330 
TETRAO LAGOPUS LEUCURUS. 
grouse, whose males first assume the summer colours. 
The rock grouse is found also on Melville Peninsula 
and the Barren Grounds, seldom going farther south in 
winter than latitude 63° in the interior, but descending 
along the coast of Hudson’s Bay to latitude 58°, and 
in severe seasons still farther to the southward. It 
also occurs on the Rocky Mountains as far south as 
latitude 55°. It exists in Greenland, is common in 
Norway, is known in Sweden by the name of sno rissa , 
and is the species most frequent in the museums of 
France and Italy under the name of Tetrao lagopus. 
It is not a native of Scotland. The rock grouse, in its 
manners and mode of living, resembles the willow 
grouse, except that it does not retire so far into the 
woody country in winter. Contrary, however, to what 
Hearne says, it is frequent in open woods on the 
borders of lakes in that season, particularly in the 
sixty-fifth parallel of latitude, though, perhaps, the 
bulk of the species remains on the skirts of the Barren 
Grounds. It hatches in June. The ground colour of 
the egg is, according to Captain Sabine, a pale reddish 
brown, and is irregularly blotched and spotted with 
darker brown.” — Richardson. 
41. TETRAO ( LAGOPUS ) LEUCURUS , RICH. 
WHITE-TAILED GROUSE. 
Genus, Tetrao, Linn . Swains. — Sub-genus, (2,) Lagopus, Lay. 
In winter is entirely white : in summer coloured : the tail 
white. 
“ Of this undescribed species I have only five speci- 
mens, four procured by Mr Drummond on the Rocky 
Mountains, in the fifty-fourth parallel, and one by Mr 
Macpherson on the same chain, nine degrees of latitude 
farther north. Mr Douglas killed several in 1827, but, 
through the want of means of carriage, was obliged to 
leave them behind. It is said to have the habits of the 
ptarmigan, and to inhabit the snowy peaks near the 
mouth of the Columbia as well as the lofty ridges of 
