1886.] MR. R. COLLETT ON HYBRID GROUSE. 235 



supporting the theory, if it had only been clearly jiroved, as probably 

 the young hybrids continue to follow their mother for long. 



I again remark that for the theory of parentage here advanced 

 there is indeed no positive proof, and that it is an hypothesis 

 which may be wrong, but that it appears to me to have at least as 

 much reason in it as the older one (which is also without proof) of 

 the descent from the male Blackcock. On the whole it is remarkable 

 enough that up to the present not one direct observation has been 

 made (such as an observation of the two species in copula in their 

 wild state, or of the two species pairing in captivity). That such 

 observations will not be wanting hereafter, is a matter of course. 



I have just received a fresh contribution to this question in a letter 

 from Dr. Pleske, dated St. Petersburg, 16th March, 1886, in which 

 he directs my attention to a communication from Mr. A. Rasin in 

 ' Journal fiir Jagd und Pferdezucht ' (' Journal Ochoty i Konnosa- 

 wodstwa), 1869, pp. 340-341, with the title " Eine Sundenfall des 

 Schneehuhnes." From this it would appear to be proved that the 

 Tetrao tetrix is the father, Lagopus alius the mother. This report, 

 the original of which I cannot peruse, is referred to in the following 

 terms by Dr. Pleske : — 



" Im Kreise Nowgorod, auf dem sogenannten Konewschen Moos- 

 moraste, wurde eine Kette Hiihner gefunden, die von einem $ des 

 Lagopus albus, welches erlegt wurde, gefiihrt wurde. Von den zwei 

 erbeuteten Jungen hatte beide einen vollstandigen Habitus junger 

 Birkliiihner, waren auch grosser als die Mutter, und unterschieden 

 sich von echten Birkhiibnern nur dadurch, dass beim einen 4 Steuer- 

 federn und zwei Schwungfedern des rechten Pliigels M-eiss waren, 

 beim anderen der linke Fliigel vollstiindig wie bei Lagopms alius 

 gezeichnet war, nicht allein in Betriff der weisscn Schwungfedern, 

 sondern auch der rostrothen Deckfedern." If the original commu- 

 nication gives no further information upon the subject than the 

 words cited above, no proof is given, in my opinion, that these two 

 specimens were really hybrids. 



In the first place there is no description of the covering of the toes, 

 which is the only feature in its diagnosis that is reliable at every age 

 and in every plumage ; and, secondly, the true Rype-Orre has never, 

 so far as I am aware, been known to have white feathers in the wing 

 (even the young Lagopus alius, before they assume their autumn 

 dress, have brown wing-feathers), and it is still less likely to have them 

 on the tail. The fact that the two young s{iecimens were not even 

 similarly coloured, speaks also for the probability of their being only 

 partial albinos of T. tetrix, which in so many instances have been 

 and still are taken for the Rype-Orre. 



It may be open to question whether, upon the whole, it is necessary 

 to designate a hybrid by a scientific appellation, even if, like those 

 of the Tetraonidsp, it arises spontaneously, and, as it were, normally. 

 The "Rakkelfugl" has, as is known, received from Nilsson the name 

 Tetrao vrogalloicles {\S'2S) or urogallides (1835), which was altered 

 by Sundevall to Tetrao urogallo-tetricides (186-7), and by me to 

 Tetrao urogallo-tetrix (1872). In accordance with this, as I have 



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