THE HYBRID GROUSE. 587 



I have satisfied myself that at the moment of its uttering this 

 sound the bird is just as deaf, if not deafer, than its larger 

 relative. 



My brother-in-law brought down a cock from a very low 

 fir. I missed one after " springing " it a long time, just as it 

 flew off from the tree where it was drumming, in pursuit of a 

 hen ; but4ttckily it soon began again on the top of a little 

 rock, and there I laid it low. Beside it were standing two 

 hens, of which I shall speak later on. Both the other cocks 

 were silent after the shots. 



The two birds that were bagged suggest very interesting 

 questions, for in many respects they do not agree with the 

 hitherto well-known and often-described Tetrao medius, and 

 it therefore seems advisable to preface the description of these 

 new specimens with a few words about the established type of 

 the Hybrid Cock. 



As lately as 1880 I myself wrote : " One speaks of the 

 Hybrid Grouse as being of the Capercaillie or Blackgame 

 type ; but a good many specimens have already passed through 

 my hands, some in the flesh, more in skins, and I am bound 

 to say that I never found any essential differences between 

 them, either in size or plumage, greater than those due to 

 age, and which occur among all the other species of Wood- 

 Grouse." 



Among other remarks about the Hybrid Cock, in his ' Thier- 

 leben,' A. E. Brehm has the following: "What makes it 

 especially remarkable is that the colour of the various indi- 

 viduals is extremely uniform, that is in all essentials." Then 

 follows the description of the early well-known type of the 

 bird. 



Of the old authorities I will quote Christian Ludwig Brehm, 

 a highly esteemed ornithologist, and the father of our Brehm, 

 and also Johann Andreas Naumann. The former gives an 

 excellent description of Tetrao medius, from the rich material 



