148 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 



in the severest part of the winter. Their crops were full of 

 the buds of birch and hazel. 



LAGOPUS ALBUS (Gm.) . 



The Willow-Grouse is a migratory bird in Siberia. It 

 breeds on the tundra, and winters in the forests. As we 

 sledged down the Yen-e-say' in April we once or twice saw 

 flocks of these birds flying northwards, apparently on migra- 

 tion. The sailors told me that Willow-Grouse were common 

 at the Koo-ray'-i-ka in autumn, but disappeared in midwinter. 

 The first I shot was on the 15th of May. It was in full winter 

 plumage, except a band of chestnut feathers round the neck ; 

 but on raising the white feathers on the crown the new crop 

 of chestnut feathers was visible. 



I very seldom saw a bird until the ice on the river began 

 to break up, when they were more plentiful for a week or 

 two, after which they disappeared from the forests. A bird 

 I shot on the 6th of June was in full winter plumage, except 

 a chestnut ring round the neck, a sprinkling of chestnut fea- 

 thers on the crown, and two or three chestnut feathers on 

 the shoulders and scapulars. On the 4th of July, in lat. 67, 

 where patches of tundra were found between the forest and 

 the river, I found them breeding in full summer plumage. 

 On the 22nd of July, in lat. 71 J, they had young. 



LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS, Gm. 



Professor Newton was the first to point out to me the fact 

 that my Yen-e-say' skins labelled L. mutus were not that 

 bird, but most probably L. rupestris. I brought home two 

 males and a female, all shot on the 22nd of July, in lat. 71J, 

 four or five hundred feet above the level of the sea. I also 

 brought home a skin in winter plumage in which the space 

 between the eye and the bill is black ; but as I bought it in a 

 frozen state on the Arctic circle, it may have been brought 

 down from a locality much further north. 



The female differs from a female of L. albus, shot on the 

 same day in the valley, in having a slenderer bill, and in 

 having the feathers of the back mostly tipped with white, and 

 rarely with ochraceous, whereas in the Willow- Grouse they 



