44 CAPERC.iLZIE SHOOTING. 



protection. When a capercalzie's eggs are dis- 

 covered, they are di\dded among several grey hens, 

 \yhose nests the keepers search out for this pui-pose. 

 The grey hens, however, will not sit upon them, 

 unless some of then- own eggs are also left ; but when 

 the yomig are hatched they ^^ill pay equal regard to 

 both; and it is not until the capercalzie are fully 

 grown that they drive away their step-mothers, who 

 then dread them as much as hawks. We can ima- 

 gine how splendidly furnished once appeared the 

 primeval woods and moors of Ireland and Scotland, 

 when the capercalzie perched and roosted in nmn- 

 bers on the trees, enriching, ^vith its gay investiture 

 of plumage, the solitar}^ sceneiy mth a beauty of its 

 own — when the black cock and red grouse were as 

 plentiful as sparrows — and ptarmigan and moor-fowl 

 hovered over lake, or sui'mounted pinnacles of rocks, 

 like the sylph spirits of the lorn localities. That 

 such shall ever be the case again can never be ex- 

 pected, nor should it be desired. The disappearance 

 of the large tribes of wild beasts and birds marks 

 ever tlie paths of civilisation ; and in bartering the 

 piictm'esque for the partially beneficial, the social con- 

 dition of mankuid has mfinitely the best of the 

 exchange. It is very rarely that the romance and 

 the reality of life are found living together on good 

 terms. 



The food of the capercalzie consists principally 

 of the yomig shoots of fir (of which their flesh is said 

 to taste), and of the buds and berries of the forests 



