84 THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



part of the great central mass of hills which extend around 

 the sources of the Carron and Endrick rivers. 



1856. The earliest record of the occurrence of the species 

 in this county was a bird — a female — shot upon Stenhouse- 

 muir, and for a long time afterwards in possession of Mr, Caddell 

 of the Grange, Linlithgow. Stenhousemuir is an open, flat, 

 grass common, used annually for the great autumn cattle and 

 sheep markets, usually known by the name of " Tlie Falkirk 

 Trysts." This bird, I believe, could only have come from 

 TuUiallan, and must be looked upon as a very exceptional 

 occurrence (compare under Perthshire, 1856). The next nearest 

 point was the Doune district in Perth, but there the birds 

 only appeared for the first time this same year. 



1863. In 1863, birds bred at Dunmore, which is only 

 separated from Tulhallan by a narrow part of the river Forth. 

 The Dunmore and Airth woods are not extensive, otherwise 

 we might certainly have expected a larger irruption from 

 TuUiallan by this channel. These eggs, however, were not 

 hatched out. {Vide ' ZooV 1867, p. 897.] 



1866. First observed at Garden, and bred there in the 

 " Kippen Firs " — a wood close to Loch Laggan (35 miles from 

 O ). These birds probably came across the valley of the 

 Forth, direct from the Doune district, from the wooded estates 

 of Lanrick, Blair-Drummond, and Gartencaber. The Kippen 

 Firs and neighbouring woods of Arngomery would be visible 

 to the birds from Doune. 



1867. Appeared simultaneously on Torwood Estate and 

 on Denovan, near Larbert and Denny (both about 38 miles 

 from O )• On these estates together, and on Quarter — also 

 adjoining — there is a considerable acreage of suitable wood, 

 and they have become firmly estabhshed. 



In 1867-68 a female was shot at Eoss Priory by Sir George 

 Leith-Buchanan, Bart., who did not again meet with a bird 

 there until 1877-78 (31st December 1877), when lie again shot 

 a female bird. 



