SCANDINAVIA 293 



the shooter, who remains stationary. The wanderini^ sportsman will 



occasionally come across them in his rambles through the forest and 



on the fjelds. 



The principal game-birds of Scandinavia, five in number, are all 



o( the grouse tribe. The capercailzie ( Tetrao Mvogalliis) ; the black 



oTouse ( Tetrao tetrix) ; the hazel-hen or tree-grouse 



"^ ^ ' . Game Birds. 



( Tetrao bonasia) ; the ptarmigan (Lagoptts alpina) ; and 



the willow-grouse {Lagopus sub-alpina). The first three birds are 



plentifully scattered over the forests and woodlands of both Sweden 



and Norway, and are especially numerous in localities where the pine 



and fir have been partially cleared away, allowing the birch and alder, 



the juniper, raspberry cane, bilberry, and whortleberry, and other 



frugiferous shrubs to spring up ; and where there are 



open willow-frino-ed morasses along the borders of which Capercailzie 



^ ' " and Black 



they can feed and bask. The old cock cailzie, which Qame. 



weigh from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs., do indeed betake them- 

 selves to the sombre depths of the pine forest and the seclusion of 

 rocky ravines, and are, to the last degree, wary and difficult to 

 approach, but the young birds of the year will often lie well to 

 a dog up to the beginning of September. Black game are very 

 partial to the neighbourhood of farms and clearings, and late in 

 the season collect in packs to feed on the stubbles towards dusk and 

 at dawn. A road or path which tra\'erses the forest, and on which 

 they can dust themselves, is a great attraction to them, as it is indeed 

 to all the grouse tribe. The well-known practice common to several 

 European countries of shooting the cock cailzie and the blackcock 

 during the spring "lek," when they are occupied in calling the hens 



