2 THE GROUSE SUBFAMILY 



in both sexes, recalls that of the female, but differs in that the wing-coverts 

 and scapulars have buff shaft-stripes and the feathers of the body buff tipped. 

 The young in down is buff coloured, with a black horseshoe on the forehead, 

 the free end of the loop being continued backwards, above the eye ; there are 

 black mottlings on the sides of the head, nape, and neck, and an inconspicuous 

 median, dusky stripe along the back. A narrow line of bare red skin runs from 

 above the eye backwards and downwards to the aperture of the ear. [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. In the British Isles this species formerly inhabited the 

 pine forests of Great Britain and Ireland. In Scotland and Ireland it survived till 

 the latter half of the eighteenth century, but then became extinct. It was, how- 

 ever, successfully reintroduced in 1837 to Perthshire, and from thence has spread 

 not only over the greater part of the Tay and Forth areas, but now ranges into Dee, 

 Moray, Argyll, and Clyde, while stragglers have been recorded even from Wigtown 

 and Dumfries in the south and Elgin in the north. (For a detailed account up to 

 1888 see J. A. Harvie-Brown, The Capercaillie in Scotland.) On the Continent it is 

 found in the coniferous forests north to about 69-70 in Norway and 68-69 in 

 Sweden, but in Russia it ranges to the Arctic Circle on the Petschora and 65 in the 

 Urals. Southward its range does not extend beyond the Cantabrian Mountains in 

 Spain, the Pyrenees, Alps, Dinaric Alps, Carpathians, and Balkans, and in Russia 

 to the governments of Volhynia, Kieff, Tschernigoff, Orel, Tamboff, Penza, Simbirsk, 

 Samara, and Orenburg. In the Volga basin, according to Buturlin, and also in 

 Asia from the Urals to Eastern Siberia (lat. 65 on the Lena and Mongolia), it is 

 replaced by allied forms. Throughout its range it is resident, confined chiefly to 

 '' GdnifWous forests. [F. c. R. J.] 

 : i :'" '.-''"I: ..;:3v. Migration. This reintroduced species is resident, and, apart from range 

 extension, stationary. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nesting-site is generally in a hollow, scratched 

 out by the hen at the foot of a tree in pine forest. Sometimes it may be found 

 under the shelter of trees blown down by gales, in a low bush, or among thick 

 heather, but these latter sites are unusual. Exceptionally nests have been recorded 

 in a tree and in a falcon's eyrie. The hollow is usually lined with pine-needles, and 

 occasionally a little moss or a few feathers, by the hen. (PL LIX.) The eggs, as a 

 rule, vary from 6 to 8 in number, but instances of 10 to 12 and even 14 and 15 have 

 been recorded. In appearance they resemble those of the black-grouse, the ground- 

 colour varying from yellowish to reddish yellow, generally with fine speckles of 

 reddish brown, and spotted or blotched rather sparingly as a rule with sienna-brown. 



