112 THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



prove ; and this, I think, will Ijecome patent to any one who 

 studies their distribution. If, on the one hand, they oxo. forced 

 to leave by the older and stronger birds, still they wiU leave 

 in those directions which are most likely to meet the require- 

 ments of the species, and, as I have already pointed out, I 

 believe tliat the birds have great power of vision, and use tliis 

 in an appreciable degree when on a pioneering journey. 



liirds, and especially females, are thus often shot or seen 

 in locahties totally imsuited to their habits — no doubt resting, 

 as I have already indicated, during their tour of inspection. 

 Amongst such locahties may be instanced a bare moor or 

 open common,-^ a patch of wood, of an acre or two in extent, 

 in the middle of a bare mountain glen,^ or even in the 

 crowded thoroughfares of a large town.^ There is evidence 

 in some cases of these pioneers having been assisted in tlieir 

 travels by long-continuing gales. Thus, about the first bird 

 shot in Fife — in 1863 — at Rankeillor, near Cupar, arrived 

 towards the end of a gale which had been blowing for some 

 days from the north ; and several other instances could be 

 cited. 



The females precede the males by from one to two years, 

 and establishment of the species takes place very shortly 

 after the arrival of the males, and from two to four years 

 after the first appearance of the females — i.e., where establish- 

 ment docs foUow {vide Tables given below). 



In the comparatively few instances in which males are 

 first observed, it may be inferred, in most cases, that the 

 females had arrived from one to two years previously, and 

 had escaped observation, or that the males had wandered 

 during llicir scinch Ini- tlicii' ]»i(»ii('('is. In certain districts, 

 wlnic tluTc is (jnly ;i liniitijd |>()j)tilation at tlie centre, a 



^ Sii'iilntu.si'muir, Stiilin^shin', for example — a biiiv gnuss coiiiiiioii, with 

 a few HcattenMl wliin huslies — used to hold inKrkots uiwii. 



- As Ok'ii Queuli, and many otliors in Perthshire and other counties. 

 ^ In E^liuburgh {vide umler Midlotliian, aiitca, p. 89). 



