82 CAPERCAILZIE. 



correct, we see no reason why the occasional cross- 

 ing- should not have taken place in this country, 

 as well as in Norway or Sweden. The continental 

 ornithologists generally, we believe, adopt the 

 theory of hybridity, and it has been assented to, 

 or at least not contradicted, by those of this 

 country. One residing- at a distance from their 

 haunts cannot be expected to go narrowly into the 

 question, and the following remarks are made 

 with the view of directing the attention of persons 

 who have the opportunity, to a fact which we 

 do not consider as yet satisfactorily proved. The 

 bird in the dress of T. medius, appears to be far too 

 common for a hybrid ; since the introduction of 

 game from Northern Europe, it is to be procured 

 almost every spring in the poultry shops of some 

 of the larger towns, and Mr. Yarrell speaks to as 

 many as seven specimens, during ten years, in the 

 shops of one poulterer in London. But among all 

 the specimens we have examined, and in those of 

 our own collection, there was, and is, no difference 

 whatever in the plumage of the specimens, they 

 are exactly similar ; now, in hybrids, we should 

 expect, and do find, not two species similar. The 

 intermediate form of the bird is just that which 

 we would look for to intervene between the Caper- 

 cailzie, or the round tailed grouse of America, and 

 the extreme of development seen in the black cock. 

 On the other side, we have an intermediate form 

 between them and the long acuminated tail of 

 the cock of the plains. The scarcity of the 



