TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE, ETC. 11 



The propriety of including this species in the fauna of Illinois, 

 is exceedin<2:ly doubtful. Mr. Kennicott gave it in his list of the 

 birds of Cook county, with the remark that it was "sometimes 

 found in the timber along Lake Michigan"; but Mr. Nelson 

 thinks that this note was based "'upon the capture of two 

 specimens, December, 1846, near Racine, [Wisconsin] as noted 

 by Dr. Hoy (Wis. Agr. Rep., 1852)." 



Genus TYMPANUCHUS Gloger. 



Tympanuchus Glogeb. Handb. Yog. Deutschl., 1842. Type, Tetrao cupUf.o Linn. 

 Cupidonia Keich. Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, p. xxix. Same type. 



Gen. Chab. Tail of eighteen feathers, short, half the length of wings; the feathers 

 stiffened and more or less graduated. Bare inflatable air-sac of the nock concealed by a 

 tuft of long, stiff, lanceolate feathers ; an inconspicuous crest on the vertex. Tarsi feathered 

 only to near the base, the lower joint scutellate. Culmen between the nasal fossae scarcely 

 one third the whole length. 



The genus, so far as know^n, is entirely peculiar to North 

 America, where, there are three species, all confined to the eastern 

 water-shed of the United States. The two occurring west of the 

 Alleghanies may be distinguished as follows: 



Common Chaeactebs. Ground-color above yellowish brown, tinged with grayish and 

 reddish; beneath white; whole upper and lower parts variegated with transverse bands,— 

 those beneath regular, broad, sharply defined, and plain grayish brown, or dusky, those 

 above more broken, broader, and deep black. Head buff, with a broad vertical stripe, a 

 broad one beneath the eye from bill to ears, and a patch on lower side of auriculars, brown- 

 ish black. 



T. americanus. Tarsi clothed with long hair-like feathers, the bare posterior face 

 entirely hidden. Dark bars above, .30 or more in width, deep black: those beneath, about 

 .20 wide, and dark brown. Top of head nearly uniformly blackish; face-stripes dusky- 

 black. Bill, .40 deep, .50 Ions; wing, 9.00. Hab. Prairies of the Mississippi Valley ; south 

 to Louisiana and eastern Texas. 



T. pallidicinctus. Tarsi clothed with short feathers, the bare posterior face conspicu- 

 ously exposed. Dark bars above less than .20 in width, dark grayish brown; those beneath 

 about .10 wide, and pale grayish brown. Top of head with only a slight spotting of black- 

 ish; face-markings reddish brown. Bill, .35 deep, .55 long, from nostril; wing, 8.30. Bab. 

 Southwestetn prairies (middle and western Texas, etc.). 



Tympanuchus americanus (Reich.) 



PRAIEIE HEN. 

 Popular synonyms. Prairie Chicken; Chicken (in prairie districts); Pinnated Grouse. 

 Tetrao ciipido Wixs. Am. Orn. iii, 1811, 104, pi. 27 {nee LiNN.)— Nutt. Man. i, 1832, 6b'2.— 



AuD. Orn. Biog. ii. 1834, 490; v. 18.39, 559. pi. 18C; Synop. 18:39, 204; B. Am. v. 1842, 23. pi. 



296. 



Cupidonia cupido Baibd, B. N. Am. 18:58, 628; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 464.— CouES, Key. 

 1872. 234; Check List. 1874, No. 384; 2d ed. 1882, No. 563; B. N. W. 1874. 419.-B. B. & R. 

 Hist. N. Am. B. iii, 1874, 44n. pi. 61, figs. 1. 7.— Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 477. 

 Cupidonia americanus Reich. Syst. Av. 1852, p. xxix. 

 Tympanuchus americanus Ridgw. Auk, Jan. 1886. 133; Man. N. Am. B. 18s7. 203.— A. O. 

 U. Check LiBt. 1886. No. 305. 

 Cujndonia pinnata Bbewsteb, Auk, ii, Jan. 1885, 82. 



