Plate CXCI. Male, Female, and Young.
Bill very thick, convex, with a strong ridge on each side of the lower
mandible; claws (when entire) elongated, arched with the sides
sloping, edges thin and nearly parallel, the tip rounded; tail short,
slightly rounded, of fourteen feathers, independently of the long
incumbent coverts. Bill black, claws dusky at the base, yellowish-grey
on the edges and tip. In winter, the plumage white, excepting the
shafts of the primaries, which are brown, and the tail-feathers, which
are black, narrowly tipped with white, and with the base of the same
colour. In summer, the male with the head and neck bright chestnut,
more or less variegated with dusky; the upper parts and sides having
the feathers brownish-black, transversely barred with reddish-yellow,
and narrowly tipped with white; the quills and larger coverts, with
most of the smaller, middle of breast, abdomen, and feet, white; tail
as in winter, the middle incumbent feather like the back. Female
similar, with the markings larger, the breast and abdomen coloured
like the sides, the head and neck without chestnut. Young, when in
down, of a yellowish tint, variegated above with large streaks of dark
brown, the top of the head with a longitudinal patch of brown, edged
with black. When fledged, the young resemble the female.
_Male_, 17, 26-1/2. _Female_, 16, 26.
In Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, during winter. Breeds
plentifully in Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Fur Countries. Rocky
Mountains.
Tetrao (Lagopus) saliceti, Willow Grouse, Swains. & Rich. F.
Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 351.
Willow Grouse or Large Ptarmigan. Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 674.
Willow Grouse, Tetrao saliceti, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 528.