426 RASORES. LAGOPUS. 



deep a colour as that of the Red Grous, and the internal 

 pectoral muscle, which is remarkably white, is esteemed the 

 most delicate part. 



PLATE 58. Male bird of the natural size. 



General "Q{\\ black. Head, neck, breast, back, and rump, black, 

 '; on . with blue and purple reflections. Belly, wing-coverts, 



tfale - and tail, pitch-black. Secondary quills tipped with 



white, and forming, with the adjoining coverts, a band 

 across each wing. Under tail-coverts pure white. 

 Eyebrows naked, vermilion-red. Legs clothed with 

 blackish-grey feathers to the toes ; which last are fur- 

 nished with lateral fringed appendages. 



PLATE 58*. The female. Natural size. 



Female. Head and neck ochreous-yellow, rayed with black. Upper 

 parts orange-brown, barred and speckled with black. 

 Greater wing-coverts tipped with white. Breast pale- 

 orange or chestnut-brown, barred with black. Belly 

 greyish-white, barred with black and brown. Under 

 tail-coverts white, rayed with black. Tail slightly 

 forked, orange-brown, spotted with black ; the tip 

 greyish- white. 



The young, until the autumnal moult, resemble the fe- 

 male. 



GENUS LAGOPUS, VIEILL. GROUS-PTARMIGAN. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



BILL very short, clothed at the base with feathers ; the 

 upper mandible convex, and bent down at the point. Nos- 

 trils basal, lateral, partly closed by an arched membrane, 

 and nearly hidden by the small closely-set feathers at the 

 base of the bill. Eyebrows naked, as in genus Tetrao. 

 Wings short, concave, with the third and fourth feathers the 



