334f TETRAONIDJE. 



Tetrao urogattus, Wood Grouse, JENYNS, Brit. Yert. p. 168. 

 Capercailzie, GOULD, Birds of Europe. 



Tetras auerhan, TEMM. Man. d'Ornith. vol. ii. 



p. 457. 



TETRAO. Generic Characters. Bill short, strong ; upper mandible con- 

 vex, and arched from the base to the tip. Nostrils basal, lateral, partly 

 closed by an arched scale, and hidden from view by small closely-set 

 feathers. Space above the eye naked, the skin red with papillae, and 

 fringed. Wings short, and rounded in form ; the fifth quill-feather the 

 longest. Tail of sixteen feathers. Feet with the toes naked, three in 

 front united as far as the first joint, and one toe behind, short, the edges 

 of all pectinated. Tarsi feathered to the junction of the toes. 



THE liberal and persevering endeavours of several noble- 

 men to re-establish the Wood Grouse, or Capercaillie, in 

 this country having been successful, to a certain extent, in 

 one district of Scotland, as the details to be here related 

 will show, I have inserted this fine species in its proper 

 place at the head of our Grouse. 



The term Capercaillie is derived from the Gaelic, Capull- 

 coille, which means literally the horse of the wood : this 

 species being, in comparison with the others of the genus, 

 pre-eminently large, this distinction is intended to refer to 

 size, as it is usual now to say horse-mackerel, horse-ant, 

 horse-fly, horse-leech, horse-chestnut, and horse-radish. 

 The Latin specific term urogallus, the German auerhan, 

 and the Dutch ouerhan, refer in the same way to size. 

 Urus is a wild bull, and the names bullfinch, bullhead, 

 bulltrout, bullfrog, and bullrush, are applied to species of 

 large size in Zoology and Botany. Pennant says, that 

 north of Inverness the Wood Grouse was also known by 

 the names Caper-calze, and Auer-calze. This bird for- 

 merly existed in Ireland, and the last was said to have 

 been killed about the year 1760. The last of them killed 

 in Scotland, and near Inverness, happened later than the 

 year just recorded. 



The most recent, as well as the best, account of the 



