CAPERCAILLIE 69 



cock is a short hoch-hoch, that of the hen a sharp gokgokgoilk, several times 

 repeated. The hen calls her young with a soft chuck, and they answer with a 

 low chirping. When enraged, the cock hisses like a goose, or utters a monotonous 

 tack - tack - tack ; when in pain, he gives vent to a peculiar gurgling in the 

 throat, like the squeak of an unoiled wheel ; and he makes another sound, a sort of 

 rattle, by airing his wings or shaking them, or striking with them at some hard 

 object. 



The hens, six, or sometimes even ten, of which are included in a " harem," are 

 not always present at the spel trees, although they keep near them, and seem 

 to mimic the attitudes of their mate as he chants. They lay seven, or (but this is 

 exceptional) even eighteen light brown eggs, freckled with reddish brown, which ai - e 

 deposited in a slight hollow scratched in the ground. The hens leave the nest only 

 at midday in warm, dry weather, and even then but for a short time. So soon as 

 they are hatched the young birds are led about by the mother, who calls them 

 coaxingly, and feeds them from her beak with ant-pupse and other insects 

 and larva?. In winter, and also in March and April, the male capercaillie will 

 live on pine-needles, but his principal food is berries and seeds, when he can get 

 them. The hen wants more variety in her bill of fare and prefers more animal 

 food, so that she is oftener found on the ground. 



Amongst the enemies of the capercaillie the principal are the fox and the 

 marten, but in northern and eastern Europe the wolf, lynx, bear, and glutton also 

 prey upon these birds, as do the larger kinds of eagles, hawks, and owls. The 

 nests are attacked by squirrels, hedgehogs, badgers, and wild boars, as well as by 

 magpies and other birds of the crow family. The weaker young birds ai-e some- 

 times destroyed by large ants, and in northern Europe by swarms of mosquitoes 

 and gadflies. The capercaillie is sharp of hearing and of sight, escaping quickly, 

 and being most ingenious in finding hiding-places. The cock is always suspicious, 

 but the hen is generally more confiding. If disturbed on the nest, she either 

 remains quietly on the eggs, or sneaks away, and pretends to be lame or ill, in 

 the hope that by drawing attention to herself the eggs may escape detection. If the 

 young can run, the whole party escapes on foot and disperses over a considerable 

 area, the young birds concluding their run by pressing their bodies close to the 

 ground. This happens, however, only so long as they cannot fly ; when older, 

 they follow their mother to the nearest tree. During the pairing-time the hen 

 informs her mate of danger by a sharp gock, and flies against him or touches 

 him with the point of her wings. If he hears the warning calls of other animals 

 in the forest, he knows how to take advantage of them for his own safety ; and he 

 always hides if another cock calling near by suddenly stops and disappears. It is 

 said that he can be deceived by tripping steps or jumps, in imitation of the noises 

 caused by deer. Like other animals a capei-caillie is much more easily frightened 

 by a repeated crackling than by one crack as of breaking wood, and will take alarm 

 at a sudden silence, as the halting or turning back of an approaching man. 



Capercaillie are found in the mountains of all the peninsulas of southern 

 Europe, in the Jura, the Alps, and the Carpathians, in Germany, in Russia up to 

 the Arctic Ocean, and in Siberia eastward to Kamchatka. They are most 

 numerous in Asia, and after that in Russia, Scandinavia, the Baltic provinces, 



