THE WOOD GROUSE OR CAPERCAILZIE. 



Tetrao urogallus LINNAEUS. 



Tetrao urogallus, Linnaeus. Wood Grouse, Pennant Te- 

 trao auerhan, Temminck, Manuel, ii. p. 457. 



PLATE XIII. 



AT the head of this section we place the caper- 

 cailzie the "giant grouse" as he is somewhere 

 termed. First in size and first in noble bearing, his 

 strong and hooked bill and robust form resemble 

 more a bird of prey than one of the Gallinse. The 

 capercailzie was certainly the noblest of the British 

 feathered game, but the attributes of strength, size, and 

 beauty, have proved his destruction, and they have 

 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 pe- 

 riod; while in Scotland the destruction was more 

 gradual, but they dwindled away, and the last spe- 

 cimen is recorded from fifty to sixty years since to 

 have been killed in the neighbourhood of Inverness. 

 There is, however, a prospect of the species being 

 again introduced to the Scottish forests, and the fol- 

 lowing interesting account of the attempts which 



