CAPERCAILLIE. 337 



open their pipes. Combats, as may be supposed, not un- 

 frequently take place on these occasions ; though I do not 

 recollect having heard of more than two of these birds 

 being engaged at the same time. 



" The Capercali hen makes her nest upon the ground, 

 and lays from six to twelve eggs ; these are two inches 

 three lines long, by one inch eight lines in breadth, of a 

 pale reddish yellow brown, spotted all over with two shades 

 of darker orange brown. It is said she sits for four weeks. 

 Her young keep with her until towards the approach of 

 winter ; but the cocks separate from the mother before the 

 hens." 



"When the females really commence incubation, they are 

 forsaken by the old males, who skulk about among the 

 brushwood while renewing their plumage, the female alone 

 attending to the hatching and rearing of her progeny. 



My friend the late W. Christy, Jun., whose premature 

 death was sincerely regretted, says, in his journal, kept 

 when on a trip to Norway in 1836, under the date of Au- 

 gust 8th, " I was not a little startled, whilst gathering a 

 plant near the river side, by the sudden rising, within a 

 yard of me, of a fine Cock of the Woods. Shortly after- 

 wards I heard several shots, and on rejoining my com- 

 panions I found they had succeeded in bringing down a 

 female, and several half-grown young ones. In the course 

 of the day several other young males were shot, but we 

 were unable to procure one in adult plumage." Linneus, 

 in his Tour in Lapland, says the Wood Grouse there are 

 caught in traps ; the bodies are dried, and will keep for a 

 year. 



Mr. Lloyd observes, that " excepting there be a deep 

 snow, the Capercali is much upon the ground in the day- 

 time ; very commonly, however, he sits on the pines, some- 

 times on the very uppermost branches. During the night 



VOL. n. z 



