128 Mr. Collingwood Ingram on 



subfamilies, according to the manner in which they moult 

 their tail-featliers. According to this system^ Ithayenes would 

 obtain a place amongst the Perdicinse or true Partridges. 

 In habits it would, however, appear to come very close to 

 the Tetraonidse, and the eggs of" /. geojfroyi and /. kuseri, 

 w^hicli appear to be the only ones known at present, are 

 exactly like weakly marked eggs of the Grey Hen. 



VI. — A Few Notes on Tetrao urogallus and its Allies. 

 By Collingwood Ingram, M.B.O.U. 



When working at my Pyrenean specimens of Capercaillie, 

 I found it necessary to go rather more deeply into the study 

 of this group of birds than I had at first intended, and in 

 the course of my investigations I have been forced to ex- 

 amine a large number of examples. The opinions expressed 

 below are principally based on the fine series contained in 

 the Tring and British Museums and the mounted specimens 

 in the Marmottan collection now preserved in the Museum 

 d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris. 



Although at first sight the Capercaillie appears to be a 

 somewhat variable species, not only in dimensions, size of 

 bill, &c. (which depend partly upon the age of the individual^, 

 but also in the plumage of the female, it will be found that 

 these difterences have their limitations within certain geo- 

 graphical areas, and when a greater mass of material is 

 brought together and the Avhole group carefully reviewed, a 

 number of fairly well-defined local races will no doubt be 

 distinguishable. 



Brehm, of course, recognised several forms of this bird, 

 and three of these he maintained, in his 'Vogelfang' (p. 87) ■^, 

 viz. : (1) the typical Tetrao urogallus of Linnseus, ranging 

 from central Germany northwards ; (2) Tetrao major (which 

 he describes as a larger bird with a thicker bill), also 



* In the present paper I have intentionally avoided all reference to 

 obvious hybrids or aberrations. 



