1886.] MR. R. COT.LETT ON HYBRTD GROUSE. 225 



I will therefore endeavour to recount the most important features 

 which have hitherto been noticed concerning this hybrid, which, on 

 account of its rarity, as well as its pretty and peculiar external 

 appearance, is well suited to attract the attention of naturalists. 



The earliest account of this liybrid dates from the year 1788, 

 as Sparrman at that time gave an illustration of it and briefly men- 

 tioned it as " Tetrao tetrix, mas, varietas "' in the third issue of 

 the ' Museum Carlsonianum ' (pi. 65), without, apparently, having 

 suspected its hybrid character. In 1795 this was first noticed 

 by Sommerfelt (' Topographisk Journal for Norge,' 14 Hefte, p. 50, 

 Christiania, 1795), who described two specimens from the districts 

 about Mjosen in Southern Norway, which he regarded as a hybrid 

 between Tetrao tetrix and Layopus albus. From the description, 

 which is comparatively detailed (see below), it is evident that the 

 specimens were males in winter plumage. 



Subsequently a male shot in Wermeland in Sweden in 1808 was 

 mentioned and figured by Thunberg (Vet.-Akad. Handl. Stockholm, 

 1808, p. 195), and he also recognized its hybrid character. 



The first who gave a more detailed and elaborated description of it 

 was Nilssonin his ' Ornithologia Suecica' in 1817, and subsequently 

 in his various editions of his ' Skandinavisk Fauna.' Since then it 

 has been occasionally treated of in different works on the fauna of 

 Scandinavia, and here its winter plumage has also been given on 

 plates, as in Nilsson, ' Illuminerade Figurer till Skandinavisk Fauna' 

 (plate 5); Lindblad, 'Svenska Jagareforbundets nya tidskrift,' vol. xi. 

 plate 4 (1873); Sundevall, ' Svenska Foglarna,' plate 34 ; and Lloyd, 

 ' Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Sweden and Norway ' (London, 

 1867), &P.' 



Distribution. 



The " Rype-Orre" has hitherto only been found in Northern and 

 North-eastern Europe, and is known from Norway, Sweden, and 

 Northern Russia. 



According to a report which I have just received from Dr. Pleske 

 (of St. Petersburg), these hybrids in Russia are not very unusual. 

 Most of them are obtained in the game market ; therefore no special 

 information can be given concerning the localities in which they were 

 procured. He believes that about eight specimens are at present 

 preserved in the Museum at St. Petersburg, most of which are 

 males in winter plumage. Dr. Mevcs, of Stockholm, informs me 

 that in 1872 he saw two specimens in winter plumage in the Museum 

 at Moscow, both luales ; whilst others, said to be females, were 

 only partial albinos of the female Tetrao tetrix. Dr. Kolthoff, of 

 Upsala, has also seen two male and one female Russian specimens. 



It is remarkable enough that as yet there is no proof of their 

 occurrence in Finland ; for Mela says, " It has not been recognized 



^ In the ' Zeitsclir. fiii- die gcsammte Ornitliologie,' 2 Jalirg. 1885, p. 47, 

 tab. iii. (Budapest, 1885), HerrHeiike has figured and treated of a specimen 

 from Archangel under tlie name of Tetrao alho-teirix hyhridus, fem. This 

 specimen is clearly only a partial albino of T. tetrix, fem. 



