72 Allen's naturalist's library. 



the general colour of the upper-parts rufous, and others mostly 

 grey, while in a large percentage of examples every intermediate 

 shade can be found. The dark barring on the feathers of the 

 under-parts also varies greatly in intensity, being sometimes 

 extremely faint, at others strongly marked and edged with lines 

 of a deeper colour. 



The various varieties have been classed by American orni- 

 thologists under four different names, and are regarded as 

 distinct sub-species ; but as the differences in colour are by no 

 means entirely dependent on locality, and grade imperceptibly 

 into one another, it seems useless to employ names which only 

 apply to the more extreme forms of each type, while a large 

 majority of specimens, representing every intermediate phase 

 of colour and markings, may have either two or more names 

 applied to them with equal correctness. According to the 

 American ornithologists, the darker rufous variety {Bonasa 

 sabinii) is mostly met with in the wooded countries between 

 the western slopes of the Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean, 

 where the rainfall is very heavy ; and it occurs as far north as 

 Sitka. In Alaska, the Central Rocky Mountains eastwards 

 through British North America, and southwards to Utah and 

 Colorado, a lighter-coloured grey form {B. unihjUoides) is found 

 on the high ground. A somewhat darker form, with the dusky 

 breast-bars more defined, inhabits British Columbia, Washing- 

 ton, and Oregon, and extends eastwards through Canada to 

 the mountains of New England. Lastly, in the Eastern United 

 States, as far south as the mountains of North Alabama, the 

 lighter rufous form i^B. iDiibellus) is met with. In a series of 

 skins from the State of New York alone, however, all these 

 varieties are more or less perfectly represented, though perhaps 

 not in their most typical forms, and I therefore consider it 

 needless to employ more than one name for all the various 

 phases of this polymorphic species. Males measure : Total 

 length, 17 inches; wing, 7-3 ; tail, 6*5 ; tarsus, i"6. The fe/nale 

 is rather smaller. 



