342 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



3. 



Aberrant group. 



' Tail forked and lyre-shaped Lyrurus, Sw. 



Tail cuneated ; wings long, pointed; hind toe 1 



,, „ /Syrrhaptes, 111. 



very small or none J 



. Tail cuneated, scansorial ; wings very short . . Centrocercus, Sw. 



As the typical sub-genus, in perfect groups, always contains species repre- 

 senting higher assemblages, we consider the Ruffed Grouse in that light ; while 

 the birds composing the genus Pterocles of M. Temminck appear to us no other 

 than aberrant species of Syrrhaptes* . This latter group obviously represents the 

 Quails (Coturnix) (which belong to the true Partridges), and the genus Ortygis, 

 111., of the sandy deserts of the Old World. — Sw. 



[122.] 1. Tetrao umbellus. (Linn.) Ruffed Grouse. 



Genus, Tetrao, Linn. Swains. Typical group, 1, Swains. 



Ruffed Heathcock. Edwards, pi. 248; young or female. 



Tetrao umbellus et togatus. Linn. Syst., Ed. x. Fobst. Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 393. 



Ruffed Grous. Penn. Arct. Zool, ii., p. 301, No. 179. Wils., vi., p. 45, pi. 49. 



Tetrao umbellus. Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. 679- Bona?. Syii., No. 205. 



Puspusquew, Crees. White Flesher and Pheasant, Anglo-Americans. 



This very handsome Grouse exists as far north as the fifty-sixth parallel, and, 

 according to the American naturalists, ranges southwards to the Gulf of Mexicof. 

 It is very plentiful on the banks of the Saskatchewan, where it frequents the 

 horse-paths and cleared spaces about the forts. In winter, when the ground is 

 covered with snow, it perches, in flocks of ten or twelve, on trees ; but in summer 

 it passes most of its time on the ground. A flock may be approached without 

 difficulty ; and several birds may be successively shot from the same tree, without 

 exciting alarm in the survivors, provided the lowest are marked off first. When 

 once disturbed, they fly, like most of the Grouse, with a loud whirring sound, 



* There can be no doubt regarding the analogical relations of Lyrurus tetrix, Sw., (the European Black Cock,) and 

 the Centrocercus urophasianus, Sw., subsequently described ; but we feel considerable doubt on the value of these 

 types. This uncertainty always attends the investigation of imperfect groups. Syrrhaptes, however, is clearly a 

 tenuirostral type ; and, therefore, either Lyrurus and Centrocercus are the fissirostral and scansorial sub-genera, or 

 they are the first modifications of form representing those groups in the sub-genus Tetrao. In the latter case, there 

 would consequently be two sub-genera undiscovered : a supposition we cannot at present entertain. — Sw. 



f Mr. Drummond procured specimens on the sources of the Peace River, in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, 

 which do not differ from those killed on the Saskatchewan. Mr. Douglas, however, found a variety at the same place, 

 which was a third smaller, had greyer plumage and a shorter ruffle. Further observations, he thinks, may prove it 

 to be a distinct species, which he proposes to designate Tetrao umbelloides. — Linn. Trans., xvi., p. 148. 



