T E T 



B66 



T ET 



The TrtranniiUf comprehend the following subfamilies 

 Mid genera : 



1. Perdicinae. 



Genera, LophortuT, Bonap. ; Ortyr, Su-ph. 

 linut, Bris*. ; Perdu, Bonap. : Slitrnn, Bonap. : ("uturnur, 

 Teinm. ; Htimitnt, lionap. ; Trtrao, Linn. ; and /.-igoput, 

 Vfcill. 



The Crypturidtf consist of the subfamily OitygUli and 

 nus OrrjMTU, Dl. 



Mr. (i. R. (iray. in hit Lift nf the Genera of 1 

 arranges the Tetraonidif between tin- I'hatianida- and the 

 <'hiHididfr, with the following subfamilies and genera: 



1. Perdirine. 



Genera, Rhisathera, G. K. Gray; PtilopachiK. Sw. 

 Jlhaginit, Wag). ; Lrrtfa, Hodgs. ; Pternistes, Wagl. 

 ..-nlinut. Briss.; Chacura, Hodgs. ; Perdix, Antiq. 

 Arborophila, Hodgs. ; Coturnij. Antiq. : Rollulut, Bonn. 

 Odontophnruf, Vieill.; Or/yx, Steph. ; Lophortyx, Bonap. 

 < ',//.-' igl. 



2. TetraoninjB. 



Genera, Tetrao, Linn. : Lyrurut, Sw. ; Bonata, Briss. 

 (Bonatia, Bonap.) ; Centrocercux, Sw. ; Lagopwt, Briss. 



3. Pterocliiui'. 

 Genera, Pterocles, Temm. : Syrrhaptes, 111. 



.Mr. G. R. Gray gives Hie synonyms of all these genera, 

 and sufficiently numerous they are. The same author, in 

 his Appendix, states that ('hin-iini should have before it 

 Caecabit, Kaup ; and directs the render to add near the 

 genus Alectoris, Kaup, Tetran, (1m. ; also to add the genus 

 Orriat, Kaup. lie further remarks that <>,-yi , 

 nymous with Thinncnruv. 



\Ve shall endeavour to illustrate this article with exam- 

 ples of the natural history of the grouse properly so called : 

 an account of some of the leading forms of the family, 

 taken in its more extensive sense, will be found under the 

 respective titles. 



EUROPEAN GROUSE. 



The following species are European : Tetrao Uroga/liix, 

 the Capercailzie, or Cock of the Wood ; Tetrao hybriduc, 

 Sparrm. (Tflrua mediu-s, Meyer), the Hybrid Grouse, ge- 

 nerally considered by ornithologists to be a hybrid between 

 the Capercailzie and the Black Cock; Telrao Telrix (genus 

 Lyrurus, Sw.), the Black Groute or Block Cock : Hn>itiiii 

 Eitripaa, the Hazel Grouse or Gelinotte ; Lagopus Sco- 

 ticut, the Red Groute ; Lagopus mat us, the Common Ptar- 

 migan ; Lagopus terrestris, the Rack Ptarmigan ;* La- 

 gopus talicfti. the Willow Ptarmigan; Lagopus brachy- 

 daclylut, the Short-toed Ptarmigan ; Pterocles arenarius, 

 the Hand-Grouse ; Pteroclet tetariut, the Pin-tailrd 

 l-Grouse. 



Of these the Black Cock, the Red Grouse, and the Com- 

 mon Ptarmigan are Briti>h ; to which we trust that we 

 may now add the Capercailzie, restored by the praise- 

 worthy care of the Marquis of Breadalbane and others.* 



We select as an example the Common Ptarmigan, L 

 gopus mutus. 



Description Winter Plumage (Male). Pure white ; a 

 black band proceeding from the angle of the bill and tra- 

 versing the eyes ; lateral tail-feathers black, terminated by 

 a white border; feet and toes well covered with woolly 

 feathers; above the eves a naked space, which is termi- 

 nated by a small dentilated membrane ; these naked parts 

 are red ; claws hooked, subulate, and black : bill black 

 iris ash-coloured. length about fifteen inches and a 

 quarter. 



It inter Plum 'f .Differing from that of tin 



male in having the naked space above the eyes loss, and 

 no black eye-band. Smaller than the male; the len 

 about fourteen inches and a half. 



Per/eel' Summer Plumage (Old Male). Top of the 

 head, neck, back, scapulars, and the two middle tail- 

 feathers, as well as the upper coverts, nuty ash crossed by 

 numerous zigzags of deep black ; breast and sides varie- 

 gated with feathers of the ame colour, among which are 

 always found a great number of feathers of a <le. ] 

 varied with some scattered zigzags of a bright ruit-coloni ; 

 black eye-band always distinctly marked : throat must fre- 

 quently white, hut oilcn marked with blackish; the whole 

 of the belly, abdomen, lower coverts of the tail, wings. 

 wing-covert*, and feet pure white : eye-brows large, of a 

 very lively red. 



tfalMVpat 



Ante, p. 296 (note). 



