Male, 17, 261/2. 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.
302. 2. Lagopus Americanus, Aud. American Ptarmigan.
Not figured.
Bill much narrower, with the ridge on each side of the lower mandible obsolete; claws (when entire) elongated, arched, with the sides sloping, the edges thin and nearly parallel, the tip round; tail short, even, of fourteen feathers, independently of the long incumbent coverts. 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; male with a black loral band, extending beyond the eye. In summer, the general colour of the upper parts, fore neck, and sides, reddish-yellow, finely undulated transversely with blackish-brown, and greyish-white; the bars on the head and neck larger; the two long incumbent tail-feathers similar to those of the back; the rest brownish-black, tipped with white; little white on the lower parts, and only in patches, some greyish-white undulations occasionally seen, tend to approximate the colouring to that of some specimens of Lagopus mutus of Scotland, but the prevailing tint is not grey, as in that species, but brownish-yellow. Young similar to the adult, with the bands larger; the fore part of the wings, the primaries, secondary coverts, and abdomen, white.
Male, 143/4, wing, 81/4.
Melville Island. Churchill River.
Tetrao lagopus, Sabine, Richardson, &c.
Tetrao (Lagopus) mutus, Ptarmigan, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 350.
Common Ptarmigan, Tetrao mutus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 196.
303. 3. Lagopus rupestris, Gmel. Rock Ptarmigan.