GROUS. 231 



Gallus Screator, Act. R. Ac. Sc. Siiec. v. 181. 



Lagopus hybridus, Klein, Stem. 25. t. 28. f. a. b. c. Id. Ov. 33. f. 2. 

 Bastard Waldhuhn, Beckst. Deut. iii. 497. Id. Ed. 2d, iii. p. 1335. 

 Rakhelhanar, Schw. Abh. 6. Bande, s. 173. Vog. Kurl. s. 69. 145. 

 Spurious Grous, Arct. Zool. ii. 314. B. Id. Sup. 62. Gen. Syn. iv. 734. Var. A. 

 Id. Sup. 214. 



SIZE of the Female Wood Grous, and varies greatly in colour, 

 scarcely two being found alike. That figured in the Carlsonian 

 JMuseum is in general black, with the carunculated crimson skin 

 above the eye, and a white trace beneath it ; back and wings finely 

 mottled with brown and tawny ; at the inner bend of the wing a 

 white large spot ; tail black, having a less forked appearance than 

 in the Black Grous, but the exterior feathers somewhat turned out- 

 ward ; tail coverts fringed with white ; vent and under tail coverts 

 white, spotted with black ; thighs and legs mottled tawny brown ; 

 toes pectinated, brown. 



This bird is supposed to be produced between the Female Wood, 

 and the Male Black, Grous, varying greatly in colour, so that no two 

 are found alike ; is a remarkably stupid bird. Its note resembles 

 most that of the Wood Grous, but more loud and harsh, and every 

 way more disagreeable. Dr. Sparrman adds, that the birds hitherto 

 met with, whether associating with males or females, are always 

 of the male sex ; and that such birds are not uncommon in the 

 woods of Sweden and Finland. 



I was informed by the late Mr. Tun stall, that according to the 

 account of some old Scotch gentleman, both the Wood Grous and 

 the Hybrid Grous, were extant in Scotland, in their memory ; and 

 M. Temminck esteems the latter as a distinct species ; yet by many 

 authors it is thought to be a spurious sort, springing from a mix- 

 tare of Black and Wood Grous. Linnaeus is of this latter opinion, 

 in his Fauna Suecica ; and omits the mention of it in all the editions 

 of his Sy sterna, beyond the sixth, where it is called Rackelhane. 



It may not be improper to add in this place the Hybrid Pheasant, 

 of the Naturalist's Calendar, p. 65, pi. opposite. This is said to 



