348 Dr. A, Hall on the Mammals and Birds 



low ; inner wing coverts white, tinted with nankeen. Feathers 

 of leg long dusky white. 



Length 12 inches: alar expanse about 16 inches. This de- 

 scription is taken from a female. The male has all the dorsal 

 feathers, except the two centre ones, broadly tipped with white 

 By no means a common bird in this vicinity. 



OeD. IV. GALLINACEiE. 



Genus Tetrao. 

 Gen. char. Bill short, thick, arched above, entire, and naked 

 at base ; nostrils basal, semiclosed by a membrane, and partly 

 concealed by the small projecting frontlet feathers; eyebrows 

 naked, studded with scarlet papillae ; tarsi feathered and destitute 

 of spurs ; 3 toes before and one behind ; front toes connected at 

 the base, all of them pectinated on both inferior margins; 3rd 

 and 4th primaries longest ; tail consisting of 15 to 18 feathers. 



Suh genus Tetrao, 



Sub gen. char. With the lower portion of the tarsus and the 

 toes naked. 



T. umhellus. Ruffed Grouse. 

 Bonaza umhellus. Baird ! 



v.s.p. Bill horn colour ; legs and feet livid ; irides hazel ; eggs 

 10 to 15, dull yellow. 



Dorsal aspect. Crown of head crested, waved with black, grey 

 and brown, the first colour predominating ; on the nape and sides 

 of the neck, there is a similar intermixture of colours, but a pre- 

 dominance of white tinged with brown ; interscapulary region 

 and rump brown, with very minute wavy black lines, with a tri- 

 angular spot of whitish in the centre of each feather towards the 

 tip ; inner vanes of the scapulars black towards the ends, waved 

 black and brown internally ; outer vanes with a streak of cream 

 white near the shafts bordered by black, and finally edged with 

 brown sprinkled with black ; great and small wing coverts brown, 

 streaked and sprinkled with black on the inner vanes, brown 

 sprinkled with black on the outer vanes, with a central streak of 

 white ; tail round, grey, banded narrowly with black, and sprink- 

 led with black in the interstices of the bars, with a broad ter- 

 minal band of black feathers being lastly broadly tipped with 

 grey sprinkled with black; primaries and secondaries dusky 

 brown ; the six first primaries spotted with cream white on their 



