CHAPTER XXV. 



DAMAGE TO GRAIN. 



As to the damage done to grain, it certainly appears to be con- 

 siderable where they frequent standing fields of corn. In 

 the Crieff and Comrie district I have it from a reliable eye- 

 witness that numbers of these birds alight in standing corn- 

 fields, beating down the stalks with their wings each time 

 they alight, and doing incalculable damage. On the other 

 hand, in almost all other districts from which I have data, I 

 am told that they are either " seldom if ever," or " never," 

 seen in corn-fields. I am bound to say, however, that these 

 latter reports do not emanate in most cases from parties who 

 might take an impartial view of the matter, or from agricul- 

 turists who might not be blind to their shortcomings ; and 

 upon this point I still require data before arriving at conclu- 

 sions. Meanwhile, I think it is safe to consider that any 

 such damage is extremely local, and not general. A corre- 

 spondent in Glenalmond informs me that the taste for grain 

 has only lately been developed there. He says they are now 

 heginning to feed upon the stooks on Balgowan estate (1877), 

 and he adds with natural gladness, being a person interested 

 in their welfare, " It will then be easier to rear them." '^ 



Never have we heard that Capercaillies in a wild native 



■^ The gamekeeper on Balgowan, however, has never seen them on arable 

 ground, nor has he ever found grain in their crops. 



