SPOTTED GROUSE. 
501 
tip, as in those described, and as also described by Linne and 
all other writers, who have even considered that as an essen- 
tial mark of the species. The Rocky Mountain specimens are, 
moreover, somewhat larger, and their toes, though likewise 
strongly pectinated, are, perhaps, somewhat, less so, and the 
tail-coverts are pure white at tip, as represented in the plate. 
But, Heaven forbid that our statements should excite the re- 
motest suspicion, that these slight aberrations are characteristic 
of different species ! If we might venture an opinion not cor- 
roborated by observation, we would say, that we should not 
be astonished, if the most obvious discrepancy, that of the tail, 
were entirely owing to season, the red tip being the full spring 
plumage ; though it is asserted, that this species does not vary 
in its plumage with the seasons. However this may be, we 
have thought proper to give a representation of the anomalous 
male bird from the Rocky Mountains in our plate, whilst the 
female, placed with the cock of the plains, that its reduced 
size may be properly estimated, has been chosen among the 
ordinary specimens having the tails tipped with red ; the red 
tip being still more conspicuous in the common males, from 
which, in order to comprehend all, our description has been 
drawn up. 
