THE HYBRID GROUSE. 587 
I have satisfied myself that at the moment of its uttering this 
sound the bird is just as deaf, if not deafer, than its larger 
relative. 
My brother-in-law brought down a cock from a very low 
fir. I missed one after “ springing” it a long time, just as it 
flew off from the tree where it was drumming, in pursuit of a 
hen ; but luckily it soon began again on the top of a little 
rock, and there I laid it low. Beside it were standing two 
hens, of which I shall speak later on. Both the other cocks 
were silent after the shots. 
The two birds that were bagged suggest very interesting 
questions, for in many respects they do not agree with the 
hitherto well-known and often-described Tetrao medius, and 
it therefore seems advisable to preface the description of these 
new specimens with a few words about the established type of 
the Hybrid Cock. 
As lately as 1880 I myself wrote: “One speaks of the 
Hybrid Grouse as being of the Capercaillie or Blackgame 
type; but a good many specimens have already passed through 
my hands, some in the flesh, more in skins, and I am bound 
to say that I never found any essential differences between 
them, either in size or plumage, greater than those due to 
age, and which occur among all the other species of Wood- 
Grouse.” 
Among other remarks about the Hybrid Cock, in his ‘ Thier- 
leben, A. E. Brehm has the following:— What makes it 
especially remarkable is that the colour of the various indi- 
viduals is extremely uniform, that is in all essentials.” Then 
follows the description of the early well-known type of the 
bird. 
Of the old authorities I will quote Christian Ludwig Brehm, 
a highly esteemed ornithologist, and the father of our Brehm, 
and also Johann Andreas Naumann. The former gives an 
excellent description of Tetrao medius, from the rich material 
