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U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY— GENERAL REPORT. 
BONASA UMBELLUS, Stephens. 
Rufled Grouse ; Partridge ; Pheasant. 
Tetrao umbellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766,275, 6.— Gmelin, I, 782.— Wilson, Am. Om. VI, 1812, 46 ; pi. xlix.— Bon. 
Obs. Wils. 1825, 182.— Doughty, Cab. N. H. 1, 1830, 13 ; pi. ii.— Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 
1831, 211 : V, 560 ; pi. 41.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 202.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 72 ; pi. 293. 
Tetrao (Bonasia) umbellus, Bonap. Syn. 1828, 126.— Ib. Mon. Tetrao, Am. Phil. Trans. Ill, 1830, 389.— Nuttall, 
Man. I, 1832, 657. 
Bonasa umbellus, Stephens, Shaw, Gen. Zool. XI, 1824, 300. — Bonap. List, 1838. — Ib. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 
1857, 428. 
Tetrao togatua, Linn. I, 1766, 275, 8.— Forster, Philos. Trans. LXII, 1772, 393. 
Tetrao tympanus, Bartram, Travels in E. Florida, 1791, 290. 
Ruffed Grouse, and Shoulder-knot Grouse, Pennant and Latham. 
JTetrao umbelloides, Douglas, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 148. 
Sp. Ch. — Tail of eighteen feathers. Reddish brown or grey above ; the back witli cordate spots of lighter. Beneath whitish, 
transversely barred with dull brown. Tail tipped with gray, and with a subterminal bar of black. Broad feathers of the ruff 
black. Length, 18 inches ; wing, 7.20 ; tail, 7.00. 
JJab. — Wooded portions of eastern United States towards the Rocky mountains. 
Tail lengthened ; nearly as long as the wing ; very broad, and moderately rounded ; the 
feathers very broad and truncate ; the tip slightly convex ; eighteen in number. Upper half 
of tarsus only feathered ; bare behind and below, with two rows of hexagonal scutellae 
anteriorly. A naked space on the side of the neck, concealed by an overhanging tuft of broad, 
truncate feathers. There are no pectinated processes above the eye, where the skin instead is 
clothed with short feathers. 
The prevailing color of this species above is sometimes grey, sometimes reddish. In one specimen, 
(344,) the prevailing color is chestnut, each feather of the back and rump with an elongated 
sub-cordate terminal large spot of reddish grey, and mottled finely with brown, most distinct in 
the cordate spot. The scapulars and coverts are streaked with light brownish yellow. The 
under parts are light brownish yellow, nearly white on the belly ; the feathers with transverse 
sub-terminal broad bars of obsolete brown ; the sides under the wings, however, streaked like 
the wing coverts. The broad cervical feathers are uniform dark brown, with a terminal gloss of 
metallic green. The quills are brown, the outer webs of secondaries mottled with rufous ; of the 
primaries pale brownish yellow, with bars of brown. The tail feathers are tipped with grey, 
and have a broad sub-terminal bar of black ; within this is a series of eight or ten narrow 
waved transverse bars, grey posteriorly, and black anteriorly. The entire feather is, besides, 
finely mottled. The upper tail coverts are marked like the tail feathers, except in lacking the 
sub-terminal black. There is an indication of a darker jugular band, owing to the deeper shade 
of brown in the sub-terminal bars of the feathers. The feathers on the side of the neck 
adjacent to the cervical tufts are tipped with white, and there is an approach to a whitish 
scapular band. The under tail coverts are almost clear immaculate in the exposed portion. 
Douglas speaks of a smaller and lighter variety of the ruffed grouse, found in the valleys of the 
Rocky mountains north, near 54° north latitude. This is of "alight mixed speckled grey, the ruffle 
consisting invariably of only twenty feathers, the crest feathers few and short." It is difficult 
to say whether this is identical with either of the others or distinct. 
