THE CAPERCAILZIES. 5 I 



generally some particular pine-tree known as the " laking- 

 place." Here, in the month of April, the male may be seen at 

 dawn and sunset, where, with outstretched neck, drooping 

 wings, and tail erected and spread like a fan, he utters his 

 "spel,"or love-song. This consists of three notes, each being 

 several times repeated, and towards the end of the song he 

 works himself up into such a state of blind excitement that, 

 careless of the surrounding objects, he heeds not the stealthy 

 approach of the "sportsman," who takes advantage of these 

 moments of ecstacy, and gradually gets within shooting dis- 

 tance. Thus on the Continent many a fine old cock is done 

 to death, for only the older birds " spel," the younger and 

 weaker cocks being driven from the field. Tremendous fights 

 take place for the sovereignty of each harem, and both com- 

 batants may sometimes be captured, having fought till they are 

 so completely exhausted that they are unable to escape. 



The flesh of old birds has a strong flavour of turpentine, and, 

 being extremely bitter, is unfit for the table, but young birds 

 are often palatable enough, if properly cooked. 



Hybrids. — The female Capercailzie, as already mentioned, fre- 

 quently crosses with the Black-cock, and the male hybrid is a 

 remarkably handsome bird, with a fine purplish gloss on the 

 breast and a forked tail, but the latter is much less curved than 

 that of the male parent. The female hybrid is much more 

 difficult to distinguish, and may easily be mistaken for a large 

 Grey-hen or small female Capercailzie ; but there is an infal- 

 lible means of distinguishing the three to be found in the com- 

 parative length of the middle tail-feathers and under tail-coverts. 

 In the Grey-hen the tail is forked, the outer feathers being much 

 the longest, and the under tail-coverts extend considerably 

 beyond the middle pair. The female Capercailzie has the tail 

 rounded, the middle pair of feathers being much longer than 

 the outer, and the under tail-coverts do not extend nearly to 

 the end of the middle pair, while in the female hybrid the 

 tail is nearly square, the feathers being all of about the same 



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