LAGOPUS LEUCURUS, WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. 



425 



my neighbors said, 'Your Partridge has been drummiug.' I put an old 

 stumi) in the box of my captive and it had the desired results, for the 

 next morning- it was drumu)ing loudly, I observed its motions when 

 drummiug, through a hole in the box, and I am confident that tue uoise 

 was caused by the wings coming forcibly in contact with each other. 

 Let any person take the wings of a dead Grouse in his hands and beat 

 them quickly together over the bird's back, and they will see at once 

 that the peculiar sounds made by the Euffed Grouse, and called drum- 

 ming, is naturally produced. The 'young-of-the-year' of the male 

 Grouse drum in the autumn more frequently than the adult males, as I 

 have ascertained by shooting them when in the act. I have found great 

 difiBculty in stalking the Grouse at their drumming-posts, and have 

 often failed in my attempts to do it. The male birds fight hard battles 

 in the spring, and I once caught an old cock by the legs in a snare that 

 had its head cut and bruised very badly, and portions of its neck almost 

 destitute of feathers, the elfects of fighting." 



I have myself never witnessed the act; but my i)resent view is, that 

 the noise is made by beating the air simplj^ — not by striking the wings 

 either together or against the body, or any hard object. 



BONAiSA UxMBELLUS var. UMBELLOIDES, (Dougl.) Bd. 



Gray Ruffed Grouse. 



(For synonymy and habitat of this variety, see preceding article.) 



List of specimens. 



19170 

 19171 

 19172 

 19374 



36 

 83 

 69 



Gi'osv. Fork . 



do 



do 



Pryor's Forli . 



June 2,1860 

 June 2,1860 

 June 3,1860 

 June 19, 1860 



F.V. Hayden. 



do 



do 



G. H. Trook.. 



Not obtained by Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. 



Later Exjycdilions. — 60823-5, Uintah Mountains ; 62353-7, Idaho and Wyoming. 



The preceding article presents the synonymy of this variety in con- 

 nection with that of the typical nmheUus and of the Pacific Province 

 var. sablnli. Its varietal character lies chiefly in the i)revaleuce of slate- 

 gray color ; it is one extreme (of paleness), of which the reddish-brown 

 var. sdhhiii is the other. This bird has only been noted Irom the Eocky 

 Mountain region, and occurs about the sources of the Missouri and .some 

 of its i)rincipal tributaries. Mr. 0. H. Merriam found it in Idaho and 

 Wyoming, and states that; although not abundant, it was found through- 

 out the pine forests i'rom Teton Canon to the Yellowstone. As already 

 noticed, all the British- American Bulled Grouse, excepting those of var. 

 fiahtnii, are grayer than the ordinary bird of the United States, more or 

 less nearly a])i)roaching var. tDnheUoidcs. Its habits are, beyond doubt, 

 substantially the same as those of the common bird. 



LAGOPUS LEUCUKUS, Sw. 

 White-tailed Ptariui^au. 



Tctrao (La(fopun) hucurns, Sw. & Rich., F. B. A. il, 1831, 356, pi. 63.— Nun'., Man. ii, 

 1834, 612; 2d ed. 1840, 820.— Ari>., Orii. Hiog. v, 1839, 200, pi. 418. 



Lagopua Uucurm, Aui/., Svn. 1839, 208 : L5. Am. v, 1842, 125. pi. 302.— Bi>., B. N. A. 1858, 

 636.— CoUKS, Pr.' A. N. S. Pliila. 1866, 94 (Canton Bnr^rwyn, N. M., latitude 

 37").— El.i.ior, Jlon. Ttlrauiiida; pi. — .— Cuor., 1$. Cal. i. lf^70, 542.— Al.l.KX, 

 Bull. M. C Z. iii, ls72, 164 (uouiinou iu mountains ol" Colorado, above timber- 



