56 242 



similarity between the Rypeorre and its male parent is in many 

 respects very striking, and though considerable numbers of the 

 Rypeorre are no doubt annually produced, they are seldom re- 

 cognised as such, being sold as tine examples of ptarmigan in the 

 spring or autumn plumage. 



Finally it is worth recording, that two young males, shot in 

 the month of October 1845, at Hedemora, in Sweden, were accom- 

 panied by a female bird, apparently their mother, which was supposed 

 to be a grey-hen.^ 



For the theory of parentage here advanced there is - indeed 

 no positive proof; but there can be little doubt that some intelligent 

 sportsmen will ere long witness the male ptarmigan and grey hen 

 in copula^ if indeed still more conclusive evidence be not 

 obtained. 



Should our views on this subject prove correct, the names of 

 the Rypeorre-hybrid, — Tetrao lagoxioides and Tetrao lagopodi- 

 tefricides, can be no longer retained. If, indeed, it is necessary 

 to bestow a special designation on this median form, the generic 

 name should undoubtedly be derived from that of the male parent, 

 the specific name being a compound of the mother's subordinated 

 to that of the father. The name would, then, be Lag opus te- 

 trici-alhus; and this mode of designation could be easily applied 

 to hybrids which, though yet unknown, may possibly, nay probably 

 do exist. ^ 



The hybrid origin of this bird was unquestionably first pointed 

 out in the year 1795, by Amtmand Sommerfelt, who, in the „Topo- 

 graphisk Journal f. Norge, Part. 14, p. 50, gives an excellent 

 description of two specimens from the districts bordering on the 

 Mj0sen (Eidsvold, Biri). These individuals, which were clearly 

 male birds in winter-dress, are recorded as a „Blanding af Aarfugi 

 og Rype", (hybrid between black game and ptarmigan). 



' Ofv. Kgl. Vet. Akad. Fo h. 1847, p. 201. 



* For instance, between tlie species of Lagopus, which perhaps would account for 

 some few of the abormal diversities of plumage, that is fouml in these birds. 



