2164 



THE GAME BIRDS AND RAILS 



Red Grouse 



ties, such as Newfoundland, a grayer phase, closely approaching the European bird 

 is met with. The rock grouse inhabits Northern Asia, extending eastward to 

 Japan and through Arctic America to Iceland. 



In Spitzbergen a somewhat different species (L. hyperboreus) occurs, 

 with more white on the basal part of the tail feathers, the outer web 

 of the outermost pair having only the terminal third black. This is shown in the 

 accompanying cut. The most curious bird of the group is, however, the red grouse 

 (L. scoticus} , peculiar to the British Islands, in which the changes of plumage ap- 

 pear unique; this species differing from all the others in having no white winter 

 plumage, and the flight feathers being always brownish black. Subject to enor- 

 mous variation in plumage, the extreme diverseness may be enumerated as the 



black, red, and white 

 spotted phases. The 

 first form has the entire 

 plumage black, and is 

 by far the rarest; the 

 second, in which the 

 general color is rufous 

 chestnut, is chiefly met 

 with in the west coast of 

 Scotland, the outer He- 

 brides and Ireland; 

 while the white-spotted 

 variety, in which all the 

 feathers of the breast 

 and under parts, and 

 sometimes also those of 

 the head and back, are 

 widely tipped with 

 white, is apparently de- 

 pendent on latitude and 

 altitude. 



The near- 

 est ally of 



the red grouse is the 

 circumpolar ripa or wil- 

 low grouse (L. albus) 

 which has three distinct 

 seasonal plumages, 

 those of summer and 

 autumn (shown in the 



following cut), closely resembling those of the red grouse, while the winter 

 dress is white, and the bird can then only be distinguished by its large size and 

 thick bill. That the red grouse is only an insular form of the willow grouse there 

 can be little doubt, and it has in all probability gradually ceased to assume a white 



Willow Grouse 



SPITZBERGEN PTARMIGAN. 



