THE HYBRID GROUSE. 591 



says, l Nowhere so common as in Russia.' And a northern 

 bird it absolutely seems to be." 



Brehm concludes by saying that the female under discus- 

 sion cannot possibly be a Greyhen on account of its beard, 

 and the much greater length both of its tarsus and its ali- 

 mentary canal. The sections in which he treats of its habitat, 

 behaviour, food, propagation, foes, the method of shooting it, 

 and usefulness and destructiveness, contain nothing especially 

 remarkable, and have been superseded by the results of later 

 investigations. 



Naumann, in his work ' Naturgeschichte der Vogel Deutsch- 

 lands,' gives an excellent plate showing the Hybrid cock and 

 the Hybrid hen, the former presenting quite the characters 

 of the Tetrao medius, hitherto described in all works. 



Under the head of " specific distinctions " Naumann says : 

 " The end of the tail somewhat notched, the feathers of the 

 chin somewhat elongated. 



"Male. Black, with a purple sheen on the breast; tail 

 almost uniformly black. 



"Female. Rust-coloured, banded with brown and black ; 

 two white bars across the wings." 



Naumann goes on to say that Tetrao medius looks like an 

 abnormally large and somewhat darker Blackcock with a 

 shortened tail. The eleven cocks of which he treats were all 

 precisely alike. Beak black, horn-blue at the edges ; feet 

 strong and thickly feathered to the toes, this covering ex- 

 tending so far down that the short hind toe is hidden up to 

 the nail. This seems to me an important character, for we 

 find it given in all works as one of the chief distinctive marks 

 of Tetrao medius, and my experiences up to the present time 

 lead me to say the same. 



In his accurate description of the old bird Naumann men- 

 tions the deep black and the steely-blue sheen of the head, 

 and the play of purple passing into violet on the breast. 



