BONASA. 197 



GENUS BONASA STEPHENS. (Page 186, pi. LYIIL, fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Adult male : Above varied with black and different shades of brown or gray, 

 the scapulars and wing-coverts with mesial streaks of buff or whitish, the rump and, 

 upper tail-coverts with cordate or oval spots of pale grayish or dull buffy ; tail gray 

 or rusty, with several narrow, irregular bands of a paler shade, each immediately 

 preceded by a narrower zigzag blackish bar, and crossed near end by a broad sub- 

 terminal band of black or dark brown, succeeded by a narrower terminal band of 

 mottled light grayish, and preceded by a similar band ; neck-tufts varying from 

 deep black to light rufous, the feathers with glossy terminal margins ; throat buffy 

 or ochraceous, sometimes varied with dusky ; rest of lower parts mixed white and 

 buffy (the latter chiefly beneath the surface), marked with broad bars of brown, 

 broadest and darkest on flanks ; lower tail-coverts buffy, broadly tipped with white. 

 Adult female: Essentially similar to the male in plumage, but smaller, and with the 

 neck-tufts rudimentary or obsolete. Young : Scapulars, wing-coverts, and feathers 

 of back pale brownish, marked with large black spots and a broad median stripe of 

 buff; secondaries, including tertials, finely mottled pale brown, rather indistinctly 

 barred, at rather wide intervals, with paler buffy brownish, each bar of this color 

 immediately preceded by a narrower one of dusky, the outer webs of the tertials 

 spotted along the edge with black ; quills dull grayish, irregularly, somewhat ser- 

 rately, edged with dull buffy ; head buffy (chin and throat almost white), spotted 

 on top with black, the ear-coverts dusky, streaked with pale buffy or dull whitish ; 

 chest ochraceous-buff, gradually fading into white on breast and other lower parts, 

 all the feathers of chest and breast spotted on edges with blackish, producing a 

 coarsely and irregularly striped appearance ; sides and flanks marked with larger 

 spots of black ; tail-feathers mottled grayish, more or less tinged with rusty, and 

 crossed by several broad blackish bars separated by narrower grayish ones. Downy 

 young : Above chestnut-buff, deepening into pale chestnut on occiput, fore-part of 

 wings, lower back, and rump ; rest of plumage very pale buff, deeper on sides of 

 head, which are marked with a conspicuous black stripe commencing at posterior 

 corner of eye and extending across ear-coverts. Length 15.50-19.00, wing 7.00-7.50, 

 tail 5.50-7.00. Nest on ground in woods. Eggs 6-10 or more, buffy, usually plain, 

 but sometimes slightly speckled with brown. 



a 1 . Paler, with brown markings on lower parts rather indistinct (except on flanks), 

 and more or less concealed on breast and belly by broad whitish tips to the 

 feathers, these brown markings usually without distinct darker edges ; bars 

 on flanks usually clear hair-brown. 



& 1 . Upper parts mostly or entirely rusty, the tail usually rusty ochraceous. 

 Eggs 1.58 X 1.18. Hab. Eastern United States, west to edge of Great 

 Plains (?), north to Massachusetts (lowlands), south to Georgia (up- 

 lands), Tennessee, Arkansas, etc. 



300. B. umbellus (LINN.). Ruffed Grouse. 



