28 ENEMIES OF THE CAPERCALT. 



those usually produced by that bird. Six of them were 

 placed in a nest along with seven legitimate turkey eggs, 

 and all were hatched ; hut the two broods were totally 

 dissimilar in appearance. Unfortunately, however, dur- 

 ing my absence from home, all the chicks, that claimed 

 the Capercali for father, died when going through their 

 first moult, being then of the size of the common 

 barn-door fowl." 



The Capercali has many enemies, four-footed as well 

 as winged, independently of man. Though a large and 

 powerful bird, it not unfrequently falls a prey even to 

 the smaller species of the genus Palco. " Some weeks 

 before last Christmas," writes Major Matern, "I was 

 taking a stroll in a pasture field, thinly studded with 

 oak and birch trees, and adjacent to an extensive pine 

 wood. When looking up I observed in the distance 

 two birds, sometimes flying high and at others low, 

 and all the while fighting in the air. At last they 

 approached near to me, when they proved to be an un- 

 usually small hawk and an old Capercali cock, into the 

 back of which the former had fixed his talons, endeavour- 

 ing to deprive it of life. As yet, however, the hawk had 

 only succeeded, and that by picking at the wing-joints, in 

 compelling the Capercali to take to terra Jtn/m. where a 

 severe scuffle ensued between them. This was, however, 

 soon put an end to by my arrival at the scene of action. 

 The Capercali was entirely exhausted, and the little hawk 

 could only with difficulty disentangle itself from its coveted 

 prey, after which it perched on a fence in the vicinity. 

 The Capercali was an acceptable prize to me, and though 

 a good deal plucked about the neck and somewhat 

 \\oundedon the \\inus, was in other respects uninjured. 

 1 was enabled to carry it home alive." 



In Scandinavia the Capercali is in considerable request 

 for the table. It is more palatable, however, during the 



