COCK OF THE PLAINS. 
505 
long, perfectly similar to that of T. urogallus, perhaps a trifle 
less stout, and with the base (if this remarkable character be 
not accidental in our specimen,) farther produced among the 
feathers of the front ,* the whole plumage above is blackish, 
most minutely dotted, mottled, and sprinkled with whitish, 
dnged here and there with very pale yellowish rusty, hardly 
worth mentioning ; on the head, and all the neck, the feathers 
being small, minutely crossed transversely with blackish and 
whitish lines, gives the plumage quite a minutely dotted ap- 
pearance; the superciliar line is slightly indicated by more 
whitish ; on a spot above the eye, in the space between the 
bill and eye, and along the mouth beneath, the black predomi- 
nates, being nearly pure : on the throat, on the contrary, it is 
the white that prevails, so as to be whitish dotted with black ; 
on the lower portion of the neck, the black again is the pre- 
vailing colour, the black feathers there being nearly tipped 
with greyish ; the sides of the neck are pure white for a space ; 
from the lower portion of the neck to the upper tail-coverts 
inclusively, the back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and secondaries, 
the blackish feathers have each two or three yellowish white 
bands, which are broader, especially on the upper part of the 
back, and are moreover sprinkled with white somewhat tinged 
with rusty ; the scapulars and wing-coverts are besides shafted 
with white, somewhat dilating towards the point, the scapulars 
being of a deeper black ; the spurious wdng and primaries are 
plain dusky, with paler edges, the outer with some indications 
of whitish dots (generally found in grouse) on the outer vane, 
but no regular white spots ; the secondaries are tipped with 
white, and those which are next to the primaries nearly plain 
on their inner web ; the primaries are rather slender, the in- 
ferior surface of the wings is of a very pale silvery grey ; the 
under wing-coverts and long axillary feathers being pure sil- 
very white, excepting on the lining of the wing, which is dusky 
blackish ; the wings are twelve inches long ; the breast is 
greyish, somewhat mottled with black ; on each side below is 
a pure white space, some of the feathers of which are tipped 
