8 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



green leaves on in the interior. It is occasionally 

 built in such a simple situation on a mountain 

 side that it can be easily reached without the 

 aid of ropes, as was the case with the nest figured 

 in the accompanying illustration. 



The eggs number from two to four, although 

 the majority of clutches consist of three. They 

 are subject to a certain amount of variation in 

 regard to colour and size, but are not likely to be 

 mistaken for those of any other British breeding 

 bird except the Kite, and the extreme rarity of 

 that bird renders confusion somewhat improbable. 



CAPERCAILLIE. 



THIS splendid member of the Grouse family has 

 had a somewhat chequered career as a British 

 bird. There is no doubt that it lived in the 

 north of England in pre-historic times, and that 

 the burning of large tracts of pine forest in Scot- 

 land and Ireland in order to get rid of wolves and 

 other vermin, helped greatly to reduce its ranks 

 and prepare the way for its extinction, which 

 came about in both countries towards the close of 

 the eighteenth century. 



It was reintroduced from Sweden in 1837; since 

 which time it has thriven and spread until I have 

 heard it is regarded as a nuisance in some parts 

 of Scotland, on account of the injury it does to 

 young firs, upon the tender shoots of which it 

 principally feeds. 



The bird places its nest, which simply consists 

 of a natural or scraped hollow in the ground lined 

 with a few leaves, bits of grass, or pine needles, 



