dusky, with darker shafts ; 



the 



