Tetrao urogallns and its Allies. 131 



Museum specimens. The males are generally paler than 

 7. u. urogallus, and the grey vermiculations cover a larger 

 area of the whole plumage and extend further down the tail. 

 The brownish portions of the upper surface are lighter and 

 of a more rusty-tawny colour. The females are also inclined 

 to be pale, and in one example, especially, the plumage is 

 generously marked with white. The feet and legs are 

 lieavily feathered. 



The characters assigned to T. u. volgensis do not appear to 

 me to satisfactorily differentiate it from the above form. It 

 must be pointed out, however, that the habitat of T. u. 

 uralensis lies between that of T. u. taczanowskii and 

 T. u. volgensis. Under these circumstances, therefore, and 

 Avithout any evidence to the contrary, we are bound to 

 acknowledge Buturlin's south-Russian form. 



We must now turn our attention to the western portions of 

 the Capercaillie^s range. Here we find a considerable gap 

 in the distribution of the species, and at the present day prac- 

 tically the whole of France separates the Fyrenean from the 

 Alpine birds. This complete isolation is apparently only of 

 recent date, for we have proof that the Capercailiie formerly 

 inhabited the higher pine-clad peaks of the Auvergne 

 mountains *. Although it still exists in the Pyrenees, it has 

 now become so rare in these mountains that there is every 

 reason to fear its ultimate extinction. As a consequence, 

 one very seldom has the opportunity of handling a Caper- 

 cailiie from this locality. I may, therefore, consider myself 

 fortunate in having been in the position to examine no fewer 

 than eleven examples from various portions of this range. 

 All of these agree in being remarkably small birds, while 

 the females are generally rather dark in coloration and are 



* Magaud d'Aubusson (Bull. Soc. Nat. d'Acclim. France, 1897, p. 278) 

 says that the last Capercailiie was killed in the Auvergne more than half 

 a century ago. "At the end of the eighteenth and perhaps still at the 

 commencement of the nineteenth century, it was found not only in the 

 mountains of Cantal, but also in the lower Auvergne, near Olliergues, 

 in the Menat and Mout Dor^s woods, and iu the mountains round the 

 town of Ambei't. It was known in this province by the name of ' J'aisant 

 bruyant,' and it was formerly common. '' 



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