SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 
203 
? 4 ter , 
i coverts, are of the same brown, but each feather 
Jjf 8 at the point a large and very conspicuous pure 
St, . e spot ; all the other superior coverts are blackish, 
‘' fln kled, and banded with rusty, each furnished with 
spieuous terminal spot ; the under wing-coverts, 
. °U8p 1 cuous terminal sp” 1 > >"'■ uuuci 
setherwith the long axillary feathers, are pure white, 
J' 1 With a single small dusky spot, and are marbled 
t| White and brownish on the outer margin ; the 
are plain dusky brown, the primaries being 
JMarly marked with pure white spots half an inch 
C r t on their outer webs, except at the point of the 
I, ' 1 ; the longest feather of the spurious wing, and the 
Her outer coverts, have also a pair ot these spots $ 
mdaries, besides the outer spots, which assume 
earance of bauds, are tipped with pure white, 
■ a narrow terminal margin ; those nearest the 
■nial s are also slig’htly marked with rusty the tertials 
appearance of hands, are tipped with pure white, 
“I'tVil • 1 * . iltACin nAAMAfti ik a 
a "'“is are also slignuy juaiaeu vm» »•*<■»/ > 
'"selves are similar to the scapulars, that is, they 
black, banded and sprinkled with different shades 
w *?sty ; the tail is strongly cuneiform and graduated, 
M^’Shteen feathers, with the middle live inches long, 
J'eh is three more than the outer. According to 
tu 1 ® accounts, the two middle feathers are by more 
two inches longer than the adjoining, hut, in all 
w , l *H'e examined, the difference was little more than 
Hi, 5 the four middle are similar in shape, texture, 
t),, colour, being narrow, flaccid, equal in breadth 
J'jWiout, though somewhat dilated and cut square 
f e the end. In colour, they vary considerably m dil- 
R e ®t specimens, the ground being generally black, and 
Uy.t'Ps white, but more or less varied, in some with 
o,. *te, and in others with rusty ; these colours being at 
a 6 time pure, at another sprinkled with blackish, and 
lading various tints ; in one specimen they are dis- 
‘ in spots, in another in hands, lines, chains, angles, 
ft ^ generally in a long stripe on each side of the 
u^at h^ anYin transverse spots at the point of 
2 two longest, while they are in round spots all 
>g each side of the two shortest : m one specimen, 
,e latter are even almost plain, being dingy white. 
