160 
GALLIFORMES 
Tlie summer male is coarsely barred (or blotched) with black in throat and breast 
and the back finely barred with black and ochre. In autumn plumage the black of the 
breast and foreparts is replaced by (or intermixed with) finely vermiculated black and 
white and ochre in approximately even proportions. The back is uniformly vermiculated 
with the same colours in fine pepper-and-salt effect, the ochre predominating as in the 
Rock Ptarmigan, but with even more greyish overwash. 
Females are more coarsely and regularly barred than males, but with less ochre, and 
are more of a black and white appearance than any of the other ptarmigan. The autumn 
female shows much fine vermiculation, but is always more barred, especially on breast, 
than the male. 
Distinctions. A small grouse. Feet feathered to toes and white wings distinguish 
as ptarmigan. The white tail separates it from either of the other species. 
Field Marks. As a ptarmigan, in winter, by complete whiteness. In summer by white 
patches on body plumage and white wings and tail. As a White-tailed in any plumage 
by white tail. 
Distribution. Mountains of Alaska, British Columbia, and adjacent Alberta south- 
ward to new Mexico. A mountain bird rather than an Arctic one. Only regularly found 
above timber-line, and of somewhat erratic and discontinuous distribution. 
SUBSPECIES. Two subspecies arc recognized in Canada. The Northern White- 
tail (le Lagopede a queue blanche du Nord) Lagopus leucurus leucurus, of Alaska, Yukon, 
and northern British Columbia, and the Southern White-tail (le Lagopede queue blanche 
du Sud) Lagopus leururus altipeiem, of southern British Columbia and southward. The 
latter is huffier and less grey in the autumn plumage. 
305. Prairie Chicken, pinnated chouse, square-tail. i,a poule des prairies. 
Tympanuchus cupido. L, 18. Plate XIX A. A large prairie grouse with a short, rounded 
tail, a group of stiff, straight feathers covering an inflatable sac on sides of neck; body 
heavily barred in brown and white. Tarsus feathered, but toes bare. 
Distinctions. To be mistaken only for the Ruffed or the Sharp-tailed Grouse. Easily 
distinguished from the Ruffed by the snort, solidly dark tail, the lack of small eye-spots on 
back, and the replacement of the soft ruffs on sides of neck by stiff, straight feathers. Separ- 
ated from the Sharp-tailed Crouse, with which it is most often confused, by the stiff 
feather neck ornaments and by being regularly and completely barred all below instead 
of V-marked; and the tail evenly rounded instead of ending in a soft, flaccid point. 
Field Marks. Easily recognized from the Ruffed Grouse by open instead of woodland 
habitat, short, evenly dark tail, and stiff, straight feathers instead of soft ruff on neck. 
From the Sharp-tailed Grouse recognized by heavy barring all below, and short, evenly 
rounded tail. 
Distribution. Central North America from Canada south. Not an original inhabitant 
of Canada, but it has come in within historical times. It is now common throughout the 
prairies of Manitoba and is gradually spreading westward through Saskatchewan and 
Alberta. Originally of at least occasional occurrence in southern Ontario, especially along 
the Michigan border, in which state it still occurs locally and in limited numbers. 
SUBSPECIES. The Greater Prairie Chicken (la Grande Poule des prairies) Tym- 
panuchus cupido americanus is the only form recognized in Canada. The Heath Hen 
Tympanuchus cupido cupido , of Massachusetts and adjoining localities- — once extremely 
abundant, now, with the death of the last bird on Martha’s Vineyard, extinct — was a 
subspecies of Prairie Chicken. 
Considerable confusion accompanies the name of “Prairie Chicken. 1 ' 
This, however, is the bird to which the name applies correctly both his- 
torically and by habitat. It is a true bird of the open and not a brush 
species like the Sharp-tailed Grouse, which in Canada has largely usurped., 
the title. It is a bird that, given fair protection, thrives near settlements, 
and evidently has followed the great grain fields northward. It is migra- 
tory and moves southward in the winter. In the spring it resorts to its dance 
grounds, such as a bare knoll or some similar spot of not very evident 
qualifications, but which is used for the purpose year after year and by 
generation after generation as though it had some special and unique 
attraction. The early morning is the time of activity and large numbers 
of birds gather and execute a most elaborate and interesting mating 
