LAGOPUS LEUCUKUS, WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. 



425 



my neighbors said, 'Your Partridge has been drumming.' I put an old 

 stump in the box of my captive and it had the desired results, for the 

 next morning it was drumming loudly. I observed its motions when 

 drumming, through a hole in the box, and I am confident that tiie noise 

 was caused by the wings coming forcibly in contact with each other. 

 Let any person taiie the wings of a dead Grouse in his hands and beat 

 them quickly together over the bird's back, and they will see at once 

 that the peculiar sounds made by the Ruffed Grouse, and called drum- 

 ming, is naturally produced. The 'young-of-the-year' of the male 

 Grouse drum in the autumn more frequently than the adult males, as I 

 have ascertained by shooting them when in the act. I have found great 

 difficulty in stalking the Grouse at their drumming-posts, and have 

 often failed in my attempts to do it. The male birds fight hard battles 

 in the spring, and I once caught an old cock by the legs in a snare that 

 had its head cut and bruised very badly, and portions of its neck almost 

 destitute of feathers, the effects of fighting." 



I have myself never witnessed the act; but my i^resent view is, that 

 the noise is made by beating the air simply — not by striking the wings 

 either together or against the body, or any hard object. 



B0NA8A UMBELLUS var. UMBELLOIDES, (Dougl.) Bd. 



tiray Enffed Gfrouse. 



(For synonymy and habitat of this variety, see preceding article.) 

 List of ■■ip<.cime]is. 



19170 

 19171 

 19172 

 19374 



Grosv. Fork . . . 



do 



, do 



Pry or's Fork . . . 



June 2,1860 

 June 2,1860 

 June 3,1860 

 June 19, 1860 



F.V. Hayden. 



do 



do 



G. H. Trook.. 



17.75 

 16.00 

 16.50 

 17.00 



21.00 

 21.25 

 20.00 

 23.00 



5.00 

 7.00 

 7.00 



Not obtained by Lieutenant Warren's Exi^edition. 



Later Expeditions. — 60823-5, Uintah Mountains ; 62353-7, Idaho and Wyoming. 



The preceding article presents the synonymy of this variety in con- 

 nection with that of the typical umhellus and of the Pacific Province 

 var. sahinii. Its varietal character lies chiefly in the prevalence of slate- 

 gray color ; it is one extreme (of paleness), of which the reddish-brown 

 var. sabinii is the other. This bird has only been noted from the Eocky 

 Mountain region, and occurs about the sources of the Missouri and some 

 of its principal tributaries. Mr. 0. H. Merriam found it in Idaho and 

 Wyoming, and states that, although not abuindant, it was found through- 

 out the pine forests from T6ton Canon to the Yellowstone. As already 

 noticed, all the British- American Buffed Grouse, excepting those of var. 

 sabinii, are grayer than the ordinary bird of the United States, more or 

 less nearly approaching var. umbelloides. Its habits are, beyond doubt, 

 substantially the same as those of the common bird. 



LAG0PU8 LBUCUEUS, Sw. 



White-tailed Ptarmigan. 



Tetrao (Lagopus) leucwrus, Sw. & Rich., P. B. A. ii, 1831, 356, pi. 63.— Nhtt., Man. ii, 

 1834, 612 ; 2d ed. 1840, 820.— AuD., Orn. Biog. v, 1839, 200, pi. 418. 



Lagopus leucurus, Km>., Syn. 1839, 208 ; B. Am. v, 1842, 125, pi. 302.— Be, B. N. A. 1858, 

 636.— CouES, Pr. A. N. S. Phila. 1866, 94 (Canton Burgwyn, N. M., latitude 

 37").— Elliot,^ Mon. Tdraonida, pi. — .— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 542.— Allen, 

 Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 164 (common in mountains of Colorado, above timber- 



