LAG-OPUS PEESIOUS. G-. E. G-ray. 
KUNILEE GROUSE' 
LACtOPUS persicus. 
Gray, Gen. of B., Tol. iii., pi. — Id., Oat. B. Brit. Mus,, Pt. III., p. 48 (1844). 
This bird, figured by Gray in the work above quoted, is said to be a native of Persia. 
It is hazardous to announce a specimen of Ptarmigan as belonging to an nndescribed species, unless ample opportunities have been 
afforded to compare it with others from the same locality, and which may also show like variations from well-known forms, since the 
members of even the same species in this genus present differences both in color of plumage and in the measurements of their parts, 
greater than may be found in perhaps any other class of birds. 
If one may judge by the lifelike portrait in the accompanying plate — ^the result of Mr. Wolfs unrivalled skill — this bird bears a 
strong resemblance to the Lagopiis Scoticus. It is indeed of a lighter color than the typical examples of that species, yet we know that 
the Scotch Grouse vary very much, in different localities, in their plumage, and it would not be deemed an nunsual occurrence to find one 
of as light a hue as that in the illustration. 
As the Ptarmigan are natives of northern climes, it may be considered as somewhat strange that one should be discovered in Persia ; 
and therefore it would seem desirable, before admitting this bird to rank as an undoubted species, that more specimens should be pro- 
cured from the same country, and that they also should present a like x^ecidiar style of coloring in their plumage. 
I am without any information in regard to the economy or habits of the Kniialee Grouse, but presume that it would in both resemble 
the Lagojnis Seoticus. 
Mr. Gray gives Kaipariah Persia as the locality whence this specimen came. 
The drawing of this bird, which gives ns so much better an idea of it than the most minute description coidd, was made from the 
specimen in the British Museum, and which is the only one, I believe, that has ever been obtained. 
