TETRAONID^. 



477 



THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



Tetrao urogallus, Linnreus. 



The Capercaillie — also known as the Wood-Grouse, and the male 

 as the Cock of the Wood — was formerly an inhabitant of the 

 pine-forests of the British Islands ; but at some remote period it 

 became extinct in England and Wales, while in Scotland and 

 Ireland the same fate appears to have overtaken it in the second 

 half of the last century. In 1S37 its re-introduction from Sweden 

 was successfully accomplished in Perthshire, from which county, 

 Forfarshire, and some other centres of distribution, it has now 

 spread over the central districts as far as Stirlingshire, and its ex- 

 tension further south is chiefly a question of time. Already the 

 coniferous woods have proved too small, and it is now oiten found 



