1905.] HYBRIDS AMONG NORWEGIAN BIRDS. 9 



dozen specimens ; occasionally three or four would be brought 

 in in one day. 



Of this large number, which, in the course of the last few 

 years, may have exceeded 100, the females constitute scarcely 

 more than one sixth (or less). It is on the whole probable that 

 the males are greatly in the majority in the hybrid coveys. 



Size. In the case of the greater number of full-grown males 

 that I have examined in the course of the last few years in 

 the flesh, the total length has averaged about 720 mm , the 

 length of the wings about 319 mm , the tail about 210 mm . In 

 none of the specimens measured has the total length exceeded 

 735 mm , or been less than 690 mm K 



Of 15 females examined during the years 1879 to 1895, 

 the total length averaged about 530 ram , the length of the vving 

 about 253 mm , and that of the tail about 134 mm . Some specimens 

 have been larger, and have had a total length of from 540 to 

 550 mm , one being even 560 mm (length of whig 263 mm , that of 

 tail 155 mm ). In three small specimens the total length was 

 504 mm , 510 mm and 510 mm . 



Habits. Young in down of the Rakkel-bird, or young birds, 

 in their first, entirely brown period, have not up to the present been 

 examined in Norway. 



The hybrid covey appears to keep together during the first 

 winter, or until they are scattered by molestation; and whole 

 coveys, consisting solely of male birds, have repeatedly been 

 observed. For the rest, most of the individuals regarding which 

 observations have been made, appear to have been in company 

 with black-game (L. tetrix). 



Both the male and the female are eager to mate. The 

 male presents himself in the breeding-haunts of both T. urogallus 



In „Nyt Mag. f. Naturv.", B. 35, p. 157 (Christiania, 1894), a male 

 specimen caught in Odalen on the 18^ October, 18S4, is stated to 

 have had a total length af 775 mm . This is a misprint. and should be 



725^111, 



