TETRAONIDiE, GROUSE, PARTRIDGES. — GEN. 182, 183. 



23.5 



« <^ ti 182. Genus BONASA Stephens. 



Ruffed Grouse. ParLridge; New England and Middle States. Pheasant; 

 Southern States. Sides of the neck witli a tuft of numerous (15-30), 

 broad, soft, glossy-black feathers; head with a fnll soft crest; tail about as 

 long as the wings, amply rounded, of (normally) eighteen soft broad 

 feathers ; tarsi naked below. Length 

 16-18 ; wing 7-8. Sexes nearly 

 alike ; variegated reddish- or gray- 

 isli-brown, the back with numerous, 

 oblong, pale, black-edged spots ; 

 below, whitish barred with brown ; 

 tail with a broad subtermiual black 

 zone, and tipped with gray. A 

 woodland bird, like the species of 

 Tetrao, abundantly distributed over 

 Eastern North America, well known 

 under the above names in ditferent sections ; but it is neither a partridge nor 

 a pheasant. The "drumming" sound for which this bird is noted, is not 

 vocal, as some suppose, but is produced by rapidly beating the wings 

 together, or against some hard object, as a fallen log. WiLS., vi, 46, pi. 

 49; NuTT., i, 657; Aud., v, pi. 293, 72; Bd., 630. . . . umbellus. 



C^ Var. UMBELLOiDES. Pale ; slatj'-gray the prevailing shade. Rocky Mountain 



region. Douglas, Linn. Trans, svi, 1829, 148; Bd., 925. 

 X, Var. SABiNEi. Dark ; chestnut-brown the prevailing shade. Pacific Coast 



region. Douglas, ibid. 137 ; Bd., 631 ; Coop., 540. 



/ 



Fig. 149. lUiffed Grouse. 



183. Genus LAGOPUS Vieillot. 



*** No peculiar featliers on neck ; tarsi and toes densely feathered ; tail short, 

 little rounded, normally of 14 broad feathers, with long upper coverts, some of 

 which resemble rectrices. Boreal and alpine grouse, shaped nearly as in Canace, 

 remarkable for the seasonal changes of plumage, becoming in winter snow-white. 

 There are onlj^ five or six species, at most, and probably fewer ; we certainly 

 have the three here given. 



■ - Willoiv Ptarmigan. Tail black ; no black stripe on head ; bill very 

 stout, culmen f , or more, its depth at base as much as the distance from 

 nasal fossa to tip. In summer, the fore parts rich chestnut or orange-brown, 

 variegated with blackish, the upper parts and sides barred with blackish, 

 tawny and white ; most other parts white. 15-17 ; wing 8 ; tail 5. British 

 America, into northernmost U. S. Nutt., i, 674; Aud., v, 114, pi. 299; 

 Bd., 633. L. saJceti Sw. and Rich., Fn. Bor.-Am. ii, 351. . . albus. 



' / PocJc Ptarmigan. Tail black ; <? with a black transocular stripe ; bill 

 slenderer, culmen about |, depth at base less than distance from nasal fossa 

 to tip. In summer, the general plumage irregularly banded with black, 

 reddish-yellow, and white. Rather smaller than the foregoing. Arctic 



