THE CAPERCAILLIE 



ORDER GALLIN.^ 



FAMILY TETRAONID.T. 

 THE CAPERCAILLIE 



TETRAO UROGALLUS 



Featliers of the throat elongated, black ; head and neck dusky ; eyes with a 

 bare red skin above and a white spot below ; wings brown speckled with 

 black ; breast lustrous green ; abdomen black with white spots ; rump 

 and flanks marked with undulating lines of black and ash colour ; tail 

 black with white spots ; beak horn white ; eyebrows naked, red, be- 

 neath the eye a white spot. Length thirty-six inches. Female — a 

 third smaller, barred and spotted with tawny red, black, and white ; 

 throat tawny red, unspotted ; breast deep red ; tail dark red with black 

 bars, white at the tip ; l)ill dusky. Eggs dull yellowish white speckled 

 with 3'ellowish brown. 



The Capercaillie, Wood Grouse, or Cock of the Woods, was a rare 

 bird in Scotland in Pennant's time (1769), and was found only in 

 the Highlands north of Inverness. It became extinct in the eigh- 

 teenth century, but was re-introduced in 1837 in Scotland, and it 

 is now common in firwoods there, especially in Perthshire. In the 

 pine forests of Sweden and Norway it is still indigenous, but, being 

 a large and beaiitiful bird, is much sought after, and is annually 

 receding from the haunts of men. It is also found in some of the 

 central countries of Europe, as Poland and the Jura mountains, 

 where it is said to be rather common. It is not only an inhabitant 

 of woods, but passes its time for the most part in trees, and feeds 

 in great measure on the young shoots of the Scotch fir. In summer 

 it adds to its dietary berries, seeds, and insects, for which it searches 

 among bushes or on the ground, returning to the woods to roost. 

 The male bird has obtained great celebrity for his marvellous per- 

 formances when serenading the hens during the morning and even- 

 ing twilight in spring. " During his play, the neck of the Caper- 

 caillie is stretched out, his tail is raised and spread like a fan, his 

 wings droop, his feathers are ruffled up, and, in short, he much 

 resembles in appearance an angry Turkey Cock. He begins his 

 jilay with a call something resembling the words peller, peller, 

 peller ; these sounds he repeats at first at some little intervals, but, 

 as he proceeds, they increase in rapidity, until, at last, and after 

 perhaps the lapse of a moment or so, he makes a sort of gulp in 

 his throat, and finishes by drawing in his breatli. During the con- 

 tinuance of this latter process, which only lasts a few seconds, the 

 head of the Capercaillie is thrown up, his eyes are partially closed, 

 and his whole appearance would denote that he is worked up into 

 an agony of passion.'' This jierfornianre, liowever attractive it ma}' 

 be to those for whose benefit it is intended, exercises a fascination 



