_Cupidonia_, REICHENBACH, Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, p. xxix. (Type, _Tetrao
cupido_, L.)
GEN. CHAR. Tail of eighteen feathers, short, half the lengthened wings;
the feathers stiffened and more or less graduated. Bare inflatable
air-sac of the neck concealed by a tuft of long, stiff lanceolate
feathers; an inconspicuous crest on the vertex. Tarsi feathered only
to near the base, the lower joint scutellate. Culmen between the nasal
fossæ scarcely one third the total length.
This genus, as far as known, is entirely peculiar to North America,
where but one species, with two races, is known.
Species and Varieties.
=C. cupido.= Ground-color above yellowish-brown, tinged with grayish
and reddish; beneath white; whole upper and lower parts variegated
with transverse bands,—those beneath regular, broad, sharply defined,
and plain dusky-brown, those above more broken, broader, and deep
black. Head buff, with a broad vertical stripe, a broad one beneath
the eye from bill to ears, and a patch on lower side of auriculars,
brownish-black.
Tarsi clothed with long hair-like feathers, the bare posterior face
entirely hidden. Dark bars above, .30 or more in width, deep black;
those beneath, about .20 wide, and dark brown. Top of head nearly
uniformly blackish; face-stripes dusky-black. Bill, .40 deep, .50
long; wing, 9.00. _Hab._ Prairies of the Mississippi Valley; south
to Louisiana; formerly eastward to Long Island and Pennsylvania …
var. _cupido_.
Tarsi clothed with short feathers, the bare posterior face
conspicuously exposed. Dark bars above less than .20 in width, dark
grayish-brown; those beneath about .10 wide, and pale grayish-brown.
Top of head with only a slight spotting of blackish; face-markings
reddish-brown. Bill, .35 deep, .55 long, from nostril; wing, 8.30.
_Hab._ Southwestern Prairies (Texas?) …
var. _pallidicinctus_.
[Plate: PLATE LXI.
1. Cupidonia cupido. _Ad._, 17045.
2. Cyrtonyx massena. _Juv._, 37292.
3. Bonasa umbellus. _Juv._, 61949.
4. Lophortyx californicus. _Juv._, Cal., 12591.
5. Canace canadensis. _Juv._, Maine.
6. Centrocercus urophasianus. _Juv._, 38551.
7. Cupidonia cupido. _Juv._, 25989.
8. Lagopus albus. _Juv._, 44631.
9. Bonasa umbellus. _Ad._, D. C., 12568.
10. Bonasa umbelloides. _Ad._, Rocky Mts., 11394.]
Cupidonia cupido, var. cupido, BAIRD.