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Genus TETRAOGALLUS. 



Tetrao apud Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-As. ii. p. 76 (1811). 



Lophophorus apud Jardine & Selby, 111. Orn. ii. p. 76 (1829). 



Tetraogallus, J. E. Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. ii. pi. 46 (1833-34). 



Perdix apud Fischer de Waldheim, N. Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc. iv. p. 240 (1835). 



Chourtka apud Motchoulski, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc. i. p. 95 (1839), 



Megaloperdix apud Brandt, Bull. Phys.-Mat. Acad. St. Petersb. i. p. 278 (1843). 



Oreotetrax apud Cabanis in Ersch & Grub. Encycl. xxii. p. 144 (1848). 



Tee Snow-Partridges inhabit some of the mountain-ranges of the Paleearctic Region, only 

 penetrating into the Oriental Region on the southern side of the Himalaya range. There are 

 altogether five species known, two of which, Tetraogallus caucasicus and Tetraogallus caspms, 

 inhabit the Western Palaearctic Region, the other three being Tetraogallus altaicus, which 

 inhabits the Altai range, Tetraogallus himalayensis, which is found in the Himalayas, and 

 Tetraogallus tibetanus, in Thibet. Although allied to the Grouse in many respects, these birds 

 appear to differ from them in their habits to a large extent. They frequent desolate, rocky, 

 precipitous places at considerable elevations in the mountains above the limits of tree-growth, 

 where it appears almost impossible for them to obtain subsistence ; but they certainly procure a 

 sufficient supply of their food there, and subsist on roots of bulbous plants, grass-shoots, moss, 

 and scale-fern. They are very wild and difficult of approach ; and, owing to the almost inac- 

 cessible places they frequent, they are comparatively seldom obtained. Their call-note is said to 

 be a clear prolonged whistle ending with an abrupt jerk and also a loud cackle. They breed 

 amongst the precipices in the high mountains, their nest being a hollow in the ground scantily 

 lined with grasses and a few feathers ; their eggs, which are numerous, are dull ochreous- 

 clay with an oil-green tinge, spotted and blotched with dull dark red ; and the young are said to 

 be able to run about almost immediately they leave the shell. These birds are strictly mono- 

 gamous, and are said to be much attached to each other when paired ; and both the male and 

 female assist in taking charge of the young until they are able to forage for themselves. 



The type of the genus is Tetraogallus himalayensis; but as Tetraogallus caspius is con- 

 generic, I give its characters, as follows : — Bill rather strong, higher than broad at the base, the 

 culmen arched to the tip, which is rounded ; nostrils basal, large, covered by a membrane with a 

 semicircular opening ; an elongated bare space behind the eye ; wings moderate, pointed, the 

 second and third quills longest ; tail long, full, rounded ; legs strong ; tarsus rather short, stout, 

 covered in front with broad scales, and having behind a large, horny, spur-like lump ; hind toe 

 short ; anterior toes long, stout, scutellate ; claws strong, broad, rounded, slightly curved, 

 obtuse. 



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