SPOTTED GROUSE. 809 



rusty : the lower wing-coverts and long axillary feathers are pure white, 

 the outer coverts being marbled with dusky. The tail is composed of 

 eighteen feathers ; it is cuneiform, very short, and entirely hidden by 

 the coverts, except the four middle feathers ; the two middle feathers 

 are flaccid, narrow, equal in breadth throughout, longer than the others 

 by more than an inch, rusty, crossed by chained bands of black, and 

 dotted with black and whitish at tip ; the two next are also longer than 

 the others, neaidy whitish, but almost similar in shape, markings, and 

 texture, to the longest ; the lateral decrease in size very fast from the 

 centre, but by regular degrees, and arc remarkably stiff, somewhat like 

 those of Woodpeckers, wider at base and tip than in the middle, pure' 

 white at the end and on the inner web, the shaft black, and the outer 

 webb dotted with blackish ; they are deeply emarginate at tip, the inner 

 lobe being longer, acute, and singularly shaped. 



TETRAO CANADENSIS. 



SPOTTED GROUSE. 



[Plate XX., Male. Plate XXI., Fig. 1, Female.] 



Tetrao canadensis, Linn. Si/si. i., p. 274, Sp. 3. Gmbl. Si/si. i., p. 749, Sp. 3. Latu. 

 Ind. p. 637, Sp. 6. Forster, in Phil. Tr. lxii., p. 389. Temm. Ind. Gall, in 

 Hist. Pig. et Gall, iii., p. 702. Vieill. Nouv. Did. Hist. Nat. Sjbine, Zool. App. 

 Frankl. Exp. p. 683. Nob. Cat. Birds U. S. Sp. 207. Id. Syn. Birds U. S. 

 Sp. 208. — Tetrao canace, Linn. Si/st. i., p. 25, Sp. 7, Female. — Lagopus Bonasa 

 Freti Hudsonis, Briss. Orn. i., p. 201, Sp. 6. Id. Suppl. p. 10. Id. 8vo. iv., p. 

 56, Male. — Lagopus Bonasa canadensis, Briss. Orn. i., p. 203, Sp. 7, PI. 20, fig. 

 2. Id. Svo. it., p. 57, Female. — Lagopus Freti Hudsonis. Klein, Ae. p. 117, Sp. 

 6. — La Gelinotte du Canada, Buff. Uis. ii., p. 279. — Id. PL enl. 131, Male, 132, 

 Female. Sonn. Buff, vi., p. 58. Bon.^t. Tahl. Enc. Orn. p. 197, PI. 91, fig. 2.— 

 Tetras tacheti. ou Acako, Temm. Pig. et Gall, iii., p. 160, bis. — Black and Spotted 

 Heathcoch, Edw. Glean, p. 118, PI. 118, Male. — Brown and Spotted Heathcock, 

 Edw. Glean, p. 71, PI. 71, Female. Ellis, Hudson Bay, i., t. p. 50. — Spotted 

 Grouse, Penn. Arct. Zool. Sp. 182. Lath. Syn. iv., p. 735, Sp. 6. Id. Suppl. p. 

 214, accid. var.— 7V(e small .ipeckled Pheasant, Lewis and Clark, Exp. ii., p. 182, 

 Male. — The small brown Phea-iant, Id. Id. Exp. ii", p. 182, Female. 



As may be seen by the synonymy, two separate species have been 

 made of the present, the male and female being taken for different birds. 

 This error, which originated with Edwards and Brisson, from whom it 

 was copied by Linnd, was rectified by Buffon, Forster, and others ; and 

 in their decision Gmelin, Latham, and all subsequent writers have 

 acquiesced. Both sexes were tolerably well figured by Buffon, as they 

 had also been previously by Edwards ; but we feel justified in saying 

 that none of their plates will bear a comparison with the present. 



The Spotted Grouse is well characterized by its much rounded tail, 



