CHAPTER III. 



Shooting Capercali at the Pairiiig-Uniuiid. — To tlie rciintei-. — Tragical 

 Event. — Swedish Criiuiual Law. — To the " Fogel-Huiul." — Adxrtitun' 

 with a Bear. — Good Sport. — How to make a Bag. 



^T^IIE Capercali, owing to its great size and eatable 

 -■- qualities, being in every sense of the word " a 

 great acquisition to the larder," various are the exjie- 

 dients resorted to in Scandinavia to effect its capture. 



Many fall to the gun, and, for the most part, in the 

 pairing season; at which time, though contrai'y to law, 

 thousands of these noble birds (chiefly males) are merci- 

 lessly slaughtered. Any lump of a fellow, indeed, who is 

 able to pull a trigger can then knock them down in the 

 way I am now about to describe. 



The whereabouts of the Lek-stdlle, of which mention 

 Avas made in the last chapter, having been ascertained, 

 the gunner — for a sportsman he can hardly be called — 

 proceeds to the spot either over-night (in which case he 

 bivouacks in its vicinity), or at a very early hour in the 

 morning. "He should be there,'' we are told, "by the 

 first dawn of day, when the AYoodcock begins to rode. 



