232 MR. R. COLLETT ON HYBRID GROUSE. [Apr. 20. 
The covering of the feet is still thin and incomplete, and the hair- 
like feathers have only appeared on the innermost toe-joint ; the 
claws are brown horn-colour, resembling those of the Blackgame, but 
their form is more like those of the Willow-Grouse. 
The change of the young to winter plumage (Pl. XXII. fig. 2) 
proceeds in about the same manner as in the Willow-Grouse; and, 
analogously with what takes place in them, the first plumage has not 
always time for development all over before it is dislodged by the winter 
garb. As already mentioned, the remiges with their longer coverts, the 
abdomen, and after them the tail-feathers, are the first parts which 
moult into the winter garb. In the beginning of October the young 
plumage of the male is half lost, and the winter plumage completed 
on the tail and belly, and partially on the back, whilst the head, 
neck, and upper breast are still mottled brown; one or two brown 
autumnal feathers are also long retained on the flanks. The covering 
of the toes is still scanty. The Christiania Museum possesses several 
such specimens. 
Sea. 
As previously mentioned, amongst the twenty-two known specimens 
from Norway there are but two females. This may partly be for the 
reason that the hens even in winter plumage have on the whole 
a less attractive plumage than the males, and therefore might be 
more easily overlooked, or pass for a white-speckled Greyhen. But 
the main cause may probably be a different one. It is a well-known 
fact, confirmed by a majority of instances, that amongst hybrids an 
unusually large percentage of males are produced. If compared with 
the other and better known hybrid of the Tetraonide, the “ Rakkel- 
fugl” (Tetrao tetriv male + Tetrao urogallus female), it will appear 
that there are perhaps ten males to one female. 
However, it must be remembered that the female Rakkelfugl is 
even to a greater extent more likely to be overlooked than the hen 
of the Rype-Orre, as it exactly resembles a small female Tetrao 
urogallus, so that this proportion cannot be computed with accu- 
racy. 
a all the males dissected (in winter) the ¢estes have been found 
to be small, although not rudimentary or abnormally formed. 
Their colour was greyish white; the left was generally larger than 
the right, and measured in one specimen 5 millim. in length, the 
breadth about 3 millim. In another, and this towards the spring 
(28th February), they were unusually small, barely 2 millim. long. 
In the hens, which were also shot in winter, the ovary was visible 
on the left side like asmall whitish patch; the eggs were hardly 
discernible. 
Supposed Parentage. 
Which species contributes the father and which the mother to 
this peculiar hybrid is as yet unknown. Only exceptionally has it 
fallen to the lot of an intelligent sportsman to see it in its living 
state, and then only for the few seconds in which it rises, to fall 
