CAPERCAILLIE 3 



cocks wandering in search of "pastures new " when they 

 are able to look after themselves. 



On the whole the Capercaillie may be called a shy bird, 

 especially the old cocks ; but during the autumn even 

 these sometimes become quite tame, and a field of oats 

 near their haunts is an almost sure find for them in 

 August and September. At this time of year the crack 

 of the beater's stick and report of a gun have become a 

 memory of the remote past ; in addition to which, the 

 abundant feeding that surrounds them is too good a thing 

 to be left at once on the first indication of danger. I have 

 seen them sit on a paling by the roadside till a driver 

 cracked his whip at them, when they would reluctantly 

 flop off a few yards into the field, where they would stand 

 upright, like turkeys, till the disturber of their peace had 

 passed on. 1 



When surprised in open ground, and the danger is not 

 such as will immediately put them to flight, they often 

 stand in the erect position I have endeavoured to show in 

 the sketch, for a considerable time. One Sunday, when 

 walking on Craig Yinean, near Dunkeld, I disturbed a cock 

 and two hens, which were regaling themselves on the 

 blaeberries that abounded on the hillside. They stood 

 perfectly erect and motionless for fully ten minutes, until 

 at last I thought they must have become petrified in their 

 upright position, when one of the hens gave a " short 

 cluck " and recommenced feeding, evidently satisfied that 



1 I remember one summer evening, when returning from trout-fishing in 

 Rohallion Loch, I came across a hen Caper sitting on the wall which sur- 

 rounded a cornfield on the Murthly march. I thought I would try and see 

 how near I could approach her, and almost succeeded in touching her back 

 with my fly-rod before she thought it time to move off. 



