30 DOMESTICATION. 



" Young Capercali lions," lie tells us, " may be cln -ated 

 into laying against their will. One may take e^s 1'nnn 

 them, leaving only two or three in the nest, and they 

 will daily lay others in their places ; so that from a 

 single nest as many as twenty eggs may be obtained. 

 This being the case," he goes on to say, " it does not 

 seem impossible, if these birds were tamed, to turn them 

 to the same account as common hens. They could be kept 

 on the produce of the forest alone, whereas the latter 

 during the winter eat up many sacks of barley and other 

 kinds of grain." 



The Capercali breeds readily in confmemont, pro- 

 vided proper arrangements be made for the purpose. I 

 myself, it is true, never tried the experiment, considering 

 it less troublesome to procure the adult birds from the 

 forest than to rear them ; but many instances are related 

 showing the matter to be of easy accomplishment. 



\Ve are told by the Director, M. af Uhr, for example, 



that "at the smelting-works of , in the province of 



Dalecarlia, the old birds in the winter time were kept 

 together in a very large loft, where they were fed with 

 grain, &c., and that early in the spring they were turned 

 into an inclosure, protected by a high fence, near the 

 house. In this inclosure were firs and pines, the com- 

 mon trees thereabouts. During the period of incubation 

 no one went near to the place except the individual 

 who fed them. 



"Their food then consisted of barley and fresh sprigs of 

 the trees just mentioned. It was indispensable to let 

 them have full liberty, and to remain entirely undisturbed, 

 if the hens were to sit and hatch their young. So soon as 

 this had occurred and the brood were out, they were 

 removed to a roomy yard closely fenced in, so that the 

 young could not escape. The wings of the old birds 

 wore always clipped to prevent their flying away. I have 



