626 



U. S. p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



Comparative measurements. 



PEDIOCAETES PHASIANELLUS, B a i r d . 



Sharp-tailed Groase. 



Tetrno phasianellus,L.mukEvs, Syst. Nat. I, ed. 10, 1758, 160. (Not in 12th edition.) — Forster, Phil. Trans. 

 LXII, 1772, 394, 495.— Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 747.— Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 635.— .'.'Ord. Guth- 

 rie's Geog. 2d Amer. ed. II, 1815, 317.— Bon. Syn. 1828, 127.— In. Amer. Orn. Ill, 1828, 37; 

 pi. xix.— NuTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 669 —Ann. Orn. Riog. IV, 1838, 569 ; pi. 382.— Ib. Syn. 

 1839, 205.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 110 ; pi. 298.— Newbebrt, ZooI. Cal. & Or. Route ; 

 Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, iv, 1857, 94. 

 Teirao (^Centrocercus) phasianellus, Swainson, F. Bor. Ara. II, 1831, 361. 

 Centrocercus phasianellus, Jardine, Game Birds, Nat. Lib. Birds, IV, 136 ; pi. xvi. — Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 



1857, 428. 

 Tetrao urogallus, Var. /?. Linn. Syst. Nat. I, ed. 12th, 273. 

 ? PhaHanus columbianus, Ord, Guthrie's Geog. 2d Am. ed. II, 1815, 317 ; based on the Columbia pheasant of Lewis 



& Clark, II. 180. 

 .' Tetrao urophasianellus, Douglas, Trans. Lin, Soc. XVI, 1829, 136. Supposed by Richardson to be young in ferru- 

 ginous plumage. 

 Long-lailed grouse , Edw \KDS ; Sharp-tailed grouse, TEUtiKUT. 

 Sp. Ch. — Tail of eighteen feathers. Colors, white, black, and brownish yellow. Above with transverse bars ; the wings with 

 round white spots. Beneath pure white, with dark V-shaped blotches on the breast and sides. Length, 18.00 ; wing, 8.50 ; 

 tail, 5.24. 



Hab. — Northern prairies and plains, from Wisconsin to Cascades of Oregon and Washington. 



Neck without the tuft of elongated feather of C. cupido, but with a bare space on each side. 

 A papillose naked skin along the superciliary region, bordered externally by feathers. Tarsus 

 very densely feathered, but with a narrow bare space behind ; the feathers extending on the 

 sides of the toes for nearly half the length of the basal joint. Middle toe and claw a little 

 longer than the tarsi, the sides of the toes extended and provided with a conspicuous pectination 

 of linear processes. Tail long, cuneate, the feathers eighteen in number and all graduated ; 

 the central pair elongated considerably beyond the rest, (one to one and a half inches.) Tlie 

 tail coverts reach nearly as far as the tips of the third innermost pair of tail feathers ; the whole 

 tail is about two-thirds the length of wings. 



In form this species diii'ers from cupido in the absence of the pointed feathers of the neck. The 

 tail is of much the same shape, but the feathers more abruptly graduated ; the outer about one- 

 third the eighth and one-fourth the ninth ; this may possibly prove to be an extended tail 

 covert. The bill is much stouter, the culmen more convex and rising at the base. The 

 pectinated processes of the toes are much longer, forming a broader base to the toes. The tarsi 

 are more densely plumose, the feathers not stopping at the base of the toes, but extending 

 beyond them. 



The general color above is light brownish yellow, varied with black ; the wings with rounded 

 spots of white. The under parts are pure white, the feathers on the breast and sides with a 

 brown V-shaped mark, the legs of which are nearly parallel with the outline of the feather. The 



