WILLOW GROUSE. £17 



are shorter, oblong, oval, and flat (not concave) under- 

 neath. They are shed in July or August. 



The old male in summer dress. — Head, neck, breast, 

 and sides, red brown, sometimes chesnut, with black 

 spots, especially on the top of the head and back of 

 the neck, sometimes even with black transverse streaks 

 or wavy lines on the breast; under chin for the most 

 part black, with a white spot on each side. The eyelid 

 white, and sometimes a white spot over the nostrils. 

 Back, shoulders, over rump, upper tail coverts, and 

 the innermost wing feathers, as well as the middle 

 coverts, black, transversely speckled with rusty yellow 

 or red brown lines. The smaller wing coverts, most 

 of the wing feathers, belly, thighs, and legs, white; 

 the six first primaries with brown shafts. Tail feathers 

 — the fourteen black, with white edges on the tips, 

 which are broadest on the middle ones; the two feathers 

 which lie over them and their coverts speckled with 

 black and red brown. The under tail coverts red 

 brown, speckled with black, and marked with a streak 

 in front of the white edge at the end; tarsi in front 

 and toes on the inner half covered with , dirty white 

 hair -like feathers; tarsi behind and the front part of 

 the toes naked. 



Female in summer. — Head, neck, breast, and sides, 

 rusty yellow, with black spots or transverse streaks; 

 these are especially thick on the upper parts, so that 

 the head above and sometimes the back of neck 

 appears black, with rusty yellow spots. Back, shoul- 

 ders, upper tail coverts, and the two or four 

 middle tail feathers, black, and speckled with rusty 

 yellow or pale yellow transverse streaks; belly, wings, 

 tail, and legs as in the male; under tail coverts pure 

 white. 



