Plate CCCLXXXII. Male and Female.
A decurved crest of narrow feathers; a bare space on each side of the
neck capable of being inflated; tail short, much graduated, of sixteen
feathers, all of which are more or less concave, excepting the two
middle ones along the inner edge, obliquely and abruptly terminated,
the two middle projecting an inch beyond the next. Upper parts
variegated with light yellowish-red, brownish-black, and white, the
latter in terminal triangular, or guttiform spots on the scapulars and
wing-coverts; quills greyish-brown, primaries with white spots on the
outer web, secondaries tipped and barred with white; tail white, at
the base variegated, the two middle feathers like the back; loral
space, and a band behind the eye yellowish-white, a dusky streak under
the eye; throat reddish-white, with dusky spots; fore parts and sides
of neck barred with dusky and reddish-white; on the breast the dusky
spots become first curved, and then arrow-shaped; and so continue
narrowing on the hind part of the breast and part of the sides, of
which the upper portion is barred; abdomen, lower tail-coverts, and
axillars, white; tarsal feathers light brownish-grey, faintly barred
with whitish. Female smaller, but similar to the male, with the tints
duller.
_Male_, 17-1/2, 23.
Missouri, Lat. 41°, to Slave Lake, Lat. 61°. Rocky Mountains. Abundant
on the Saskatchewan Plains. Accidental in the northern parts of
Illinois. Resident.
Tetrao Phasianellus, Bonap. Amer. Orn. v. iii. p. 37.
Tetrao Phasianellus, Bonap. Syn. p. 127.
Tetrao (Centrocercus) Phasianellus, Sharp-tailed Grouse,
Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 361.
Sharp-tailed Grouse. Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 669.
Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tetrao Phasianellus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v.
iv. p. 569.