NATURALIZATION IN SCOTLAND. 33 



Fifthly. They will eat nearly all kinds of grain, par- 

 ticularly wheat, barley, and also white peas, of which they 

 are specially fond. 



Sixthly. They should be constantly provided with fresh 

 sprigs or boughs of the Scotch fir. Give them occasionally 

 green food, such as grass-sods, berries, cabbage-leaves, 

 &c. ; but should their " droppings " appear washy, desist 

 altogether for a time. They eat heather. 



Seventhly. Do not overfeed them. Fifty birds die from 

 repletion to one from starvation. 



Eighthly. They must be constantly supplied with fresh 

 water, especially in the summer time. 



Ninthly. It is highly important that they should be well 

 provided with coarse sand and grit (small gravel), as also 

 with a large heap of fine sand in which to dust themselves. 



Tenthly. If any bird appears to mope, or to be sickly, 

 remove it at once from the others, more particularly if 

 the place be confined. The healthy birds will otherwise 

 molest it, and prevent it from feeding. 



Eleventhly. In the spring of the year, as the pairing 

 season approaches, the several males should be separated ; 

 for, being then very quarrelsome, they may otherwise 

 injure or even destroy each other. 



To proceed. It is fortunate for the sporting world 

 that the Capercali, after the lapse of more than a century, 

 is once more included in the British Fauna, and I feel 

 proud in having been a contributor in a small degree to 

 so desirable an event. It had long been my anxious de- 

 sire that a proper attempt should be made to naturalize 

 those birds with us, never doubting of success, provided 

 the experiment was made on a sufficiently large scale, and 

 not in dribblets, as had previously been the case. Years 

 ago, indeed, I volunteered my services to more than one 

 influential proprietor in Scotland, amongst others to the 

 late Marquis of Htintly ; but from imagining " his woods 



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