634 U. S. P R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



Bill very stout and convex, much curved from the nostrils ; the distance from nostrils to the 

 tip of bill a little less than the greatest depth of both mandibles taken together ; gonys a little 

 less than the width of the lower mandible at the base ; upper mandibles depressed at the end, 

 the gape considerably inflected. Claws very long; broad to near the end, where they are rapidly 

 narrowed ; the middle one as long as the culmen. Toes feathered to the claws ; the feathers 

 with rigid shafts. Upper tail coverts nearly as long as the median coverts, like tail feathers ; 

 lower reaching to the white tips of tail feathers. Wings convex ; the first quill between sixth 

 and seventh ; the third and fourth longest. Tail about two-thirds the wing, slightly rounded 

 laterally ; the feathers of nearly uniform width. 



Color in winter pure white, without black loral stripe ; the bill black ; the tail feathers, 

 except the two innermost, brownish black ; the exterior with a very narrow tip of white, which 

 increases to nearly a quarter of an inch to the inner ones ; the innermost incumbent pair is 

 entirely white; the latter, however, may really be coverts. The primaries have the shafts 

 brown on the upper surface, except along the extreme edges, which are white. 



Summer. I have at hand no summer specimens which I can assert positively to be American ; 

 but two before me, received from Mr. Audubon, I have no doubt are part of his Labrador collec- 

 tion, and the originals of his plate. In one of these, corresponding to the male figure, (2852,) the 

 head and neck all round are nearly uniform rufous chestnut ; the back of the head and neck, with 

 the feathers blackish, except on the margins. The rest of the uj^per plumage has each feather 

 black, barred with a slightly varying shade of yellowish brown or chestnut, (different from the 

 head,) and narrowly margined terminally with white. The subterminal yellowish brown bar is con- 

 tinuous across, the others are more or less broken up, mixed, or interrupted towards the shafts. The 

 jugulum is somewhat like the back, the bands less distinct ; the sides of the body are similar 

 to the back, the bands coarser. The wings, excepting some of the middle coverts, and the inferior 

 surface of the body, except on the sides of the breast and the legs, are white. The toes are 

 bare of feathers, excejjt towards the base, as is also the posterior edge of the tarsus. There is 

 only a trace of white at the tip of the tail feathers. 



The supposed female (1968) is quite similar, the mottling rather lighter, and the light bands 

 rather broader. The head and neck have not the uniform rufous chestnut color of the other 

 specimen, those parts being varied more like the back, or with spots of black ; the throat, however, 

 is rufous chestnut, with black spots, and no white edges. The colored feathers cover the whole 

 belly, mixed with a good deal of white along the median line and behind. The tibial feathers 

 are white, barred with brown ; the tarsi and toes dirty white. The under tail coverts are like 

 the breast. 



The coarsely mottled feathers of the breast are mixed with others more like those of the male, 

 being more rufous, with the barring more broken, finer^ and more obsolete. 



I find a considerable difference in different specimens of the large Ptarmigan before me. 

 Those from eastern Labrador and Newfoundland appear to have decidedly broader, stouter, 

 and more convex bills than those from the Hudson's Bay and more northern countries. I think 

 it not improbable that there may be two species, but without summer specimens I cannot pretend 

 to determine the question. 



In the entire uncertainty as to the true character of the American ptarmigans, I can quote 

 only those descriptions that are based on American specimens. I have not at hand the means 



