CAPERCAILZIE. 79 



Capercailzie, as first in both size and strength ; 

 the strong and hooked bill of the male reminding 

 us more of that member in the birds of prey, than 

 in one of the Rasores. The Capercailzie was 

 certainly the noblest of the British feathered 

 game : but the attributes of size, strength, and 

 beauty, have proved his destruction, and it has 

 been for many years extinct. In ancient times 

 they were tolerably abundant in the primeval 

 forests of Scotland and Ireland.* From the latter 

 they appear to have been entirely extirpated at a. 

 very early period, while in Scotland their destruc- 

 tion was more gradual, but they dwindled away, 

 and the last specimen is recorded to have been 

 killed in the neighbourhood of Inverness, more 

 than sixty years since. There is a prospect, how- 

 ever, of the species being again introduced into 

 Scotland, by the exertions of some of our Highland 

 nobility. Lord Fyfe has attempted to naturalise 

 the Cock of the Wood at Mar Lodge. The first 

 importation from Sweden was accomplished in 

 1827, or early in 1828, but was unattended with 

 success, owing to the death of the male bird, most 

 probably from harm received during the trans- 

 portation. In the year following, fresh birds 

 were imported, and young were successfully reared 

 after several attempts. These, in 1831, it was 

 intended to turn out, so soon as they were suffi- 



* Smith, in his History of Cork, completed in 1749, re- 

 marks, that this bird is " found rarely in Ireland since our 

 woods have been destroyed." 



