TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE. 



421 



Subgenus DENDRAGAPUS, Elliot. 



Dendragapus, Elliot, P. A. N. S. Pliilad. 1864. (Type, Tetrao obscurus, Say.) 



Gen. Char. Tail of twenty feathers, rounded, rather large (about two thirds the 

 wing) ; the feathers broad to the tips, which are almost truncated. A colored (orange or 



Tetrao obscurus. 



yellow) " comb" of naked skin over the eye, and an inflatable air-sac on side of the neck. 

 No crest or other unusual plumes about the head or neck. 



Species and Varieties. 



C. obscurus. Above nearly uniform plumbeous-dusky, minutely mottled 

 on the wings. Tail uniform black, with or without a lighter terminal band, 

 and sometimes finely and obscurely mottled above. Lower parts nearly 

 uniform clear plumbeous, or blackish-dusky; a dusky half-collar on the 

 throat; chin and throat white, variegated with dusky. Length, about 

 20.50 ; wing, 9.40 ; tail, 7.45. Female smaller, the colors more variegated, 

 with the dusky less continuous, and less in amount. 

 A. Tail rounded, with a distinct terminal band of clear plumbeous. 



Above brownish-ashy, minutely mottled (transversely) with dusky 

 and, to a less extent, with yellowish-brown. Beneath fine pureashy. 

 Hab. Sierra Nevada (from Fort Crook southwards) and Rocky 

 Mountains, from the Hellgate region to New Mexico . var. obscurus. 



Above brownish-black, minutely and sparsely mottled with 

 slate and rusty-brown. Beneath dark plumbeous. (In northern 

 specimens, especially in females from Sitka, much washed with 

 dark castaneous-rust}'.) Hab. Northwest coast mountains, from 

 Oregon to Sitka xai: fuliginosus. 



