passing reference to the group called by Huxley, Peristeropodes, where the toes are all in one plane; this includes the families Megapodiidææ or Mound-Builders of the eastern tropics, and the Cracidæ or Curassows of the neotropical countries. Huxley's second group, the Alectoropodes, with an elevated hind toe, is equivalent to the family Phasianidæ, which may be subdivided into the subfamilies Numidinæ, or Guinea-fowls, of Africa, the Meleagrinæ, or Turkeys, of America, the Odontophorinæ, or "American Partridges," the Phasianinæ, or Pheasant, Partridge, and Fowl alliance of the Old World, and the Tetraoninæ, or Grouse. The last-named might well be classed as a separate family Tetraonidææ, were it not for the great difficulty of placing correctly such forms as Caccabis (Red-legged Partridge), Francolinus (Fraucolin), and Coturnix (Quail), which are so nearly allied to both Partridges and Grouse that we may even doubt the advisability of allowing a separate subfamily Tetraoninæ at all.
Grouse, as thus limited, are entirely confined to the Holarctic region, the great majority of the species being inhabitants of the New World, though a fair number, including the fine Capercailzie, the Black Grouse and Distributionthe Hazel Grouse, are to be found in various parts of the Old World.
The Red Grouse of Britain belongs to Lagopus, the only genus of Grouse common to both hemispheres, in which even the digits are feathered. This contains six well-defined species: the Spitsbergen Ptarmigan (L. hemileucurus) and the Rocky Mountain Ptarmigan {L. leucurus) — only found in the regions after which they are named — the Ptarmigan of Scotland and the mountains of the Palæarctic area {L. mutus), the "Iceland" Ptarmigan of that island, Greenland and the lower grounds of Northern Siberia and Arctic America (L. rupestris), the Willow Grouse of the north of Europe, Asia, and America (L. albus), and the British bird (L. scoticus) — with which alone we are concerned — indigenous in no other country.
All the forms of the genus Lagopus are anatomically identical, but the Red Grouse differs from the remaining members in that it does not turn white in winter. It has been thought to be merely the local representative of the Variation.Willow Grouse in Britain, though it differs from that species even in its summer plumage, and never possesses white wing-quills. It varies considerably in coloration, as will be seen from the following quotation from "The Cambridge Natural History." "The male in both summer and winter is more or less chestnut-brown above, with black markings and a reddish head; the lower parts are similar, but are usually spotted with white. In autumn the brown of
