TETRASTES.
Crown feathers elongated ; above eye bare spot ; tarsus feathered on upper part ; inhabit wooded country ; nest, depression, generally under a bush ; eggs pale rufous yellow, sparingly spotted rufous.
Tetrastes bonasia bonasia (L.). HAZEL HEN. Fr. Gelinotte ; Ger. Haselhuhn ; /ha/. Francolino di monte ; Swed. I ljerpe.
d Above variable grey or light brown, barred on forehead and hind neck, and speckled and marked on rest of upper parts with brown and chestnut, and on some wing coverts, scapulars, and secondaries with black ; beneath, throat black, encircled by white ; a post-ocular spot white ; breast and abdomen brown with broad white centres and margins, sides of breast and flanks chestnut. ? like a but chin and throat white. Bill black, browner at tip and base below. Toes reddish grey. Wing d 165-174, ? 16.1-17o. Tarsus 33-36. Bill to-11.
Resident—Norway to 66°, Sweden to 68°, Lapland, Finland, Russia north to Orel, and in the Ural to Orenburg ; and in \V. Siberia. Plumage varies considerably ; one variety has been called "T. griseiventris" Menzbier. It is a dingy grey
brown form, with cheeks and throat chestnut, chin white, under parts grey brown, chest distinctly barred brown, breast and abdomen obscurely barred, sometimes a few white spots on breast, otherwise no more white in plumage. It occurs in E. Russian districts (Perm to Orenburg) and in \V. Siberia.
T. bonasia rupestris (Brehm). Distinguished from typical "bonasia" by having much more reddish brown in plumage, notably on upper parts, and white specks on wings are buff tinged. Wing d 169-183, ? 171-18o (II.).
Germany, France (Vosges and Jura), Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, Balkan Peninsula (Montenegro to Bulgaria).
T. bonasia grassmanni (Zedlitz). Intermediate between "rupestris" and typical "bonasia," greyer on back and rump than " rupestris," darker on scapulars than "bonasia." Resident. - Baltic l'rovinces, Poland, E. Prussia.