8 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



and chestnut tints prevail in the plumage. Specimens from the 

 more southern districts of the eastern United States, where the 

 rainfall is abundant and the country (formerly at least) thickly 

 forest-clad, are much like those from the last-mentioned region, 

 having always rufous tails, but the general coloration is decid- 

 edly paler. As we proceed northward (to New England and the 

 British Provinces), and also in the mountain districts of the 

 Middle States, the birds become gradually grayer (many New 

 England specimens having distinctly gray tails) until finally, in 

 the interior provinces of British America the extreme gray type 

 (B. umhelloides Dougl.) is reached. 



A single species of this genus, the Hazel Grouse (B. bonasia), 

 inhabits the northern portions of the Old World, from western 

 Europe to Japan. It bears a general resemblance to B. umbel- 

 lus, but is decidedly smaller, lacks the conspicuous neck-tufts 

 (which, however, appear to be present in a rudimentary condi- 

 tion), and has the throat black. 



Bonasa umbellus (Linn.) 



RUFFED GROUSE. 



Popular synonyms. "Partridge" (in New England); "Pheasant" (in southern and western 

 States); Ruffled Grouse; Drumming Grouse. 



Tetrao umbellus Linn. S. N. ed. 12, i, 1766, 275— Wils. Am. Orn. vi, 1812, 46, pi. 49— Nutt. 

 Man. i, 1832, 657— Aud. Orn. Biog. i, 1831, 211; v, 1839, 560, pi. 41; Synop. 1839, 202; B. 

 Am. v, 1842, 72, pi. 293. 

 Bonasaumbellus Steph. Gen.Zool. xi, 1819, 300.— Baibd. B. N. Am. 1S58, 630; Cat. N. Am. 

 B. 1859, No. 465— Coues, Key, 1872, 232; Check List, 1874, No. 385; 2d ed. 1882, No. 565; 

 B. N. W. 1874, 420— B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. iii, 1874, 448, pi. 61, figs. 3, 9.— Ridgw. 

 Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 473; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 197.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886, 

 No. 300. 



Hab. Eastern United States, south to the Gulf coast (?). [Replaced from Manitoba, 

 northwestward, and also in the Rocky Mountains, by a gray race, B. umbellus umbelloides 

 (Dougl.), and on coast of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia by the dark rusty B. 

 umbellus sabini (Dougl.)] 



Sp. Chae. Above ochraceous-brown finely mottled with grayish; the scapulars and 

 wing-coverts with pale shaft- streaks, the rump and upper tail-coverts with median cordate 

 spots of pal' 1 grayish. Tail ochraceous-rufous, narrowly barred with black, crossed termi- 

 nally with a narrow band of pale ash; then a broader one of black, this preceded by another 

 ashy one. (In specimens from the Alleghany Mountains and New England States, the tail 

 usually more or less grayish to the base, sometimes entirely destitute of rufous tinge.) 

 Throat and foreneck ochraceous. Lower parts white (ochraceous beneath the surface), 

 with broad transverse bars of dilute brown, these mostly concealed on the abdomen. Low- 

 er tail-coverts pale ochraceous, each with a terminal deltoid spot of white, bordered with 

 dusky. Neck- tufts brown or black. Length. 18.00; wing, 7.20; tail, 7.00. Female smaller, 

 and with the neck-tufts less developed, but colors ^'similar. Young (No. 39,161, St. Stephen's 



