GROUSE. 



207 



as to its appearance and haliits, that it will lio umit'cessary to devote any space to it 

 here. Cuba jiossesses a species very similar in plumage, 0. cubensis, differing mainly 

 in the greater extent of black upon the liead and upiier part of breast. A beautiful 

 species, O. niyrof/ularis, is a native of Honduras and Yucatan, having a black throat, 

 and a white breast and abdomen, the feathers of these being bordered with black. 

 Tlie remaining sjiecies of tlie genus, three or four in number, are found in Mexico, one 

 only 0. ki/landi, being a native of Honduras and Costa Kica. 











FTG. 37. — Lagopus albuSt ptarmigan, in summer plumage. 



The grouse comprise the sub-family Tetraonin:e of the Perdicidie, and are distin- 

 guished from the (piails and partriilges by having the nostrils, legs, am,! feet more or 

 less completely feathered, by a bare skin over the eye, a pectination on the sides of 

 the toes, and in some species by a bare distensible skin on the side of the neck. They 

 are confined gener.iUy to the northern districts of both heniis])hcres, but are most 

 numerous in Xorth America. They are usually contained in eight genera, with one 

 or two sub-genera, and consist of about twenty-three or twenty-four si>ecies. 



The ptarmigan, comprising tlie genus L<if/opus, differ fi'om the ty]>ical grouse by 

 having the toes as heavily feathered as are the tarsi, and also, with one exception, by 



