Fig. 10. Willow ptarmigan or grouse (L. 1. lagopus.) Male bird standing; female sitting with chicks. Repro- 

 duction of a photograph made by the author of Audubon's plate. 



The American Grouse and Their Identi- 

 fication 



By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT 



PTARMIGANS, PRAIRIE CHICKENS AND THE HEATH HEN 

 PART III 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR 



F we regard such birds 

 as Richardson's, Frank- 

 lin's and the ruffed grouse 

 which were considered in 

 Parts I and II of the 

 present article, as true 

 grouse, then the genus of 

 birds first to be dealt 

 with here, namely the 

 ptarmigans of the genus Lagopus, form very 

 distinct departures from our type forms. 

 As a matter of fact, it has only been through 



custom that we have regarded such a species 

 as the ruffed grouse to be a true game bird 

 called grouse, and the ptarmigans forms 

 considerably away from such an elected 

 standard are hardly entitled to that sort 

 of distinction. In reality, however, a ptarmi- 

 gan is just as true a tetraonine bird even 

 to the minutest structural detail as the 

 finest ruffed grouse that ever flushed from 

 cover, or the best cock "prairie chicken" that 

 pointer ever put up on a prairie. 



The late Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe in his 



