TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE. 4^5 



Genus CANACE, Rkichesbach. 



Gen. Char. Bill smooth, with no lateral groove, depressed, or broader than high. 

 Feathers of the head and neck all normal, i.e. no crest, nor lengthened plumes of any 

 kind. Tail lengthened (i.e. nearly equal to wing), rounded, the feathers broad to the 

 end ; consisting of from sixteen to twenty feathers. Toes naked. 



Subgenera. 



Canace. Tail of si.xteen feathers ; no air-sac on side of the neck. Size small. (Type, 

 T. canadensis, L.) 



Dendragapus. Tail of twenty feathers ; an inflatable air-sac on side of the neck. 

 Size large. (Type, T. ohscurus. Say.) 



The American species of Wood Grouse appear, on comparison, to be 

 generically distinct fvnm Tdrao, of the Old World, (type, Tdrao urogallus,) 

 and, moreover, are themselves comprised under two definable subgenera. 

 Canace proper has a near relative in Falcipciinis, Elliot, (type, Tdrao 

 falcipennis, Hartlaub,) of Siberia, which differs merely in the attenuation 

 of tlie primaries, and seems to us not separable from Canace. There is 

 no European genus nearly related to our birds. T. urogallus differs very 

 essentially in high, compressed, and light-colored bill, elongated and stiffened 

 feathers of the whole head and neck, metallic colors, etc. T. {Lyrurus) 

 tctrix approaches nearer in the bill, but also has metallic colors and a very 

 peculiarly formed tail. Thus it seems absolutely necessary to adopt the 

 name Canace, of Eeichenbach, as a generic term Ijy whicli to designate the 

 American Wood Grouse. 



Subgenus CANACE, Reichenbach. 



Canace, Reichexbach, At. Syst. Kat. 1851. (Type, Tetrao canadensis, L.) 



Gen. Char. Tail of sixteen feathers, rounded, the feathers broad to the end. A colored 

 (red or yellow) " comb " of naked skin over the eye. No inflatable air-sac on side of the 

 neck. No crest, nor unusual plumes, about the head or neck. 



Species and Varieties. 



T. canadensis. Above distinctly barred with plumbeous and black ; beneath 

 black, with a white border to the throat, a white pectoral band, and white 

 markings on the sides. Female barred with ochraceous, gray and black 

 above, and with orange-ochraceous and black on the lower parts. 



Tail rounded, tipped with rufous ; upper tail-coverts tipped narrowly 

 with deep ash. Hab. British America, east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 from Alaska (Yukon region) to northern border of United States. 



van canadensis. 

 Tail nearly even, black to tlie tip, or else with a narrow white termi- 

 nal bar ; upper tail-coverts broadly tipped with pure white. Hab. 

 Northern Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast. . . \a,r. /r a nkl i n i . 



