354 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



in a crenated comb. Tarsi and toes in winter, thickly 

 clothed with feathers ; claws in winter long and broad ; 

 tail consists of sixteen feathers, of which all but the two 

 middle ones, lying above the others, are black at all 

 seasons. 



161. LAGOPUS SUBALPINA, Nilss. Dal Eipa. F. 



Length 16 in.; tail beyond the wings 3 in.; female 

 about 1 in. shorter ; the primaries at all seasons white, 

 with brown shafts. 



Summer dress : head and throat in front red-brown in 

 the male, or rusty yellow in female, with black spots ; back 

 black, and speckled with red-brown in male, or rusty yellow 

 in female. 



Winter dress : snow white, with a black beak and black 

 tail feathers. In this dress it is not easy to distinguish the 

 female willow grouse, from the female ptarmigan, (the male 

 ptarmigan may always be known at all seasons by the black 

 mark between the eye and the gape, which is wanting in 

 the male willow grouse) ; but the beak is always much 

 thicker, the bird is larger, and there is this difference in 

 the relative proportions of the wing feathers : 



In the willow grouse, the first wing feather is If in. shorter 

 than second, which is f in. shorter than third, which is equal 

 to the fourth and longest; fifth always longer than the 

 second. 



In the ptarmigan, the first wing feather is 1-f- in. shorter 

 than second ; this is -f in. shorter than third, which is like the 

 fourth and longest ; fifth shorter than second. 



In the summer, the female willow grouse may always 

 be known from the male by the deep black chin, which 

 in the female is rusty yellow, and by the red-brown feathers 

 on the breast and throat. Moreover, in the male the under 

 tail coverts are red-brown, speckled with black, and marked 

 with a dark band in front of the white tip ; in the female 

 they are rusty yellow, with black transverse bars, and 

 this I have always found a safe mark of distinction. Figured 

 by Dr. Bree as the " willow grouse/'' 



