HISTOEY OF THE SPECIES IN SCOTLAND. 21 



malihus Scotice' p. 16 ; and in Tables 14 and 18, figures 

 male and female, ' Capricalea.' 



1754. Burt (' Letters from the North of Scotland^ 1754, 

 vol. ii. p. 169), says : — " Of the eatable part of tlie feathered 

 kind peculiar to the mountains, is : — First, the Cobber-kely, 

 which is sometimes caUed a wild turkey, but not like it 

 otherwise than in size. This is very seldom to be met with, 

 being an inhabitant of very high and unfrequented hills, and 

 is therefore esteemed a great rarity for the table." This 

 record brings us down close upon its extinction in Scotland. 

 Jamieson, in his later edition of Burt's ' Letters,' adds a foot- 

 note : — " The Capercaillie, capulcoilHe, avercailye, became 

 extinct in Great Britain about this time, or shortly after," 

 i.e. about the date of Burt's letter xxi. (1754 ?)— Edin. 1818, 

 p. 71. 



1775. In 'A History of the Province of Moray' (1775), 

 by Eev. Lachlan Shaw, 2d edition, 1827, p. 207, occurs a 

 somewhat full notice of the Capercaillie, as follows : — " The 

 harmless wild fowls are the swan, Caperkylie (called also Cock 

 of the Wood) ; in Latin, Capricalea, as if he infested the 

 goats ; but properly, in Erse, Capal-coil — i.e., the Wood Horse, 

 being the chief fowl in the woods. He resembles, and is of 

 the size, of a turkey-cock, of a dark grey, and red about the 

 eyes ; he lodges in bushy fir trees, and is very shy ; but the 

 hen, which is much less in size, lays her eggs in the heather, 

 where they are destroyed by foxes and wild cats, and thereby 

 the Caperkylie is become rare. His flesh is tender and de- 

 licious, though somewhat of a resinous fir taste." 



1769. Pennant, in his ' Tour in Scotland; 1769, has an 

 interesting passage regarding its occurrence prior to extinction 

 in Inverness, which has been often quoted. He appears only 

 to have seen one specimen, which " was killed in the woods 

 of Mr. Chisholm, to the north [in err. for west. — J. A. H. B.] 

 of Inverness." 



