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 tetrix. — 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 Tetrao tetrix, 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 scotic7is\md been introduced in 1861 

 and 1862 (OEfv. 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 

 tetrix, 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 hues, whilst in Lagopus albus 

 each feather has reddish-brown spots and cross lines on a black 



