194 LAGOPUS CINEREUS. 



white. The feathers of the head and neck have alternate 

 broader bands of browTiish-black and narrower bands of reddish- 

 yellow, and are slightly tipped with white. The lower part 

 of the fore-neck, the upper part of the breast, and the sides, 

 are deep bro\\'nish-black, with a few interrupted narrow irregu- 

 lar bars of reddish-yellow, and a white spot on the tip. The 

 feathers of the back are irregularly and narrowly barred with 

 brownish-black and reddish-yellow, their tips white. Some of 

 them, however, have bluish-grey in place of yellow. The pri- 

 maries and first alular quill have the shaft brownish-black, with 

 a small portion of the webs on either side at the tip. The tail- 

 feathers are brownish-black, excepting the two shorter central 

 or superior, which are white. 



Length 14^ ; extent of wings 26 ; wing from flexure 8 ; bill 

 I ; tarsus If ; middle toe and claw If. 



Female in Spring. — The female is similar, the only remark- 

 able difterence being that the two middle tail-feathers are 

 barred with yellow and black. 



Length 14 inches; extent of wings 25. 



Male in Summer. — A specimen examined in the end of May 

 had the same parts white as described above. The head and neck 

 were broadly barred with yellow and brownish-black ; the upper 

 parts, including the scapulars, some of the inner primaries and 

 their coverts, minutely and undulatingly barred with the same 

 colours ; some of the feathers, however, barred with greyish- 

 white in place of yellow. The two middle tail-feathers like 

 the back, the rest brownish-black. The summer bars are 

 much broader than those of autumn. 



Female in Summer. — The female diifered in nothing remark- 

 able. 



Male in Autumn. — The black and yellow summer plumage 

 gradually disappears, and is substituted by mottled grey, as 

 the autumn advances. In September the appearance is as fol- 

 lows : — The bill brownish-black ; the iris brown ; the supra- 



