TETRAONIDyE: GROUSE. 741 



oa VoUst. Naturg. Hiihnen, pi. 217, figs. 1896-8;" Tympamtchus americanus, A. 0. U. 

 No. 305.) 



T. a. attwateri. (To H. P. Attwater.) Attwater's Praiuie Hex. A form described 

 from the coast region of Louisiana and Te.xas. 7'. attwateri Bexdire, Forest and Stream, 

 May 18, 1893, p. 425. T. a. attirateri A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Apr. 1894, p. 130; Check 

 List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 305 a. 



T. pallidicinc'tus. (Lat. paUidtts, pale; cinctus, begirt.) Pale Pinnated Grouse. 

 Le.s.ser Prairie Hen. Above, dark markings not in excess of lighter markings, and rather 

 brown than black, each bar being brown between a pair of narrow borders ; below, dark bars 

 narrow, with the same tendency to enclose a broad brown one between any two dusky ones. 

 Tarsi scant-feathered, exposing the bare strip behind. Size smaller than that of average amer- 

 icanus ; $ wing under 8.50, 9 wing about 8.00. Southwestern prairies, from some portions 

 of Kansas and the Indian Territory into Texas. C. cupido iKillidicincta Ridgw. Bull. I-^ssex 

 Inst. Dec. 187.3, p. 199; CoUES, Key, 2d ed. 1884, p. 584, and of later editions. T. pallidi- 

 cinctus KiDGW. 1885 ; A. O. U. Check List, 2d ed. No. 307. 



BOXA'SA. (Gr. ^ovaaos, Lat. honasus, a bison : the " drumming" of the bird being likened 

 to the bellowing of a bull.) Ruffed Grouse. Shoulder-knot Grouse. Head with a 

 full soft crest. Neck on each side with a tuft or umbel of numerous (15-30) broad soft glossy- 

 black feathers, covering the rudimentary tympanum. Tail about as long as wings, am))ly 

 rounded or fan-shaped, normally of 18 soft broad feathers, with truncate ends. Tarsi scant- 

 feathered, naked below, with 2-3 rows of scutella in front. Plumage of blended and varied 

 colors ; sexes alike. Meat of breast white, unlike that of any of the foregoing Grouse. Eggs 

 numerous, normally unmarked or with little spotting. Woodland species, more or less ar- 

 boreal, of common occurrence in suitable places, representing in America the closely allied 

 European genus Tetrastes, in which the tail has only 16 feathers, the epaulettes are unde- 

 veloped and the sexes unlike. 



Analysis of Varieties. 



Brown, of mixed and varied shades of reddish and gray. Eastern and Northern umbellus 



Pale ; slaty-gray the prevailing shade. Rocky Mountain region umbelloiiles 



Dark ; chestnut-brown the prevailing shade. Pacific Coast region sabinei 



B. uinbel'lus. (Lat. mnbeUiis, an umbel, umbrella; umbra, shade, shadow ; alluding to the 

 neck-tufts. There is no such Latin word as " umhelhis;^^ and the form of the feminine noun 

 ximhella happens to suit Bonasa. Linnteus had Tetrao umbellus, as if the specific name were 

 an adjective in the masculine gender, but the only proper form of the adjective from umbclla 

 would be innbellatus, a, um. Figs. 498, 499.) Ruffed Grouse. Ruffed Heath-cock. 

 Shoulder-knot (JRorsE. Tippet Grou.'^e. Drumming Groise. " Partrid(;e," New 

 England. Dri'.mming Partridge. Birch Partridge. " Pheasant," Middle and Soutii- 

 ern States. Drumming Pheasant. Mountain Pheasant. Whiteflesher. Adult (^9: 

 Above, variegated reddish- or grayish-brown ; back with numerous, oblong, pale, black-edged 

 spots. Below, whitish, barred with brown. Tail brown or gray, numerously and narrowly 

 Idack-barred, with a broad subterminal black zone, and tijiped with gray. Neck-rutHe <>f ^ 

 mostly glossy black, and very full ; of 9 smaller and more brown. Colors endh'ssly varied 

 as well as blended, and the prevailing hmv of the brown birds tif the East sliades insensildy 

 i'lto that of the Western subspecies. Length lO.OO-lH.IK); extent 23(X); winu 7.(K>-8.(H); tail 

 a1)out the same. Young of both sexes sufficiently resemble the adults to bo unmistakable, 

 and detailed description of every feather would be tedious and ])rofitIes3. Chicks in <lown arc 

 very pretty, being of various buff shades deepf'iiinir on some parts into chestnut, with a black 

 stripe on each side of the head. There is a sort of dichromatism in this species, somewhat like 

 that of the red and gray Megascops Owls, some individnals beinir browner, otiiers i:rayer. than 



