TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE. 415 



Genus CAN ACE, Reichenbach. 



Gen. Char. Bill smooth, with no lateral groove, depressed, or broader than high. 

 Feathers of the head and neck all normal, i.e. no crest, nor lengthened plumes of any 

 kind. Tail lengthened (i.e. nearly equal to wing), rounded, the feathers broad to the 

 end ; consisting of from sixteen to twenty feathers. Toes naked. 



Subgenera. 



Canace. Tail of sixteen feathers ; no air-sac on side of the neck. Size small. (Type, 

 T. canndensis, L.) 



Dendragapus. Tail of twenty feathers ; an inflatable air-sac on side of the neck. 

 Size large. (Type, T. ohscurus. Say.) 



The American species of Wood Grouse appear, on comparison, to be 

 generically distinct from Tetrao, of the Old World, (type, Tetrao urogallus,) 

 and, moreover, are themselves comprised under two definable subgenera. 

 Canace projier has a near relative in Falcipennis, Elliot, (type, Tetrao 

 falcipennis, Hartlaub,) of Siberia, which differs merely in the attenuation 

 of the primaries, and seems to us not separable from Canace. There is 

 no European genus nearly related to our birds. T. urogallus differs very 

 essentially in high, compressed, and light-colored bill, elongated and stiffened 

 feathers of the whole head and neck, metallic colors, etc. T. {Lyrurus) 

 tetrix approaches nearer in the bill, but also has metallic colors and a very 

 peculiarly formed tail. Thus it seems absolutely necessary to adopt the 

 name Canace, of Reichenbach, as a generic term by which to designate the 

 American Wood Grouse. 



Subgenus CANACE, Reichenbach. 



Canace, Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. 1851. (Type, Tetrao canadensis, L.) 



Gen. Char. Tail of sixteen feathers, rounded, the feathers broad to the end. A colored 

 (red or yellow) " comb " of naked skin over the eye. No inflatable air-sac on side of the 

 neck. No crest, nor unusual plumes, about the head or neck. 



Species and Varieties. 



T. canadensis. Above distinctly barred with plumbeous and black ; beneath 

 black, with a white l)order to the throat, a white pectoral band, and white 

 markings on the sides. Female barred with ochraceous, gray and black 

 above, and with orange-ochraceous and black on the lower parts. 



Tail i-ounded. tipped with rufous ; upper tail-coverts tipped narrowly 

 with deep ash. Hah. British America, east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 from Alaska (Yukon region) to northern border of United States. 



var. canadensis. 

 Tail nearly even, black to the tip, or else with a narrow white termi- 

 nal bar ; upper tail-coverts broadly tipjied with pure white. Hob. 

 Northern Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast. . . var. franklini. 



