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Show 1904.] TWO SPECIMENS OF HYBRID GROUSE. 415 Willow-Grouse, and that in these hybrids the tetricid inheritance from the mother dominates, and probably becomes more so with age. A similar conclusion is deduced from a study of the female Rippore specimens. The darkest specimen in Upsala looks almost like a small Grey-hen * which has got white or white-freckled edges to her feathers. The proximal secondaries are, however, like those of the male Riporre just described, and the distal ones are wholly white. Another difference is that the outer tail-feathers are black. Towards the centre of the tail the rectrices become more and more transversely (corresponding to the rufous bars of the Grey-hen) mottled, first on the outer web, then right across with whitish, then buff and rufous-buff, so that the central tail-feathers are almost like those of a Grey-hen, although the rufous bars are somewhat broken. The white tips, absent in the outer tail-feathers, become larger towards the centre. The outer tail-feathers are thus more like those of a Willow-Grouse ; the central ones more like those of a Grey-hen. In addition to the white edges, the feathers of the back show another difference from those of the Grey-hen ; they have, as a rule, only one or two rufous bars, the proximal of which is more or less broken, while the Grey-hen has three or more. This difference in the Riporre is not, however, a characteristic in which it approaches the Willow-Grouse, which has numerous narrow wavy bars. The front of the tarsi is grey but long-feathered. The claws are rather dark. The lightest of the female Riporre specimens in Upsala has broader white-freckled edges to the feathers on the back, but otherwise the same feathers are almost similar to those of a Grey-hen with three complete bars of buff. Wing and tail of this specimen are a little more freckled than in the other. The one has the abdomen white, and is a young bird, while the darker is old. W e have here, consequently, a condition parallel to that above-stated for the cocks, viz., the female Riporre becomes darker with age, and resembles more a Grey-hen, and there is only one kind of Riporre, the origin of which must be as stated above. EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXVI. Hybrid Grouse, Lagopus lagopus $ X Lyrurus tetrix $ . * The feathered toes, &c, prove the hybrid nature. |
