22 THE HAREM. 



froth issues from his moutli.* He is worked ujj iato such 

 an agony of j)assion, as to be all but unconscious of what 

 is passing around him. Many, indeed, assert he is then 

 both deaf and hlind;t and it is at this critical moment, 

 as will shortly be shown, that so tnany of these noble 

 birds fall to the gun. 



The exertion during the spel has an extraordinary 

 physical effect upon the Capercali, as is evidenced by the 

 frequency and abundance of his droppings; and during 

 his last note, sisningen, when, as said, he is worked up 

 into a state of ecstasy, he trembles to such a degree that 

 even the pine, however large, on which he is perched, 

 sensibly vibrates to the touch ! 



On hearing the spel of the cock, the hens assemble at 

 the " lek-stiille " from all parts of the surrounding dis- 

 trict, and alight either on the very tree where he is perched, 

 or other trees in the immediate vicinitj'', when they make 

 their presence known by their somewhat melancholy luck- 

 ton, or call-note, resembling in degree the words Gock ! 

 Gock I Gock ! or rather, perhaps, the croak of the raven. 



A little before sunrise, the cock usually descends from 

 his pei'ch and alights on some open spot in the forest close 

 by, where the hens (as seen in the accompanying drawing) 

 collect about him ; and here, during the intervals of his 



* In parts of Sweden the peasants entertain tlie very singular notion 

 that it is with this froth, which the hens pick up from tlie ground, tliat 

 they become impregnated. 



t It is tlie commonly received opinion, that during sisningen the eyes of 

 the Capercali are altogether closed. But this is not the case, it having 

 been ascertained by experiments on tame birds that, though the globe of 

 the eye is then covered with the nictitating membrane, and as a conse- 

 quence the bird cannot see, yet the eyelashes themselves remain mean- 

 while altogether open. From the same spasmodic aftection its organs of 

 hearing are contracted ; whence it becomes deaf ; often, indeed, to such a 

 degree that it does not seem to take the slightest notice of even the report 

 «if the gun. 



