12 R. COLLETT. [No. 11. 



Male (winter plumage). Markings nearly resemble those of the 

 hasel-grouse (T. bonasia. mas.), but the colour is darker, reddish 

 brown being almost entirely absent, and replaced by brownish black. 



The upper surface finely mottled with black and grey ; the under 

 surface brownish black with broad white margins to the feathers (less 

 pronounced on the patch on the breast). The throat black, bounded below 

 and at the sides by a band of white. A white patch behind the eye; 

 molar region brownish black. Tail-feathers chiefty black, with exceedingly 

 narrow white margin; central pair the colour of the back. The wing- 

 feathers not white at their bases. 



First specimen 1876. This hybrid form was first men- 

 tioned in 1876, when Mr. Dresser exhibited before the Zoologi- 

 cal Society in London 1 a specimen that had been bought at a 

 game-dealer's in London on the 6 th March in the same year, 

 and which was stated to have come from Norway. No further 

 description of this bird, which was a fully coloured male, was 

 then given, nor indeed until 1877, when the same specimen was 

 described and figured by Dr. Meyer in the large illustrated 

 work „Unser Auer-, Rackel- und Birkwild, und seine Abarten" 

 (p. 91, pl. XVI. Wien, 1887). 



One specimen in 1903. I found a young specimen of 

 this hybrid at a game-dealer's in Christiania, where it had 

 been received among a number of black-game; it had been 

 caught in Rånen (Nordland) about the 13 th January, 1903. 



This specimen, a male, is preserved in the Christiania 

 Museum. 



Total length (male) 495 r 



Length of wing (from carpus) . : 216 c 



Outermost tail-feathers 150 mm 



Centre tail-feathers 120 mm 



The new specimen from Rånen resembles in all the prin- 

 cipal details the specimen first described in 1876; and its 

 plumage may possibly be considered the normal winter plumage 

 of the male in Norway. 



Concerning the parentage of the two specimens, I can only 

 put forward the assumption (drawn by analogy from other 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1876, p. 3i5. 



Jmm 



