HISTOEY OF THE SPECIES IN SCOTLAND. 23 



woiild know how much the value of his pair would have been 

 enhanced had he been able to say they — or one of them — 

 were Scotch. As it was, they sold for only £7, which, as 

 prices went at that sale, was very moderate." 



1776. Pennant, in his 'British Zoologi/^ (4th ed., 4to, 

 London, '1776, vol. i. p. 223), says: — "This species is found 

 in no other part of Great Britain than the Higlilands of 

 Scotland north of Inverness, and is very rare even in these 

 parts. It is there known (p. 224) by the names of Caper- 

 calze, Auer-calze, and in the old law-books Caperkally." And 

 in ' The Caledonian Zoology' in Lightfoot's 'Flora Scotica' 

 (1777), p. 22, Pennant further states that it is "found in the 

 forests north of Loch Ness, but rarely. Once frequent in 

 most of the Highland fir- woods." 



1783. Latham {'Synops.' 11, p. 730) has as follows:— "The 

 last bird of this kind found in Scotland was in the Chicliolm's 

 (sic) great forest of Strathglass ; and I am weU informed that 

 the nest was placed in a Scotch pine." In the text, however, 

 he states that the eggs are laid on the ground.^ 



'The Old Stat. Acct. of Scotland' has the parallel passage 

 (vol. XX. 1798, p. 307):— "The Caper-coille, or Wild Turkey, 

 was seen in Glenmoriston, and in the neighbouring district of 

 Strathglass, about forty years ago; and it is not known that 

 this bird has appeared since, or that it now exists in Britain." 



^ There appears to be no third edition of Pennant's 'British Zoology,' for, as 

 I am informed, the first came out in 1766 (folio); the second was begun in 

 1768 (8vo) ; and in 1776 there were two issues, one in 4to and the other in 

 8vo ; and both bear the words "Fourth Edition" on their title-pages. 



^ That Latham's statement regarding the site of the nest may have been 

 quite correct, is rendered possible by the following, which I extract from ' The 

 Journal of Forestry' for October 1878, p. 443 : — 



"Capercailzie's Nest in a Pine Tree. — In a wood adjoining Falkland House, 

 on the Estate of Falkland, and at the northern base of the East Lomond Hill 

 in Fifeshire, a Capercailzie has actually tenanted the old nest of a falcon in a 

 pine tree, a considerable distance fi-om the ground. The Capercailzie has laid 

 ten egg«, and the process of incubation has advanced successfully in this aerial 

 retreat." — •" Ornis," in 'Land and Water.' 



