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APPENDIX. 



[No.V. 



New World under the appellation of the Prairie Hen and Heath Hen. The female 

 differs from the male in being smaller, in the colours of its markings being lighter, 

 and in the ruff being composed of smaller feathers ; the ruff in the male is entirely 

 black, in the female it is dark brown with some rufous tinge. The figure, published 

 by Edwards, is probably that of a female ; the Grosse Gelinote de Canada of the 

 Planches Enterminees is intended for the Ruffed Grouse, but is a miserable resemblance. 

 This bird was described by early Ornithological writers under two different names, 

 which error may be thus traced. Brisson described and figured the Grosse Gelinote 

 de Canada correctly, and not considering that Edwards's Ruffed Grouse (of which he 

 judged by the defective figure), could be the same bird, he introduced it into his 

 Regne Animal, as the Gelinote Hupee de Pennsylvanie. Linnaeus adopted these as two 

 species, making the first T. Togatus. and the other T. Umbellus. Latham, in following 

 Linnaeus, called the T. Togatus, the Shoulder-knot Grouse, and the T. Umbellus, the 

 Ruffed Grouse ; in the Supplement to his Synopis, he retracted the opinion of their 

 specific difference, and in his Index applied the former specific name to the female, 

 and the latter to the male bird, but has strangely confounded and misarranged the 

 synonyms in separating the sexes. M. Cuvier, in his Regne Animal, has considered 

 the T. Cupido and T. Umbellus as the same bird, a strange mistake. 



Tetrao Phasianellus. Sharp-tailed Grouse. 



This bird is probably confined to Canada, and the northern parts of the New World, 

 since specimens are not usually received from the more southern provinces ; nor does 

 it appear to have been at all observed by Wilson. Little reliance should be placed 

 on the statement by Edwards, that it is found in Virginia ; Dr. Mitchel, whose 

 authority is given for this, made the observation on a view of Edwards's draw- 

 ing, which he might have mistaken for a Ruffed Grouse, which bird is an 

 inhabitant of Virginia. The bird now under consideration is well known and 

 common in the neighbourhood of the Hudson's Bay settlements, where it is 

 called the Pheasant, or Sharp-tailed Grouse ; this latter name is much more 

 appropriate, than Long-tailed Grouse, which it received from Edwards. The tail 

 is really short, but the two middle feathers, exceeding the others about an inch 

 in length, give a pointed appearance to that part, which is peculiar and cha- 

 racteristic. Edwards first brought the bird into notice, but his figure is a very 

 bad resemblance of it. The Sharp-tailed Grouse are noticed by Hearne, and 

 described by Foster ; they are found both in the woods and in the plains, and 

 are called by the natives of the northern parts of America Au-kis-kow. Linnaeus, in 

 the 10th edition of the Systema Naturce, called this bird the T. Phasianellus, founding 

 the species on the figure and description of Edwards ; in the twelfth edition of the same 

 work, he made it a variety of his T. Urogallus ; subsequent experience has proved 



