The above synopsis is intended to present in the simplest form the characteristic features of the three definable races of this exceedingly variable species, as exhibited in a light rusty rufous-tailed form of the Atlantic States, a pale gray ashy-tailed form of the Rocky Mountains of the United States and British America, and a dark rusty rufous-tailed form of the northwest coast region. These three, when based on specimens from the regions where their characters are most exaggerated and uniform, appear sufficiently distinct; but when we find that specimens from the New England States have the rufous bodies of umbellus and gray tails of umbelloides, and that examples from Eastern Oregon and Washington Territory have the dark rusty bodies of sabini and gray tails of umbelloides, and continue to see that the transition between any two of the three forms is gradual with the locality, we are unavoidably led to the conclusion that they are merely geographical modifications of one species. The continuity of the dark subterminal tail-band in umbellus, and its interruption in umbelloides,—characters on which great stress is laid by Mr. Elliot in his monograph, above cited,—we find to be contradicted by the large series which we have examined; neither condition seems to be the rule in either race, but the character proves to be utterly unreliable.
In the less elevated and more southern portions of the Eastern Province of the United States, as in the Mississippi Valley and the States bordering the Gulf and South Atlantic, the rufous type is prevalent; the tail being always, so far as the specimens we have seen indicate, of an ochraceous-rufous tint. Specimens with gray tails first occur on the Alleghany Mountains, and become more common in the New England States, the specimens from Maine having nearly all gray tails. Specimens from Labrador approach still nearer the var. umbelloides,—the extreme gray condition,—and agree with Alaskan specimens in having more brown than those from the interior portions of British America or the Rocky Mountains of the United States. More northern specimens of the inland form have, again, a greater amount of white than those from the south or coastward. Passing southward from Alaska toward Oregon, specimens become darker, until, in the dense humid forests of the region of the Columbia, a very dark plumage, with little or no gray, prevails, most similar to, but even more reddish and much darker, than the style of the Southern States of the Eastern Province. Passing from the low coast forests to those of the mountains, we find again equally dark specimens, but with grayish tails; the amount of gray increasing, and its shade lightening, as we approach the central Rocky Mountains.
The American species of Bonasa possesses a quite near analogue in the B. sylvestris, Bonap. (Tetrao bonasia, Linn.), or Hazel Grouse, of Europe. This species has almost exactly the same pattern of coloration (including tail-markings), but is very much smaller, has the neck-tufts rudimentary and white, and the throat black, instead of just the reverse.
Bonasa umbellus, var. umbellus, Stephens.
RUFFED GROUSE; PARTRIDGE; PHEASANT.
Tetrao umbellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 275, 6.—Wilson, Am. Orn. VI, 1812, 46, pl. xlix.—Doughty, Cab. N. H. I, 1830, 13, pl. ii.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 211; V, 560, pl. xli.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 72, pl. ccxciii. Tetrao (Bonasia) umbellus, Bonap. Syn. 1828, 126.—Ib. Mon. Tetrao, Am. Phil. Trans. III, 1830, 389.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 657. Bonasa umbellus, Stephens, Shaw, Gen. Zoöl. XI, 1824, 300.—Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 1857, 428.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 630.—Elliot, Monog. Tetr. pl.—Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 89. Tetrao togatus, Linn. I, 1766, 275, 8.—Forster, Philos. Trans. LXII, 1772, 393. Tetrao tympanus, Bartram, Travels in E. Florida, 1791, 290. Ruffed Grouse, and Shoulder-knot Grouse, Pennant & Latham.
32312 ½ ⅓
Bonasa umbellus.
Sp. Char. Above ochraceous-brown, finely mottled with grayish; the scapulars and wing-coverts with pale shaft-streaks, the rump and upper tail-coverts with medial cordate spots of pale grayish. Tail ochraceous-rufous, narrowly barred with black, crossed terminally with a narrow band of pale ash, then a broader one of black, this preceded by another ashy one. (In specimens from the Alleghany Mountains and New England States, the tail usually more or less grayish to the base, sometimes entirely destitute of rufous tinge.) Throat and foreneck ochraceous. Lower parts white (ochraceous beneath the surface), with broad transverse bars of dilute brown, these mostly concealed on the abdomen. Lower tail-coverts pale ochraceous, each with a terminal deltoid spot of white, bordered with dusky. Neck-tufts brownish-black. Length, 18.00; wing, 7.20; tail, 7.00. Female smaller, and with the neck-tufts less developed, but colors similar. Young (39,161, St. Stephen’s, N. B.; G. A. Boardman). Brown above, and dingy-white beneath; a rufous tinge on the scapulars. Feathers of the jugulum, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts with broad medial streaks of light ochraceous, and black spots on the webs; jugulum with a strong buff tinge. Secondaries and wing-coverts strongly mottled transversely. Head dingy buff, the upper part more rusty; a post-ocular or auricular dusky patch, and a tuft of dusky feathers on the vertex. Chick. Above light rufous, beneath rusty-white; uniform above and below; a dusky post-ocular streak, inclining downwards across the auriculars. Bill whitish.
Hab. Eastern Province of North America; in the northeastern portions (New England, Labrador) and Alleghany Mountains inclining toward var. umbellus in having a gray tail.