BLACK GROUSE. 153 



The legs and tarsi are greyish-white, obscurely mottled with 

 reddish and blackish ; the lower wing-feathers and axillars 

 white, those toward the edge barred with dark brown. The 

 primary quills and coverts are grejdsh-brown, their edges mot- 

 tled with red ; the secondary quills similar, but their coloured 

 edges broad and undulated, their tips white ; those of the se- 

 condary coverts also white. The upper wing-coverts are marked 

 like the back ; a tuft of white feathers appears at the bend of 

 the wing, as in the male. The lower tail-coverts are greyish- 

 white, some marked with irregular patches of brown and red 

 along the centre towards the end. 



Length to end of tail 18 inches ; extent of wings 31 ; wing 

 from flexure 9 ; tail 4f, the shorter feathers y§ shorter than the 

 rest, the outer ^ shorter than the third, which is the longest ; bill 

 along the back 1, along the edge of lower mandible 1 ; tarsus 

 lj§ ; first toe /g, its claw -^-^ ; second toe l^^^, its claw /^ ; 

 third toe 1/^, its claw /^ ; fourth toe l/^, its claw 3^^. 



Variations. — Old males vary little in colour, the brown 

 shades being merely lighter or deeper according to the season. 

 In length they vary from 22 to 24 inches, in extent of wing 

 from 30 to 33. Young males have the tints less deep, and 

 the feathers more or less mottled. The intestinal canal of four 

 individuals measured as follows : 



Edge of lower mandible 1 



(Esophagus in length 12 



Stomach in length 1\ 



in breadth 2 J 



Small intestine 52 



Coeca 30 



Rectum 6 



It is only in the length of the intestine that the difference is 

 considerable, and there it amounts to rather more than a foot. 

 Great apparent differences may be found in the dimensions of 

 the parts. Thus, the crop when empty contracts to the size 

 of a walnut, and may be inflated to a diameter of more than 



