tetraonidye. 361 



irregularly barred and mottled in nearly equal quantities ; but the dark colour forming larger 

 blotches towards the base, and the lighter one bars on the tips and stripes on the shafts. Fore 

 part of the belly white, barred with black ; hinder parts black. The plumage of the breast 

 and neck is of the ordinary form, there being neither the scale-like feathers nor projecting 

 shafts of the male. 



Dimensions 

 Of mounted specimens. 





Male* 



Female. 





Male. 



Female. 





Inch. Lin. 



Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 



Inch. Lin 



Length, total 



. 31 6 



22 



6 



Length of tarsus . , . 



. 2 



7 





„ of tail 



11 7 



8 







,, of middle toe and claw 



2 



4 





,, of wing 



. 13 



10 



6 



,, of outer ditto 



. 1 



H 





„ of bill above 



. 1 7 



1 



4 



„ of inner ditto 



1 



5 





„ of bill to rictus 



• 1 3| 



I 



3 



,, of hind ditto 



. 



8* 



— Sw. 



[131.] 10. Tetrao (Centrocercus) phasianellus. (Swains.) Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse. 



Genus, Tetrao, Linn. Sub-genus, Centrocercus, Swains. 



Long-tailed Grouse {Urogallus minor). Edwards, Hi., pi. 117 ; a poor figure. 



Tetrao phasianellus. Linn. Syst., p. 160. Forster, Phil. Trans., lxii., pp. 394, 425. 



Sharp-tailed Grous. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 306, No. 181. Hearne, Journ., p. 408. 



Tetrao phasianellus. Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. 680. Bonap. Orn., Hi., p. 37, pi. 19. 



Tetrao urophasianellus. Dougl., Linn. Trans., xvi., p. 136; young. f 



Awkiscow, Cree Indians. Pheasant, Hudson's Bay Residents. 



The northern limit of the range of the Sharp-tailed Grouse is Great Slave 

 Lake, in the sixty-first parallel; and its most southern recorded station is in 

 latitude 41°, on the Missouri. It abounds on the outskirts of the Saskatchewan 

 plains, and is found throughout the woody districts of the fur-countries, haunting 

 open glades or low thickets on the borders of lakes, particularly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the trading-posts, where the forests have been partially cleared. 

 In winter it perches generally on trees, in summer it is much on the ground ; in 

 both seasons assembling in coveys of from ten to sixteen. Early in spring, a 

 family of these birds select a level spot, whereon they meet every morning, and 

 run round in a circle of fifteen or twenty feet diameter, so that the grass is worn 

 quite bare^. When any one approaches the circle, the birds squat close to the 



* This skin, though originally very perfect, has been so much distorted, that it is impossible to ascertain from it the 

 true form and size. As far as we can judge, the length of the bird when alive seems to have been 25 inches. — Sw. 



■f On examination, Mr. Douglas's specimens in the Edinburgh Museum appeared to me to be merely the young of 

 the Sharp-tailed Grouse, with ferruginous plumage. — R. 



I These circles resemble the " fairy rings " of the Scottish moor6. — R. 



3 A 



