484 
SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 
SHARP-TAILED GROUSE TETRAO PHASIANELLUS. 
Plate XIX. 
Tetrao phaslanellus, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, p. 160. Gmd. Syst i. p. 747. Forst. 
Fhil. Trans. Ixii. pp. 394 and 425. Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 635, sp. 2. Briss. 
Suppl. p. 9. Temm. Ind. Gall, in Hist. Pig. and Gall. iii. p. 702. Vieill. 
Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. Sabine, Zool. App. to Frankl. Exped. p. 681. Nob. 
Cat. Birds U. S. sp. 208. Id. Syn. Birds U. S. sp. 209. — Tetrao urogallus, 
var. P>, Linn. Syst. i. p. 273, sp. 1 Gelinotte a longue quene, Buff. Ois. ii. p. 
286. Sonn. Buff. vi. p. 72. Bonat. Tabl.Encyc. Orn. p. 196, pi. 91, fig. 1 Fran- 
colln a longue queue, Hearne, Voy. d V Ocean du Nord, (Fr. transl. ) p. 386. — Te- 
tras pliasianelle, Temm. Pig. et Gall. iii. p. 152. — Long-tailed Gro-as,e, Edwards, 
Glean, pi. 117. Lath. Syn. iv. p. 732. Id. Suppl. p, 21 Sharp-tailed Grouse, 
Penn. Arct. Zool. sp. 181. — The Grouse, or Prairie Hen, Lewis and Clark, Exp. 
ii. p. 180, sp. 1.-— Philadelphia Museum, female. — My Collection, male and female. 
TETRAO PHASIANELLUS.—LmiUMVS. 
Tetrao (Centrocercus) phasianellus, Swain. North. Zool. ii. p. 361. 
This species of grouse, thougli long since said to inhabit Vir- 
ginia, is, in fact, a recent acquisition to the Fauna of the United 
States ; for it was only through an awkward mistake that it 
was ever attributed to that country. Mitchell, upon an inspec- 
tion of Edwards’s bad drawing of this bird, mistaking it for the 
ruffed grouse of that and the neighbouring states, declared it 
to be an inhabitant of Virginia ; and upon his authority Ed- 
wards gave it as such. This statement, however, led Wilson 
into the erroneous belief of the identity of the two species, in 
which he was farther confirmed, when, after the most careful 
researches, he became satisfied that the ruffed grouse was the 
only species to be found in Virginia. 
The gallant and lamented Governor Lewis gave the first 
authentic information of the existence of this bird within the 
limits of these States. He met with it on the upper waters of 
the Missouri, but observes, that it is peculiarly the inhabitant 
of the great plains of the Columbia. He states also, that the 
scales, or lateral processes of the toes, with which it is furnished 
in winter, like the rest of its genus, drop off in summer. 
