THE CAPERCAILLIE 153 



Capercaillies are always on the alert, and the snapping 

 of even a small twig will send them from their perch in 

 precipitate flight. Long before sunrise the Capercaillies 

 are silent once more, and then the loud clear notes of the 

 Missel Thrush break the early morning stillness. These 

 daybreak scenes in the big forests have an especial charm 

 to the nature-lover. Gradually the sun rises and throws 

 soft rosy rays on the western hills, lighting up the pines 

 in their corries and tinging their lingering snowfields 

 with its beams. 



For a bird so large and heavy — the male bird weighs 

 twelve pounds — the flight of the Capercaillie is certainly 

 skilful. They are able to speed through a thick wood 

 at a speed approaching a mile a minute, and yet 

 can avoid trees and branches of trees with sudden and 

 masterly swerves. It is said that after a period of wet 

 and stormy weather their plumage becomes saturated 

 to such an extent that they are unable to rise from the 

 ground. Sometimes in autumn Capercaillie leave the 

 shelter of their forests and pay visits to the cornfields 

 near, to feed on the grain. The damage done by them, 

 however, is insignificant compared to that worked by the 

 Black-cock. Though usually a shy and retiring bird, an 

 instance is on record of a cock Capercaillie attacking with 

 great fierceness any person venturing to pass through that 

 part of the forest where he dwelt. The usual food of 

 the Capercaillie consists of pine needles, young and tender 

 shoots being taken. The damage caused by them in 

 older woods is slight, but in young plantations of pine and 

 larch they destroy the leaders of the trees. They feed 

 on insects and their larvae, and in autumn eat various 

 wild fruits. It is said that the hens, with their young 

 broods, consume large numbers of pupae of the ant. It has 

 certainly been my experience that favourite nesting sites 

 of the Capercaillie are usually plentiful in ant-heaps — some 



