CAPERCAILLIE. 381 



During a ramble in UiDper Deeside in 1870, I 

 found the memory of the ancient race still linger- 

 ing in Braemar, where I was introduced to a 

 ^voman, ^vho had turned her eightieth year, whose 

 grandfather had been gamekeeper to the Earl of 

 Yife. We had a very interesting chat about birds ; 

 and if I had understood Gaelic, I should have 

 learned more than her interpreter could clearly 

 render into English for me. Her grandfather, slie 

 said, was looked upon as " wise " on the subject of 

 birds, and he never wearied of speaking about 

 them. His name for the Dotterel was "Cairn- 

 trottle" — a name as beautiful as it is expressive 

 of the habits of the bird, which in the breeding- 

 season is found only on the stony portions of the 

 higher mountains. " Coileach-collie " (or "horse of 

 the Avoods") was his name for the s]3ecies under 

 notice, which even in his day was considered a 

 great "ferlie." One of her grandfather's favourite 

 stories related to the capture of a Capercaillie by 

 a fox. He described the bird as "the tamest and 

 shyest brute in a' the wuds : so shy that he would 

 hardly alloo o' a flint (i.e., flint lock-gun) being 

 struck at him ; and so tame that he saw liim in 

 Glen Lui staunin' flaj)pin' his wings i' th' sun as if 

 a' fear had left him, and he never kent he was in 

 danger till foxy grabbit him." This description is 

 consistent with the well-known habits of the 

 Capercaillie in spring, and cannot apply to any 

 other species. 



The Capercaillie is polygamous ; and hybrids with 

 allied species are therefore of frequent occurrence, 

 even in countries where the species has long been 

 resident. In a country like our own, where the 

 bird has been recently introduced and is rax^idly 

 spreading into districts inhabited by Blackcock, 

 hybridism almost invariably shows itself with the 

 establishment of the species. For this there are 

 two reasons : (first) that w^hen migrating the sexes 

 generally separate, the females moving in advance 



