630 U. S. p. E K. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



BONASA UMBELLUS, Stephens. 



Riilied Gronse; Partridge; Pheasant. 



Tetrao umbellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1, 1766,275, 6.— Gmelin, I, 782.— Wilson, Am. Orii. VJ, 1812, 4G ; pi. xlix.— Bo.v. 

 Obs. Wils. 1825, 182.— DoncHTT, Cab. N. H. I, 1830, 13 ; pi. ii.— Ano. Dm. Biog. I, 

 1831, 211 : V, 560 ; pi. 41.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 202.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 72 ; pi. 293. 



Tclrao [Bonasia) umbellus, Bonap. Syn. 1828, 126.— Is. Mon. Tetruo, Am. Phil. Trans. Ill, 1830, 389.— Nhttall, 

 Mam I, 1832, 657. 



Bonasa umbellus, Stefiikns, Shaw, Gen Zool. XI, 1824, 300. — Bonap. List, 1838. — Ib. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 

 1857, 428. 



Tetrao tognlus, Linn. I, 1766,275, 8.— Forster, Philos. Trans. LXII, 1772, 393. 



Telrao lympanus, Bartram, Travels in E. Florida, 1791, 290. 



Ruffed Grouse, and Shoulder-knot Grouse, Pennant and Latham. 



?Telrao umbelloides, Douglas, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 148. 



Sp. Ch. — Tail of eighteen feathers. Reddish brown or grey above ; the back with cordate spots of lighter. Beneath whitish, 

 transversely barred with dall brown. Tail tipped with gray, and with a subterminal bar of black. Broad feathers of tlie ruff 

 black. Length, 18 inches ; wing, 7.20 ; tail, 7.00. 



Jjab. — Wooded portions of eastern United States towards the Rocky mountains. 



Tail lengthened ; nearly as long as the wing ; very broad, and moderately rounded ; the 

 feathers very broad and truncate ; the tip slightly convex ; eighteen in number. Upper half 

 of tarsus only feathered ; bare behind and below, with two rows of hexagonal scutellae 

 anteriorly. A naked space on the side of the neck, concealed by an overhanging tuft of broad, 

 truncate feathers. There are no pectinated processes above the eye, where the skin instead is 

 clothed with short feathers. 



The prevailing color of this species above is sometimes grey, sometimes reddish. In one specimen, 

 (344,) the prevailing color is chestnut, each feather of the back and rump with an elongated 

 sub-cordate terminal large spot of reddish grey, and mottled finely with brown, most distinct in 

 the cordate spot. The scapulars and coverts are streaked with light brownish yellow. The 

 under parts are light brownish yellow, nearly white on the belly ; the feathers with transverse 

 sub-terminal broad bars of obsolete brown ; the sides under the wings, however, streaked like 

 the wing coverts. The broad cervical feathers are uniform dark brown, with a terminal gloss of 

 metallic green. The quills are brown, the outer webs of secondaries mottled with rufous ; of the 

 primaries pale brownish yellow, with bars of brown. The tail feathers are tipped with grey, 

 and have a broad sub-terminal bar of black ; within this is a series of eight or ten narrow 

 waved transverse bars, grey posteriorly, and black anteriorly. The entire feather is, besides, 

 finely mottled. The upper tail coverts are marked like the tail feathers, except in lacking the 

 sub-terminal black. There is an indication of a darker jugular band, owing to the deeiJer shade 

 of brown in the sub-terminal bars of the feathers. The feathers on the side of the neck 

 adjacent to the cervical tufts are tipped with white, and there is an approach to a whitish 

 scapular band. The under tail coverts are almost clear immaculate in the exposed portion. 



Douglas speaks of a smaller and ligliter variety of the rufi'ed grouse, ibund in the valleys of the 

 Rocky mountains north, near 54° north latitude. This is of "a liglit mixed speckled grey, the rufllc 

 consisting invariably of only twenty feathers, the crest feathers few and short." It is difficult 

 to aay whether this is identical with either of the others or distinct. 



