24 THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



1785. In Martyn's ' Dictionary of Natural History' 1785, 

 it is said : — " The Cock of the Mountains is a native of various 

 parts of Europe, and particularly of Ireland and Wales ; but 

 he is never seen in England except through mere accident." 

 At another place he says : — " Capercalze — a provincial name 

 for the Cock of the Wood." He describes the bird fairly 

 weU, " of the size of a peacock ; appears to be of the pheasant 

 kind ! " 



1802. Montagu (^Dictionary of British Birdsl 1802) did 

 not appear to have been aware of its extinction in Scotland 

 at the time he wrote, but quotes the above passage of Latham's 

 regarding the nest found "placed in a Scotch pine." In his 

 supplement, however (1813), he says: — "This bird, we be- 

 lieve, is now extinct in the British dommions." 



The Capercaillie continued in Strathspey until the year 

 1745. The last seen in Scotland was in the woods of Strath- 

 glass, about thirty-two years ago (Rev. J. Grant in ' Old Stat. 

 Acct. of Scotland ' — parish of Kirkmichael, Banffshire, vol. xii. 

 p. 451). This would put the date of extinction about 1762. 

 The above account is very generally accepted and quoted by 

 later writers (see Fleming, 'Brit. Animals' p. 46; Gray, 'Birds 

 of West of Scotland,' p. 229, and others). Sir Wm. Jardine 

 (' JVat. Library : Orn.,' vol. iv., 1834) puts the probable date 

 later — between 1774 and 1784, — but we may accept the 

 earlier record as being most probably correct. Professor 

 Newton {' Encyc. Brit.' 9th edition, article ' Birds,' p. 736, part 

 xii.) places the extinction in Ireland at about 1760, and in 

 Scotland " not much later," after comparing the accounts of 

 Boece (1526), Bishop Lesly (1578), Pennant (1769), and all 

 previous authorities which he had access to {op. cit., art. 

 ' Capcrcally' vol. v. p. 53). 



' The Old Statistical Account of Scotland ' — published be- 

 tween 1791 and 1799 — contains other notices of the bird. 

 Thus : — " The Caperkaily, or king of the wood, said to be a 