Female always distinguished In the total absence of the 

 black eye-band, and to be recognised also by the tone ol 

 her plumage, which has less white ; the head, all the upp.T 

 parts of the body, the neck, the breast, the flanK- 

 abdomcn -ticaked with transverse bauds of briirht rusty 

 and black, with a good deal of regularity : only the middle 

 of the belly, the feet, and the wings arc pure white. 



The Yniim: are marked with . ash-coloured, 



black and nistyish strca'.-. Tcmm.. 



N.B. The bird figured by Mr. Could, in his great work 

 Thf Birds nf Kurii/H; under the name of hiif , 



t'fie Rock Ptarmigan, with great doubt by that acute 

 ornithologist as to its identity with the North Ameiican 

 according to'Temminck, to be the female 

 Ptarmigan in her perfect Mimmcr plumage. 



The iieicly-hatchi'd yuan a, according to Mr. Mncgilliv- 

 ray, are covered with a light yellowish-grey down patched 

 on the hack with brown, and 'have, on the top of the head. 

 a light chotnut mark, edged with darker chestnut. When 

 first fledged they are, he says, very similar to the young of 

 the Red Grouse, but banded and spotted with brighter 

 reddish-yellow: but this plumage, he adds, soon eh;! 

 so that in the beginning of August many of the yellow and 

 brown feathers of the back are exchanged for others spotted 

 and barred with pale grey and brown, and the under ; 

 are white as well as the wings. In conclusion, 

 that these young birds become white the first winter, like 

 the old ones. ///>/-.../ >,f Hriti\h li> 



This Ptarmigan is supposed by some, and with good 

 reason, to be the Lagopus of Pli lli\t., lib. 



10 notices its excellent flavour, and states that its feet 

 with their 'hare-like hair' gave the bird its name. It i-, 

 the TWrno/f/^opiwofLinnseus; Lagopii* nilgnris of Flem- 

 ing; Pernice de MnntugiHi, Pn 

 liiiiiiro of the modern Italians ; Perdrix bfimrhf and - 

 note blanche of the French : 1'erdiz hlanca of the Spanish : 

 &'hiir<jiuhii and Himx, /ijii*x<<r? If'iililniihn of the 

 mans; Rypr of the Norwegians : Riupkarre (mule 



female) of the Icelanders; Tarmaefuai of the Northern 

 Gael ; and C'lrinr i/r Alliaii of the \Velsh. 



Geographical Distribution, North of Europe: Lap- 

 land, Norway, Sweden, Russia. The Alpine districts of 

 the middle and south of Europe. North Ameiica : the 

 islands lying in the south-west of Baffin's Day Sabine : 

 high hills keeping near the snow-line; Churchill Ui\er 

 iklin: Richardson). 



In the British Islands it was formerly found in the North 

 of England, and, as its Welsh name indicates, in \\ 

 hut it no longer occurs in those localities, nor is it to be 

 met with in Ireland. 



Mr. Macgillivray (History nf British Bi, -that 



it inhabits the bare and weather-beaten summits of the 

 higher mountains of the middle and northern divisions of 

 Scotland; but, he adds, that even in the transition 

 of the south of that part of the United Kingdom, many of 

 the mountains of which, being more than two thousand 

 feet high, seem well adapted for it. no individuals ai< 

 met with. ' I have frequently,' says this observing out- 

 door naturalist. chased it on Romival and other moun- 

 tains in Harris; and it is said to occur on Eachdla in South 

 Uist, on the Park and Uig hills in Lewis, on the Cuillin 

 and Strath mountains in Skye. as well as in Mull and.'nra. 

 ed summits of the north of Scotland it is 

 not uncommon : and. on most of the Grampians, but espe- 

 cially the great granite and slaty masses from which issue 

 the sources of the Dee, the Spcy, and the Tay, it may be 

 said to be even abundant, (iivut numbers are annually 

 killed, but as the haunts of this Ptarmigan are not so easily 

 it >le as I hose of the brown species (Lagopux Nrvi//>//.\ i, 

 it is not at all likely to be exterminated.' 



Food, llaliilx, ,V-r. The summer food of the Ptarmigan 



consists principally of Alpine berries, and in winter of the 



shoots of \onng heath. Air. Macgillivray found in their 



crops a largo quantity of fi. .if dilhina n/f- 



,'niiim Myrtilliix. and l-'.mj.i'l nun nigrum, the 



largest fragments not exceeding five-tuclflhs of an inch in 



-. that leBVei and twigs of >'n:\-i/iiiini 



,r h'T/Hiri-ii, seeds of \auons Jniin;. 



Cjfperai-i-rf. and other plants, with berries in autumn, also 



form part of their food, which is thus, lie o trr the 



part the same as that of the Red Grouse, or, as he 



terms it. the Drown Itannigan. 



The author last ((noted givea the following description 



