294 TETRAONID.E. 



very considerable height in the air, but has known him take 

 a flight of several miles at a time. " The Capercali lives to a 

 considerable age ; at least so I infer," says Mr. Lloyd, " from 

 the cocks not attaining to tlieir full growth until their third 

 year or upward. The old ones may be easily known from 

 their greater bulk, their eagle-like bill, and the more beau- 

 tiful glossiness of their plumage. The size of these birds 

 appears to depend, in a great degree, on the latitude where 

 they are found. In Lapland, for instance, the cocks seldom 

 exceed nine or ten pounds. In Wermeland, and adjacent 

 parts, again, I have never heard of their being killed of more 

 than thirteen pounds ; whilst in the more southern provinces 

 of Sweden, — and I have three several authorities for my 

 statement, — they have not unfrequently been met with weigh- 

 ing seventeen pounds and upwards. The hen Capercali 

 usually weighs from five to six pounds," 



" The Capercali is often domesticated in Sweden ; indeed, 

 both at Uddeholm and Risater, as well as other places, I 

 have known them to be kept for a long period in avia- 

 ries built for the purpose. These birds were so perfectly 

 tame as to feed out of the hand. Their food principally con- 

 sisted of oats, and of the leaves of the Scotch fir, Pinus syl- 

 vestris, large branches of which were usually introduced into 

 their cages once or more in the course of the week. They 

 were also supplied with abundance of native berries when 

 procurable. They were amply provided at all times with 

 water and sand ; the latter was of a coarse quality, and both 

 were changed pretty frequently." 



" It has been asserted that the Capercali will not breed 

 when in a state of domestication : this is altogether a mistake ; 

 repeated experience has proved the contrary. A few years 

 ago I procured a brace of those birds, consisting of a cock and 

 hen, for a friend of mine, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq. the 

 member fur Weymouth, then resident at Cromer Hall, in 



