184 



eye a tolerably large warty red comb; bill blackish horn; iris brown. Total length about 15 inches, 

 culmen O88, from the nostril to the tip of the bill 0-47, wing 8 - l, tail 5-1, tarsus Y7. 



Adult Male in summer. Differs from the above in having all the upper parts, except the wings, unmixed 

 with white, no white feathers in the tail ; the under tail-coverts like the upper tail-coverts, and only 

 the centre of the abdomen white. A specimen shot in Norrland as late as the 16th September has 

 still retained the full plumage, and merely has the white area on the underparts rather more extended. 



Adult Female in summer. Differs from the male in being smaller in size, and in having the neck and 

 breast duller in colour, and barred with blackish ; and the chin is yellowish, not blackish red. Culmen 

 0-88, from the nostril to the tip of the bill - 45, wing 7 - 4, tail 4 - 6, tarsus l - 65. 



Winter plumage. Pure white, excepting the tail, which is black, broadly tipped with white ; legs and feet 

 covered with long hair-like feathers, the growth of which at this season of the year is very close and 

 long, and the claws are longer than in the summer. 



Obs. In the autumn plumage they differ from the summer dress in having more white on the underparts 

 and in having the red portion of the plumage duller and more worn in appearance. An old female shot 

 in August is still nearly in full summer dress, but has the underparts whiter than in examples obtained 

 in June and July. From this dress they gradually pass into the full white winter dress. 



The Willow-Grouse has a most extensive range, being found throughout the northern portions 

 of both the Palsearctic and Nearctic regions. It does not occur in Great Britain, being there 

 replaced by a closely allied species (Lagopus scoticus) ; but in Scandinavia it is extremely 

 common. Mr. Collett writes that " it breeds numerously in the birch-region in all the fell- 

 districts, and in the coast region from Stavanger up to the Russian frontier; but in the low- 

 lands eastward of Christiania it is entirely wanting." It is probably most abundant on certain 

 of the flat islands (distinguished by a vigorous birch-growth) lying to the north of the Polar 

 circle, especially in Lofoten and along the coast of Nordland and Tromso Amts. The islands 

 best known in this respect are those of Hasselo, in Lofoten, and Carlso, north of Tromso, a very 

 considerable number of this species being annually killed there, and apparently without affecting 

 their numbers. 



"On the 14th June the males were to be seen on the 'Spil' in all directions among the 

 bushes of Hasselo. On Tromsoen this bird may be said to be almost domesticated ; it nests in 

 the gardens of the inhabitants and in the grounds of the neighbouring villas, in no wise disturbed 

 by the daily avocations going on around. By the 21st July the young birds had attained the 

 size of a Hazel-hen. 



" Otherwise this species is pretty evenly distributed throughout the whole of Finmark, in 

 every spot where birch or willow growth is to be found. In the extreme north — every vestige 

 of tree vegetation having vanished — its absence is supplied by L. alpinus (L. mutus). Perhaps 

 nearly half a million individuals of both species are annually shot and snared in Norway, three 

 fourths of the number belonging to the present species." 



In Sweden, according to Professor Sundevall, " it is found from the extreme north down to 

 about Silja in Dalecarlia, and in the northern portion of Wermland down to the neighbourhood 

 of the fells, and somewhat below that ; but it only occurs accidentally in the southern portions 



