370 TETRAONIDJ3. 



mottled brown and white variety of the Red Grouse, very 

 much resembling the Ptarmigan when in its summer 

 plumage, which was shot in Lancashire in the month of 

 August. 



A male bird of the year, killed in December, had the 

 beak black ; the irides hazel, with a crescentic patch of 

 vermilion red skin over the eye, fringed at its upper free 

 edge ; head and neck reddish brown, but more rufous than 

 any other part of the bird ; back, wing, and tail-coverts, 

 chestnut brown, barred transversely and speckled with 

 black ; distributed among the plumage were several feathers 

 in which the ground colour was of a bright yellowish brown ; 

 all the quill -feathers dark umber brown ; the secondaries 

 and the tertials edged on the outside, and freckled with 

 lighter brown ; the tail of eighteen feathers ; the seven on 

 each outside dark umber brown ; the four middle feathers 

 chestnut brown, varied with black. On the breast the 

 plumage was darker than on the sides, almost black, and 

 tipped with white ; the chestnut brown feathers on the 

 sides, flanks, belly, vent, and under tail-coverts, tipped with 

 white ; legs and toes covered with short greyish white 

 feathers ; claws long, bluish-horn colour at the base, nearly 

 white at the end. 



The whole length is sixteen inches. From the carpal 

 joint to the end of the wing, eight inches and three-eighths : 

 the first quill-feather shorter than the sixth, but longer 

 than the seventh ; the second shorter than the fifth, but 

 longer than the sixth ; the third and fourth nearly equal 

 in length, and the longest in the wing. 



The old male in summer has many of the body feathers 

 tipped with yellow, and the red colour is of a lighter tint. 



The female is rather smaller than the male ; the patch 

 of red skin over the eye is also smaller ; the red and brown 

 tints of the feathers are lighter in colour, and give a more 



