234 MR. R. COLLETT ON HYBRID GROUSE. [Apr. 20, 
Lagopotetrix layopoides, Malm, @fv. Kgl. Vet.-Akad. Férh. 1880, 
. 30. 
¥ In opposition to this assumption respecting its paternity, in 1872, 
in a treatise “‘ Remarks onthe Ornithology of Northern Norway ’”’ 
(Forhandl.Vidensk. Selskabet i Christiania, 1572, p. 238), I advanced 
the opinion that the Rype-Orre was an offspring of the male 
Lagopus albus and female Tetrao tetriv, a theory which, singularly 
enough (although without any proof), was started by Sommerfelt so 
early as 1823 in his descriptions of the specimen in summer plumage’ 
(cf. above). Insupport of this theory I certainly could not produce 
direct observations or positive proofs, but I stated some circum- 
stances which, according to my views, caused the descent from the 
male Lagopus albus to be more probable than from that of the 
Blackeock. In conclusion, I expressed the hope that intelligent 
sportsmen or naturalists might soon be fortunate enough to insti- 
tute observations by which this question might be clearly solved. 
Although this was written fourteen years ago, nothing has as yet 
appeared in northern literature to throw a light on the subject. 
I shall not here set forth at length the reasons which caused me 
to advance this hypothesis ; they will be found given in Dresser’s 
‘ History of the Birds of Europe,’ vol. vii. p. 213. They are chiefly 
derived from a comparison with the second and _ better-known 
hybrid, the “ Rakkelfugl,”’ concerning which it is an undoubted fact 
that it is descended from the male Yetrao tetrir and the female 
Tetraourogallus. In this case, too, the father belongs to the smaller, 
the mother to the larger species; and the offspring is a hybrid in 
which the male is of about. the same size as its mother. 
It is also a well-known fact that the male Willow Grouse is often 
found in the breeding-haunts of the Tetrao tetriz, and undoubtedly 
frequents them more often than is generally known. | Every sports- 
man is aware that amongst the Willow-Grouse (and the Ptarmigan) 
an excess of males is to be met with, which throughout the summer 
ramble about on the mountains, and these are probably willing to 
form connections whenever an opportunity offers. My friend Prof. 
Friis has witnessed a remarkable proof of the eagerness of the male 
Willow-Grouse’s desire to mate. In the spring of 1857 he observed 
at one of the most elevated farms in Nordmore (Bergen stift) a male 
Willow-Grouse which for several succeeding days kept near the 
house and endeavoured to form a connection with a white speckled 
domestic hen. 
Finally it is worth recording that two young male Rype-Orre, 
shot in October 1845, in Hedemora, Sweden, were accompanied by 
a female bird, apparently their mother, which was supposed to be a 
Greyhen*. This observation would have been of great weight in 
1 “Af denne Slegts (Tetrao) hybride Yngel forekom mig paa Toten i Juli 
Maaneds Begyndelse folgende, som s¥gnes at vere en Affodning of Aarhénen 
og Rype-Hannen ” [From the hybrid brood of this genus I obtained the following 
in the beginning of July, which appears to be an offspring of the Greyhen and 
the male Willow-Grouse] (Nyt Mag. f. Natury. 1st ser. vol. ii. Christiania, 1823, 
p- vl): 
2 (fy. Kgl. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 1847, p. 201. 
