1905.] HYBRIDS AMONG NORWEGIAN BIRDS. 15 



similar to the bird from Rånen 1 , and like it had a large, 

 clearly-defined patch on the breast with a green metallic lustre. 

 The Swedish specimen had a similar, but smaller patch on the 

 breast, each feather being edged with white. The two other 

 Finnish specimens are darker, and have the greater part of the 

 breast and the front of the neck mottled with black and white, 

 the same variation that often occurs in the male of the 

 other hybrid, the Rype-Orre. 



The parentage is unknown; but the almost perfect simi- 

 larity in the markings and distribution of colour between the 

 two nearly-allied hybrids, the Rype-Tiur, and the Rype-orre, 

 makes it probable that also in the case of the first-named hybrid 

 the father has been L. lagopus. 



Like the Rype-Orre, the male Rype-Tiur has inherited from 

 its presumptive father (L. lagopus) the predominating white 

 colour (in the winter plumage) of the under surface of the body ; 

 in the shape and colour of the bill and claws, and in the 

 hind toe, it also resembles that bird. 



From the presumptive mother, T. urogallus, fem., the male 

 Rype-Tiur has inherited the hue of the patch on the breast, and 

 the pectinated scales on the last toe-joint. The markings on 

 the upper surface too (of the male) have come more immediately 

 from the colour of the corresponding parts in the capercaillie, 

 the male form of the presumptive mother. 



According to Dr. Grieg, the measurements of the specimen 

 from Rånen (1889) were as follows: 



Total length . . 610 mm 



Length of wing 290 mm 



Greatest length of tail 185 mm 



Length of outermost pair of tail-feathers 170 r 



mm 



1 I have received from Dr. de la Chapelle (Helsingfors) two photographs 

 of this specimen, and find that the only marked difference between 

 the two hirds is the colour of the chin, which in the Finnish bird is 

 quite white (as is also the throat), and in the Norwegian black. The 

 difference is unimportant, and recurs in the very same way in other- 

 wise uniformly-coloured males of another hybrid, the Rype-Orre. 



