362 TETRAONID^. 



and the Ptarmigan, but which he told me was extremely 

 rare." 



M. Nilsson mentions an instance where the Black cock 

 had been known to breed with the Barn-door Fowl, but 

 the chicks, very unfortunately, only lived a few days. 



In the adult male the beak is black ; the irides dark 

 brown ; semilunar patch of naked skin over the eye bright 

 scarlet ; the feathers of the head, neck, back, wing-coverts, 

 rump, and tail, black ; those of the neck and back mar- 

 gined with shining bluish black ; the primary quill -feathers 

 black, with white shafts ; the secondaries and tertials black 

 at the end, but white at the base, forming a conspicuous 

 white bar below the ends of the great wing-coverts, which, 

 with the lesser coverts, are black ; the feathers of the 

 spurious wing with white spots at the base ; tail of eighteen 

 black feathers, of which three, four, and sometimes five of 

 those on each outside are elongated, and curve outwards ; 

 the others nearly equal in length, and square at the end ; 

 the chin, neck, breast, belly, and flanks, black ; under 

 wing-coverts, axillary plume, and under tail -coverts, pure 

 white ; vent, thighs, and legs, mixed black and white ; 

 toes and claws blackish brown. 



The whole length is twenty-two inches. From the carpal 

 joint to the end of the wing, ten inches and a half: the 

 form of the wing rounded ; the first quill-feather about as 

 long as the seventh, the second about as long as the sixth, 

 the fourth rather longer than the third or the fifth, and the 

 longest in the wing. 



The female of the Black Grouse, usually called the Grey 

 Hen, has the beak brown, irides hazel ; the general colour 

 of the plumage pale chestnut brown, barred and freckled 

 with black ; the dark bars and spots larger, and most con- 

 spicuous on the breast, back, wings, and upper tail-coverts ; 

 the feathers of the breast edged with greyish white, par- 



