T. canadensis. Above distinctly barred with plumbeous and black; beneath black, with a white border to the throat, a white pectoral band, and white markings on the sides. Female barred with ochraceous, gray and black above, and with orange-ochraceous and black on the lower parts.
Tail rounded, tipped with rufous; upper tail-coverts tipped narrowly with deep ash. Hab. British America, east of the Rocky Mountains, from Alaska (Yukon region) to northern border of United States … var. canadensis.
Tail nearly even, black to the tip, or else with a narrow white terminal bar; upper tail-coverts broadly tipped with pure white. Hab. Northern Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast … var. franklini.
Canace canadensis, var. canadensis, Linn.
SPRUCE PARTRIDGE; CANADA GROUSE.
Tetrao canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 159.—Forster, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 389.—Sabine, Zoöl. App. Franklin’s Exped. 683.—Bonap. Amer. Orn. III, 1830, pl. xxi, f. 2, ♀.—Ib. Am. Phil. Trans. III, N. S. 1830, 391.—Rich. F. Bor. Amer. II, 1831, 346, pl. lxii, ♀.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 667.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 437; V, 1839, 563, pl. clxxvi.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 83, pl. cclxciv.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 622.—Maynard, B. E. Mass. 1870, 138 (Massachusetts).—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1861, 226.—Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. 1867, 86.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 287.—Finsch, Abh. Nat. Verz. III, 1872, 61. Canace canadensis, Reich. Av. Syst. Nat. 1851, p. xxix.
Type, Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 1857, 428.—Elliot, P. A. N. S. 1864, 23.—Ib. Monog. Tetraon. pl. Tetrao canace, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 275. Black Spotted Heathcock, Edwards, Glean. pl. cxviii. Spotted Grouse, Pennant.
Sp. Char. Tail of sixteen feathers. Above black. Feathers above distinctly banded with plumbeous; beneath uniform black, with a pectoral band of white, and white on the sides of the belly. Chin and throat above, black. Tail with a broad brownish-orange terminal band. Length, 16.20; wing, 6.70; tail, 5.44.
Female smaller, but somewhat similar; the black bars above broader, the inner gray bars of each feather, including the tail, replaced by broader ones of brownish-orange. The under parts have the feathers black, barred with the brownish-orange, which, on the tips of the belly-feathers, is pure white. The clear continuous black of the head and breast is wanting. The scapulars, greater coverts, and sides are streaked as in the male.
A female (No. 39,136, G. A. Boardman) from Maine differs from the above description in having the ground of the plumage a bright orange-rufous, the distinct bars of which are broader than the black ones; this is probably an autumnal bird, and represents the peculiar plumage of that season.