Mar., 192! | 59 
THE SITKAN RACE OF THE DUSKY GROUSE 
By H. S. SWARTH 
(Contribution from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California) 
HE DUSKY GROUSE of southeastern Alaska has heretofore passed unde” 
the name of Dendragapus obscurus fuliginosus( Ridgeway ), but examination 
of adequate material shows it to be sufficiently different from that subspe- 
cies to merit a separate appellation. The distinctive characters of the race have 
been noted before. Grinnell (Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 5, 1909, p. 204) re- 
marks upon the ‘‘rieh hazel’’ coloration of the female Alaskan grouse as ‘‘the 
extreme manifestation of fuliginosus characters’’. The present writer, com- 
paring a series of grouse from Vancouver Island with others from Alaska, com- 
ments upon certain ‘‘conspicuous differences of coloration’’ (Swarth, Univ 
Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 10, 1912, p. 21). Recent study of additional material 
from the northwest confirms the existence of these differences, emphasizing 
the desirability of affixing a name to the race from southeastern Alaska. 
There is no material available from the type locality of Dendragapus obscu- 
rus fuliginosus, ‘‘Cascade Mountains, at foot of Mt. Hood, Oregon’’ (A. O. U. 
Checek-List, 1910, p. 138), but birds from Vancouver Island have been assumed to 
be representative of that subspecies. There are in this Museum seventeen skins 
of Dendragapus obscurus fuliginosus from Vaneouver Island. There are also 
seven skins from the mountains of northwestern California that are to be referred 
to fuliginosus. Of the Alaskan subspecies there are twenty-eight specimens avail- 
able. 
Dendragapus obscurus sitkensis, new subspecies 
Sitka Grouse 3 
Type.—Female adult; no. 9788, Mus. Vert. Zool.; Kupreanof Island, 25 miles south 
of Kake Village, at southern end of Keku Straits, southeastern Alaska; April 29, 1909: 
collected by H. S. Swarth; original no. 7267. 
Diagnosis.—Most nearly like Dendragapus obscurus fuliginosus. Adult male not 
appreciably different from the male of D. o. fuliginosus. Adult female and immature of 
both sexes, as compared with those of fuliginosus, much more reddish in general color- 
ation. This color feature affects practically all the plumage except some limited areas, 
as the slaty-colored abdominal tract, the chin and throat, and the unmarked and gen- 
erally concealed portions of the remiges and rectrices. The predominant color dorsally 
is close to pecan brown (Ridgway, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, 1912, pl. 
28). Individual feathers are barred with black and brown, and are brown tipped. On 
head and neck brown predominates, the narrow black bands being almost entirely hid- 
den. Upper tail coverts and central rectrices are conspicuously of this reddish brown 
color. Breast and sides are mostly pecan brown and black. There are conspicuous 
white spots on sides of breast and flanks. Tarsus brown. 
Female fuliginosus, in comparison, is colored as follows: The upper parts are a 
duller brown with a great deal of black showing through and with the brown everywhere 
sprinkled with black or gray. There are no pure reddish brown areas as in sitkensis. 
The neck above is predominantly grayish; upper tail coverts and remiges are mostly 
grayish. Breast and sides are mostly gray and black, with very little reddish. Feathers 
on sides of breast are dull brownish, mottled with black and tipped with white. Flanks 
are mostly grayish. Tarsus gray. 
Distribution.—This grouse inhabits parts of the Sitkan district of southeastern 
Alaska. Specimens are at hand from the following islands of the Alexander Archipelago: 
Admiralty, Baranof, Chichagof, Kupreanof, Etolin, Mitkof, and Wrangell. (For details 
of distribution see Swarth, Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 7, 1911, pp. 56, 155, map, fig. 2.) 
