046 rnocEEDiNGS of the national museum. 



between the eyes is a narrow apteriura, in which are placed the iwo 

 feathers of tlie crest, one behind the other, as shown in fi^-. ."). Tlie 

 arrangement of the primaries (lilfers from the other quail iind 

 approaclies Uonana; the Ji/lh primary is much longer than the ninth, 

 which is a little lonjicr than the fourth , while tiie tenth is much shorter 

 than tlic latter but lonj^er than the third. There are 

 1() secondaries. The claw on the thumb is very well 

 develoi)ed. The rectrices are always 12. 



CYRTONYX. 



Material eKamiiied: Que spocimoii, ;i, beautilul male, kindly 

 sent me by Mr R. D. Lusk, Fort lluachuca, Arizona. A 

 lew skins in tiie IJ S. National Mnseuni were also ex- 

 amined in respect to rectrices and daw on thnml). It 

 was only after live jearsol" eH'ort that 1 succeeded in get- 

 Fici ;t — I'TiiKYLosis ^hig a specimi'n of tins ji^onus, which lias proved much 



OF THE ciKJWN. the hardest to obtain of any of onr Americ^an (Jallina'. 



Oheoutvx. I am therefore nnder special oblijiation to Mr. I^iisk. 



The dorsal pterylosis is not noticeably different from Colinnn, but on 

 the ventral surfa(;e this j>(^nns resembles Nitzsch's figure- of Olalliis. 

 That is, the ventral tract runs up on the breast so far as to connect 

 with the anterior i)art of the sternal tract by two rows of feathers on 

 each siile. The pterylosis of the head is like that of (JoUuks, there being 

 no special tract on the crown. There are 14 secondaries, of which the 

 first is oidy about two-thirds the length of the second. The claw on the 

 thumb seems to be w^anting. The juiddle ])air of the 12 short rectrices 

 is much longer than the outer, but the entire tail is pretty well con- 

 cealed by the coverts. The tuft on the oil gland is small and of few 

 feathers. 



TETllAONIN.E. 



The grouse of *North America form as clearly delined a group as the 

 quails, although they show more generic variation in the jiterylosis. In 

 spite of these variations the distribution of the tracts is very (constant 

 and may be easily recognized as distinctive. Although stric-tly gallinine 

 it dilfers slightly from that of the quails on the one hand and the turkey 

 on the other, but is nearer the latter. The dorsal tract is usually more 

 or less disconnected from the upper cervical, and as the latter is gen- 

 erally forked the central dorsal apterium, as we may call it, appears. 

 As a rule the lower cervical tract remains single until near the fur- 

 cula, and the ventral tracts run up so far on the breast as to almost 

 unite with the sternals at that point, so that in an adult grouse 

 there is very little of the ventral surface, w^hich is entirely free from 

 contour feathers, except along the median line. The pterylw crurales, 

 or more ])roperly, perhaps, the ^/eiVy/a' j»9ef/a/6',s', vary a great deal from 

 the half-bare shank of J>onas<(, to the completely feathered toes of 

 Laijopiis. There are no peculiar tracts on the crown due to crests, 

 but there is almost always a large apterium over each eye, and on the 



