4 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



sometimes as many as a dozen eggs, of a pale buff ground colour, spotted with 

 darker brown. 



The colour of the adult males is dark slate-grey, the wing-coverts and scapular 

 feathers being chestnut, each small feather being finely lined or vermiculated with 

 white. The females are chestnut, barred with black and the feathers tipped with 

 white. These white tips of the hen become much more conspicixous in the autumn, 

 and greatly alter the appearance of the bird. The young males of the first year 

 are very similar in colour to the adult females. 



It is remarkable that in a state of nature hybrids, between the female Caper- 

 caillie and the male Black Grouse, are not unfrequent. They have been described, 

 at considerable length and with much attention, by Mr. R. Collett. Of this 

 hybrid he states that a considerable number are found every winter in Christiania. 

 In Spain it is known under the name of Rakkelhane. These strange hybrids are 

 almost always males. They are beautiful birds, but like the majority of hybrid 

 birds are sterile. They are so important that they have been figured by Nilson, 

 in his work on the " Scandinavian Fauna," and his plate is copied in the fourth 

 edition of " Yarrell," and the male is also figured in Dresser's magnificent work 

 on the " Birds of Europe." 



It is singular that so large a bird as the Capercaillie should be confounded 

 at any time with other species, but Lord Lilford suggests that they have been 

 mistaken for wild Turkeys in the Carpathians, in European Turkey, and in Spain, 

 singularly enough, it is termed the faisan, or Pheasant. In that country the 

 Capercaillie exists on berries, beech masts, acorns, etc., inasmuch as coniferous 

 trees in Spain are particularly scarce. In Scotland, however, it certainly seems 

 to prefer the tops of the twigs, or the needles of the Scotch fir, to any other diet, 

 and Lord Lilford states that in opening the distended crop of a male from Perth- 

 shire, he found it contained a tightly compressed mass of fir needles, that on 

 being loosened filled a chimney-pot hat. 



The flesh of the young Capercaillie is, in the opinion of many, superior to 

 that of the Black Game, although apt to have a turpentine flavour, from its feeding 

 on the leaves of the Scotch fir. Thousands of the birds are sent into the London 

 markets from northern Europe during the winter, being forwarded in a frozen 

 condition. The length of the male may be taken at two feet eight inches, and 

 its weight sometimes reaches fourteen pounds. The female is much less in size, 

 being only twenty-six inches in length. 



The breeding habits of the birds are very remarkable. Although polygamous 

 the males are said to exceed the females in number, consequently their combats 

 are very severe, and are carried on so regardless of danger, that they may 



