90 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Tetrao obscurus (not of Saj') Audubon, Orn. Biogr., iv, 1838, 446, pi. 361, part; 

 Synopsis, 1839, 203, part ; Birds Amer., 8vo. ed., v, 1842, 89, pi. 295, part.— Baird, 

 Rep. Pacific R.R. Surv., ix, 1858, 620, part (e. Oregon and Washington) ; Cat. 

 North Amer. Birds, 1859, No. 459, part. 



Dendragaptis obscurus pallidus Swarth, Proc. California Acad. Sci., ser. 4, xx, 

 1931, 4 (descr.; crit.; range).— Peters, Check-list Birds of World, ii, 1934, 29 

 (range).— LiNSDALE, Pacific Coast Avif., No. 23, 1936, 23, 47 (Nevada; res.; 

 Toyabe, Toquima, and Monitor Mountains) ; Amer. Midi. Nat., xix, 1938, 51 

 (Toyabe Mountains, Nev. ; res.; habits; weight; color of soft parts). — Hell- 

 MAYR and CoNOVER, Cat. Birds Amer., i. No. 1, 1942, 199 (syn. ; distr.). 



Dendragopus obscurus pallidas Taverner, Birds Canada, 1934, 152 in text. 



[Dendragapus obscurus] pallidus Moffitt, Auk, Iv, 1938, 590 in text (mountains 

 of eastern Oregon and possibly Washington; not in British Columbia). 



Genus LAGOPUS Brisson 



Lagopus Brisson, Orn., i, 1760, 26, 181. (Type, by tautonymy, Lagopus Brisson= 



Tetrao lagopus Linnaeus.) 

 Lagophus (emendation) Bonaparte, Atti Congr. Scienz. Ital. [Napoli], i, 1844, 



Zool., 8. 

 Oreias Kaup, Skizz. Entw.-Gesch. Eur. Thierw., 1829, 177, 193. (Type, by mono- 



typy, Tetrao scoticus Latham.) 

 Orcas (emendation) Agassiz, Index Zool., 1846, 263. 

 Attagcn Kaup, Skizz. Entw.-Gesch. Eur. Thierw., 1829, 170, 193. (Type, by original 



designation, "Tetrao montanus and islandicus.") 

 Acetinornis Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., xlii. May, 1856, 880. (Type, by monotypy, 



Lagopus persicus Gray^^Tctrao persicus Latham.) 

 Keron "Montin" Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 278. (Type, as designated by Ogilvie- 



Grant, Tetrao mutus Montin [Keron Montin, Physiogr. Salsk. Handl., i, 1776, 



155, is not a systematic but a vernacular name.] ) 



Medium-sized to small Tetraonidae (length about 305-430 mm.) with 

 toes, as well as tarsi, densely feathered in winter (more sparsely in sum- 

 mer) ; tail more than half but less than three-fifths as long as wing, very 

 slightly rounded or nearly truncate, the rectrices (16) moderately broad, 

 rounded at tips ; neck without air sacs or elongated feathers ; all the 

 American and most of the Palearctic species white in winter, the remiges 

 white in simimer. 



Bill varying from stout to rather slender but always much shorter (from 

 frontal antiae) than distance from base to anterior angle of eye, its depth 

 at frontal antiae sometimes slightly less, sometimes much greater than 

 its width at same point ; culmen rounded or very indistinctly ridged ; 

 maxillary tomium more or less strongly concave or arched, slightly in- 

 flected ; rhamphotheca smooth. Wing moderate, strongly concave beneath, 

 the longest primaries exceeding longest secondaries by between one- 

 fourth and one-third the length of wing; third and fourth primaries 

 longest, the first (outermost) equal to seventh or intermediate between 

 sixth and seventh ; outer primaries only moderately bowed or incurved, 

 four or five outer ones with inner webs distinctly sinuated. Tail be- 

 tween one-half and three-fifths as long as wing, very slightly rounded 



