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many ornithologists as being an accidental variety of Bonasa betulina, but inasmuch as more 

 than thirty specimens have been obtained, this cannot be the case, and it must be treated as a 

 valid species. It is readily distinguishable from B. betulina not only by its dark coloration, but 

 in lacking all the white markings on the sides of the neck, round the black patch on the throat, 

 and on the scapulars and wing-coverts, and the markings and general colour of the underparts 

 are very different. Nothing appears to have been recorded by the Russian ornithologists 

 regarding its habits or nidification, but it does not, in all probability, differ from B. betulina 

 in these respects. 



When the article in the ' Birds of Europe ' on Bonasa betulina was written, twenty-five 

 years ago, 1 had but a meagre series of specimens available for comparison, and was unable to 

 say whether the Asiatic bird differed from that found in Europe. Since then, however, I have 

 examined specimens from Siberia, Manchuria, and Japan, and have added largely to the series in 

 my own collection, and am able to say that the Hazel-Grouse from Siberia, Manchuria, and 

 Japan does not differ in any respect from the Scandinavian bird, and I understand, also, that 

 there is no difference in specimens from Kamtschatka. I have received specimens from 

 Professor Menzbier, of Moscow, obtained in Russia, and labelled Tetrastes canescens, which 

 are merely very fully adult examples, and do not in the least differ from old birds obtained 

 in Sweden. 1 cannot find where he has described the bird under that name, and the earliest 

 reference to it that I have been able to unearth is in his Orn. Geogr. of European Russia (in 

 Russian), p. 180 (1882), where the name is given without any description. On the other hand, 

 the Hazel-Grouse from Germany and Southern Europe is invariably distinguishable from the 

 Scandinavian bird in being much more rufous and less grey in tone of colour, but I agree with 

 my friend Mr. Ogilvie Grant in not according specific rank to this form. An adult male from 

 near Coblentz, on the Rhine, as compared with a male from Sweden, has the upper parts 

 generally rufous, barred with black, not grey as in the Swedish bird, and the feathers on the 

 upper breast and flanks are bright rufous, almost light fox-red, tipped with white, and slightly 

 marked with black, but otherwise the general pattern of the plumage is the same as in the 

 Scandinavian bird. 



The specimens figured and described are a pair lent to me for that purpose by my friend 

 the late Mr. Henry Seebohm, whose collection has been bequeathed by him to the British 

 Museum. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — > 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser, 

 a, 3 ad. Olonetz, N. Russia, September 1890 {Prof. Menzbier). 



E Mus. H. Seebohm. 

 a ; 8 > b, 5" . Tscherdyn, Perm Gov., October {Menzbier). 



E Mus. Bothsehild. 

 a, J . Olonetz, September {Lorenz). 



