Plate CCCLXVIII. Male and Female. Plate CCCCXVIII. Fig. 1.
Bill very short, thick, convex (stronger than that of _L.
americanus_), with the ridges on the lower mandible faint; claws
elongated, arched, with the sides sloping, the edges thin and nearly
parallel, the tip narrowed, (broader than in _L. albus_). Tail short,
slightly rounded, of fourteen feathers, independently of the long
incumbent coverts. Bill black, claws dusky, with the edges and tip
inclining to yellowish-grey. In winter, the plumage white, excepting
the shafts of the primaries, which are brownish-black, and the
tail-feathers, which are black, narrowly tipped with white, and with
the base of the same colour. In summer, the plumage variegated with
black, reddish-yellow, and white; the feathers being chiefly of the
first colour, transversely and irregularly banded with reddish-yellow,
and terminally margined with white; lower parts more broadly and
regularly barred with brownish-black and light reddish-yellow; edge of
wing, alula, primary coverts, nearly all the secondary coverts,
primaries, and outer secondaries white, as are the lower surface of
the wing, the axillars, and some of the feathers on the abdomen, as
well as those on the feet, the latter tinged with yellowish; shafts of
primaries brownish-black; tail as in winter, but with the lateral
feather white on a great part of the outer web. Female similar, with
the bands broader.
_Male_, 13-1/2, wing, 7-10/12.
Breeds from Labrador to the Arctic Seas. Rocky Mountains. Abundant.
Migratory.
Tetrao (Lagopus) rupestris, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v.
ii. p. 354.
Rock Grouse, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 610.
Rock Grouse, Tetrao rupestris, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 483.