80 TETRAONIDiE. 



black ; distributed among the plumage were several featliers 

 in which the ground colour was of a bright yellowish-brown ; 

 all the quill-feathers dark umber-brown ; the secondaries 

 and the tertials edged on the outside, and freckled with 

 lighter brown ; the tail of sixteen feathers : the seven on 

 each outside dark umber-brown ; the four middle feathers 

 chestnut-brown, varied with black. On the breast the 

 plumage was darker than on the sides, almost black, and 

 tipped with white ; the chestnut-brown feathers on the sides, 

 flanks, belly, vent, and under tail-coverts, tipped with white ; 

 legs and toes covered with short greyish-white feathers ; 

 claws long, bluish-horn colour at the base, nearly white at 

 the end. In the breeding-season the red skin over the eye 

 is partially erectile, but droops at the edges and does not 

 stand up firmly like the comb of the Black-cock. 



The whole length is sixteen inches. From the carpal 

 joint to the end of the wing, eight inches and three-eighths : 

 the first quill-feather shorter than the sixth, but longer than 

 the seventh ; the second shorter than the fifth, but longer 

 than the sixth ; the third and fourth nearly equal in length, 

 and the longest in the wing. 



The old male in summer has many of the body feathers 

 tipped with yellow, and the red colour is of a lighter tint. 



The female is rather smaller than the male ; the patch 

 of red skin over the eye is also smaller ; the red and brown 

 tints of the feathers are lighter in colour, and give a more 

 variegated appearance to the plumage generally. In her 

 summer plumage all the feathers of the head and upper 

 part of the neck are yellowish-chestnut, with a few black 

 spots : those of the lower neck, breast, back, wing, and 

 tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers, transversely barred 

 with black, and tipped with yellow ; the long feathers on 

 the sides and flanks also barred across with black and 

 yellow, very much resembling the feathers borne on the 

 same parts at the same season by the female Ptarmigan, 

 shewing its afiinity to that bird ; and some authors have 

 called our Red Grouse, the Red Grouse Ptarmigan, the 

 Red Ptarmigan, and the Brown Ptarmigan. 



