CAPERCAILLIK. J^93 



tliouo-h I do not recollect liavino: heard of more than two of 

 these birds being engaged at the same time." 



" The Capercali hen makes her nest upon the ground, and 

 lays from six to twelve eggs ; these are two inches three lines 

 long, by one inch eight lines in breadth, of a pale reddish 

 yellow brown, spotted all over Avith two shades of darker 

 orange brown. It is said she sits for four weeks. Her 

 young keep with her until towards the approach of winter ; 

 but the cocks separate from the mother before the hens.'" 



When the females really commence incubation they are 

 forsaken by the old males, who skulk about among the brush- 

 wood while renewing their plumage, the female alone attend- 

 ing to the hatching and rearing of her progeny. 



My late friend W. Christy, Jun. whose premature death 

 was sincerely regretted, says, in his journal, kept when on a 

 trip to Norway in 1836, under the date of August 8th, " I 

 was not a little startled, whilst gathering a plant near the 

 river side, by the sudden rising, within a yard of me, of a 

 fine Cock of the Woods. Shortly afterwards I heard several 

 shots, and on rejoining my companions I found they had suc- 

 ceeded in bringing down a female, and several half-grown 

 young ones. In the course of the day several other young- 

 males were shot, but we were unable to procure one in adult 

 plumage." Linnseus, in his Tour in Lapland, says the 

 Wood Grouse there are caught in traps ; the bodies are 

 dried, and will keep for a year. 



Mr. Lloyd observes, that " excepting there be a deep 

 snow, the Capercali is much upon the ground in the day 

 time ; very commonly, however, he sits on the pines, some- 

 times on the very uppermost branches. During the night 

 he generally roosts in the trees ; but if the weather be very 

 cold, he not unfrequently buries himself in the snow. Con- 

 sidering the large size of the bird, his flight is not particularly 

 heavy or noisy." Mr. Lloyd has not only seen this bird at a 



