236 MR. R. COLLETT ON HYBRID GROUSE. [Apr. 20, 
pointed out in my previously mentioned article of 1872, the “ Rype- 
Orre” should receive the name of Lagopus tetrici-albus, assuming 
that the descent is as above supposed. 
Other Hybrids of the Genus Lagopus. 
1. Lagopus scoticus and Tetrao tetriz.—In the spring of 1877 I 
had the opportunity of examining a specimen in Mr. Dresser’s 
collection in London which was considered to be a hybrid between 
Tetrao tetrix and Lagopus scoticus. This specimen was a male, 
shot in Scotland on the 12th of September, 1876. Its hybrid 
nature was discernible at first glance from the formation of the tail 
and the covering of the toes, which were exactly like the northern 
‘Rype-Orre. The colour was brownish black, the back was 
finely mottled with brown on an almost black ground; the breast 
was black, the head and throat black with fine brown spots ; the 
abdomen had reddish-brown cross lines, the lower tail-coverts white 
edges, as also had several of the feathers on the sides of the rump. 
In conformity with the name which above is given to the North- 
European Rype-Orre, the Scotch specimen, provided the mother in 
both instances is Tetyao tetriz, has been named Lagopus tetrici-scoticus 
(Nyt Magazin for Naturv., Christiania, 1877, vol. xxiii. p. 163). 
Another specimen of the same hybrid, also a male, was described by 
Malm, from Gothenburg, in Sweden. This was found in December 
1877, at a spot where Lagopus scoticus had been introduced in 1861 
and 1862 (Cifv. Kgl. Vetensk.-Akad. Forh. 1880, p. 17). This bird 
was called by Malm Lagopotetrix dicksonii. 
2. Lagopus albus and Lagopus mutus.—As in the previous notes 
it has been supposed possible that the male Lagopus albus may be 
as desirous of forming an illegitimate connection as the male Tetrao 
tetriz, I shall touch upon another question affecting the same 
subject. It has probably appeared to be strange that, notwithstanding 
that Lagopus albus and Lagopus mutus often appear in considerable 
numbers in the same districts in Northern Europe, and generally 
share each other’s haunts, no evidence of a cross between them, so far 
as is known, has ever appeared. It is not probable that the cause of 
this should have its origin in a true repugnance in the two closely- 
allied species to form hybrids. Probably these hybrids are less rare 
than one imagines, as it requires an accustomed eye to discern them 
in the multitudinous garbs in which these two species appear from 
spring-time until the approach of winter. Even I myself have but 
once found one, which is now mounted in the University Museum at 
Christiania. It was shot at Roros in the middle of September 1883. 
This specimen is an old male in autumnal plumage, and is thus 
at a stage when the contrast between the plumage of the two 
parents is most marked and striking. At this time the old Lagopus 
mutus obtains its peculiar bluish-grey autumnal dress, in which 
each feather on a light ashy-grey ground is finely freckled with 
black, without forming distinct cross lines, whilst in Lagopus albus 
each feather has reddish-brown spots and cross lines on a black 
