110 
DR. J. KAE ON THE BIRDS AND MAMMALS 
food for the Indians living near the coast of Hudson’s Bay. These 
birds extend their breeding-grounds up to the Arctic shores of 
America, but as a rule do not extend their migrations to the 
large islands further north. 
Dr. Bell says : — “ The summer plumage of Tetrcio saliceti, the 
cock bird, is exactly the colour of the English cock pheasant 
with the exception of the wings, which have a good deal of 
white, and in winter the white of the living bird has a beautiful 
delicate rosy tint, which forms a considerable contrast with the 
surrounding snow.” * This description is somewhat misleading. 
The plumage of the cock willow-grouse in summer resembles as 
nearly as possible that of the Scottish grouse, with the exception 
that the primary feathers of the wings of the former are always 
white. The “ delicate rosy tint of the white plumage ” is rarely 
seen, and only in beautiful warm sunny winter or spring days, 
never on a cold winter day. In the spring, or pairing season, 
the call and peculiar habits of the Willow and Scottish cock 
G-rouse exactly resemble each other. 
The Bock Grouse ( Tetrao rupestris) is so well marked by 
its smaller size, it3 more slender beak, and the black patch 
extending from the angle of its mouth to the eye in the male, 
that it cannot be mistaken for any other. 
A third species differs considerably from Tetrao saliceti and 
rupestris , being fully as large as the former, but the bill seems 
shorter, its feet smaller, and its call perfectly different from either 
of the others; it is also found further to the north. I saw a 
good many males (the hens were nesting) on Wollaston Land, 
lat. 69° N., in May and early June, and managed to shoot a few, 
although they were very wild, possibly with the intention of 
leading me away from the nest t- 
At Toronto, Lake Ontario, Canada, an island forms an excellent 
harbour. Along the outer side of this island an immense number 
of a small sandpiper, called “black heart” (the Dunlin, Tringa 
alpina pacified), pass northward every season on the 23rd April 
(St. George’s day) and are not seen on any other day, except, 
perhaps, some wounded ones on the 24th that caunot continue 
* See “ Notes on Birds of Hudson’s Bay ” by Robert Bell, M.D. Proceedings 
of the Royal Society of Canada for 18S2, vol. i. p. 49. — J. R. 
t There is, I think, a specimen of this bird in the Natural History Museum 
at South Kensington called Tetrao mutus, but certain distinguished naturalists 
do not believe in it. I brought one or two specimens from the Arctic regions 
in 1847, which were presented to the British Museum. — J. R. 
