LOCAL VARIATION IN PLUMAGE OF GROUSE 59 



The following specimen has been figured to illustrate the black type of 

 female Grouse : 



PI. vill. Under surface : black type in autumn plumage. 

 Female Grouse, No. 418. Caithness, 31.12.06. 



The third or white- spotted form is less rare, and, according to Mr Ogilvie- 

 Grant, occurs as often as in the male. In the Committee's collection white- 

 it is well represented by birds from Sutherland (No. 1336) ; Ross-shire, te* ed 

 a bird of the red type (No. 176) ; and Inverness (No. 329). hens - 



It was less to be expected that examples both of the red type and of a 

 darker type, bordering on the black, should have been met with in Yorkshire, 

 Lancashire, and Westmorland. Single examples were also procured in 

 Dumfries and Kincardine. There is a fine Irish example from co. Mayo 

 in the British Museum (Natural History), No. 99 12.1.1. 



The fourth or buff-spotted form of hen Grouse, said to be " much the 

 commonest and most usually met with, has the feathers of the upper parts spotted 

 at the tip with whitish buff." * This type is generally distributed, and Buff . 

 the Committee's collection includes examples from Caithness, Sutherland, ty, e ted 

 Ross, Perthshire, Ayrshire, Kincardine, Dumfries, Northumberland, hens- 

 Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Lancashire. 



The fifth or buff-barred form, according to Mr Ogilvie-Grant, "is met 

 with in the south of Ireland, and resembles in winter (autumn plumage) the 

 ordinary female in breeding plumage, having the upper parts coarsely 

 barred with bufi' and black. Very little is known of this last barred 

 variety, owing to the difficulty of obtaining birds except during the 

 shooting season. " : 



The repeated endeavours of the Committee to obtain specimens resulted 

 in one hen only being obtained from Donegal. This bird (No. 1217) was 

 a very typical example of the buff-barred type, and it certainly differed 

 from anything procured either in Scotland, England, or Wales. 



PI. xix. Under surface : buff-barred form in autumn plumage. 

 Female Grouse, No. 1217. Donegal, Ireland, 17.10.07. 



The nearest approach to it was to be found in four hens from Selkirkshire, 

 and in hens from Inverness - shire, which were more accurately described 

 as buff - barred than as buff - spotted. Single examples from Lanark, Mid- 

 lothian, Roxburgh, Haddington, and Northumberland might be classed in the 



1 " Handbook to the Game Birds," p. 28. 2 Ibid. 



