110 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
black; tail-coverts with white tips;’ the sides also with much white. Male . Length, 
33.00; wing, 13.00; tail, 13.00. Female. Length, 21.50 ; wing, 10.75; tail, 7.50. Chick 
Upper surface brownish-gray, lower grayish-white. Above irregularly and coarsely 
marbled with black, the markings most conspicuous on the head. Bill black. Eggs 
drab, thickly freckled with small rounded spots of reddish-brown and e dark chestnut, 
2.20 by 1.50. Hab. Plains of the northwest. ( Sage - Cock ; Cock of the Plains .) 
Genus FEDICECETES, Baird. (Page 108.) 
P. phasianellus. Above variegated with transverse spots of yellowish- 
brown and black ; wing-coverts with large, roundish white spots ; outer 
webs of primaries with quadrate white spots. Beneath white anteriorly 
and along the sides, with Y-shaped marks of brown or dusky. Sexes alike 
in color and size. Average length, 18.00 ; wing, 8.50 ; tail, 5.50. (Sharp- 
tailed Grouse .) 
Above blackish-dusky, variegated transversely with yellowish-brown; 
scapulars with broad white medial longitudinal streaks of white. 
Markings below clear, uniform blackish-dusky. Toes entirely hidden 
by the long hair-like feathers of the tarsus. Head and neck with the 
ground-color white, the throat heavily spotted with dusky. Eggs 
rather dark clay-color ; sometimes finely speckled with brown ; about 
1.80 by 1.31. Hah. British America to Arctic regions. (Hudson 
Sharp-tail. ) . . . . . . . . var. phasianellus. 
Above yellowish-brown, mixed with reddish, and variegated trans- 
versely with black ; scapulars without white longitudinal spots. Mark- 
ings beneath clear pale brown, with dusky borders. Toes entirely 
bare. Head and neck deep buff, the throat not spotted. Eggs similar, 
but of lighter ground. Hab. Prairies and plains of northern U. S., 
from Wisconsin and Illinois to Oregon. (Columbia Sharp-tail.) 
^ var. columbianvn st. 
Genus CUPIDONIA, Reichenbach. (Page 108.) 
C. cupido. Ground-color above yellowish-brown, tinged with grayish and 
reddish ; beneath white ; whole upper and lower parts variegated with 
transverse bands, — • those beneath regular, broad, sharply defined, and plain 
dusky-brown, those above more broken, broader, and deep black. Head 
buff, with a broad vertical stripe, a broad one beneath the eye from bill to 
ears, and a patch on lower side of auriculars, brownish-black. Eggs clay- 
color; generally uniform or unspotted, sometimes finely dotted, about 1.70 
by 1.25. (Prairie Chicken ; Pinnated Grouse.) 
Tarsi clothed with long hair-like feathers, the bare posterior face 
entirely hidden. Dark bars above, .30 or more in width, deep black ; 
those beneath, about .20 wide, and dark brown. Top of head nearly 
uniformly blackish; face-stripes dusky-black. Length, 16.50; wing, 
9.00 ; tail, 4.70. Bill, .40 deep, .50 long. Hab. Prairies of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley; south to Louisiana; formerly eastward to Long Island 
and Pennsylvania ......... var. cupido. 
Tarsi clothed with short feathers, the bare posterior face conspicuously 
exposed. Dark bars above less than .20 in width, dark grayish-brown ; 
those beneath about .10 wide, and pale grayish-brown. Top of head 
