235 49 



Sterile specimens of this species are often met with, and such 

 sometimes attain very nearly the dress of the young male. 



Tetrao urogallo-tetrix. 

 (\,Rakkelhane'\ hybrid between Tetrao tetrix ^ and urogaUus 9)- 



Nilsson having given such conclusive evidence, of the hybrid 

 origin of this bird (called in the vernacular „Kakkelhane") that 

 the question was regarded by naturalists as settled, ' he proposed 

 Tetrao ur ogalloides (or urogallides) as an appropriate name 

 for this form. At the same time he showed from his own ob- 

 servations and those of intelligent sportsmen, that this hybrid is 

 bred from between the black cock and the female capercaillie (Tetrao 

 tetrix ^ + urogallus $), whether the connexion arises from the black 

 cock repairing to the breeding-haunts of the capercaillie, or rather 

 (which perhaps is more frequently the case) from the female ca- 

 percaillie, prompted by a morbid tendency to mesalliance — so often 

 the result of inordinate sexual desire — consorting with black game 

 and pairing with the" handsome and gallant male of that species. 

 True, this hybrid has been supposed by some to be the result of 

 the male capercaillie mating with the grey hen (Tetrao urogaUus J 

 + tetrix $); but the supposition has invariably been scouted as 

 improbable, and indeed no such form of hybrid has been hitherto 

 observed.^ 



Nilsson's designation Tetrao urogalloidcs has been accepted 

 by all Scandinavian naturalists, and indeed by most others that do 

 not hold to the belief, that this hybrid forms a distinct species. The 



' This opinion was first entertaineci so far bnck as the middle of the hist century 

 (Reutensl^old. „Kgl, Vet. Akad. Handh" 1744). 



'' In 1868, Mr. Victor Fatio (Bull. Soc. Vaud. Vol. IX, no. 58, .p. 594) deseri- 

 bed a specimen, preserved in the museum of Lausanne, which he calls „Tetrao 

 medius inverse^''. Respecting this example, he presumes ,,/ion seulement que le 

 sujet de Lausanne est un m€tis, mats encore que e'est le Tet. urogaUus qui est son pere . 

 This specimen (its total length is stated to be 655 ">"'), is, however, hardly a 

 hybrid between T. urogaUus and tetrix, for „.9a queue au lieu d'etre en lyre, est 

 pluiot en iventaiV^ ; to judge from the subjoined description of its coloration etc., 

 it would seem to represent but one of the numerous garbs of sterile females 

 of T, urogaUus. 



