58 



Canada Grouse (C. canadensis), and may be regarded as the 

 representative form of that species in the Old World. 



THE AMERICAN CAPERCAILZIES. GENUS 

 DENDRAGAPUS. 



Dendragapus, Elliot, Proc. Acad. Philad. 1864, p. 23. 



Type, D. obscurus (Say). 



Toes naked and pectinate along the sides. Tail long, com- 

 posed of twenty feathers sub-equal in length. The male is 

 provided with an inflatable air-sac on each side of the neck, but 

 there are no elongate tufts of feathers, nor are the outer flight- 

 feathers attenuated or sickle-shaped. 



This genus includes three rather large forms, about the size 

 of a Black Grouse, but, unlike these birds and the True Caper- 

 cailzies, the American Capercailzie seems to pair with one 

 female only. 



I. DUSKY CAPERCAILZIE. DENDRAGAPUS OBSCURUS. 



Teirao obscurus, Say, in Long's Exped. Rocky Mts. ii. p. 14 



(1823) ; Bonap. Araer. Orn. iii. p. 27, pi. xviii. (1828). 

 Dendragapus obscurus, Elliot, Proc. Acad. Philad. 1864, p. 23, 



and Monogr. Tetraon. pi. vii. (1865) ; Bendire, Life Hist. 



N. Am. B. p, 41 (1892) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 



xxii. p. 74 (1893). 

 Adult Male. — General colour above smoky-black, mixed with 

 brownish-buff, below grey; chest and breast not barred and 

 marked with buff; tail somewhat rounded, with a wide terminal 

 grey band varying in width on the middle feathers from 1 to 1*5 

 inch. Total length, 19*5 inches ; wing, 10; tail, 67 ; tarsus, 



Adult Female. — Chest and breast barred and marked with 

 buff; tail with a wide grey terminal band, about o'8 inch in 

 width, on the outermost feathers. Total length, 17 inches; 

 wing, 86; tail, 5-9; tarsus, i"6. 



