114 REMIXISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAX. 



The cock of the wood feeds chiefly on the cones of 

 the fir trees, and on plants and berries, more especially 

 that of the juniper : at certain seasons this food renders 

 the flesh too strong to be palatable, and as regards the 

 table, it is certainly an inferior bird to the black cock 

 or the grouse, but it has this advantage from its size, that 

 it makes an important figure on the dinner table. The 

 capercailzie is nearly the size of the turkey, is 2 feet 8 or 

 9 inches in length; 3 feet 10 inches in breadth, and 

 weighs from 12 to 15 lbs. The bill of the male is of 

 a dusky brown colour, very strong, and convex ; the 

 irides of the eyes are hazel, and over the eye is a naked 

 red skin ; the nostrils are small and covered with short 

 dusky feathers, which extend under the throat, and 

 these are black and much longer than the rest ; the 

 head and neck are ash colour, elegantly marked with 

 transverse narrow blackish lines ; the feathers at the 

 setting on of the wings are white ; the breast of a very 

 glossy blackish green ; the rest of the under parts black, 

 but the belly and feathers over the thighs and vent are 

 marked with a few white spots ; the tail consists of 

 eighteen black feathers, which in the outward ones are 

 marked with a few white spots ; the sides are marked 

 as the neck ; the legs are very strong, covered with 

 brown feathers, and the edges of the toes pectinated. 



The female differs widely in its plumage, and excels 

 the male in the beauty and variety of its colours, rarely 

 found to be the case in birds ; it is only 26 inches 

 in length. The bill is dusky, and the tliroat orange- 

 red ; head, neck, and back are marked with transverse 

 bars of orange-red and black; the breast has some 

 white spots upon it, and the lower part is of a plain 

 orange colour, the belly barred with plain orange colour 



