CAPERCAILLIE 5 



boon which Nature has beneficently provided for their 

 safety. How well does the little Partridge know that, 

 though he is crouching on the open clay of a stubble-field 

 with but two or three straws or blades of grass around him, 

 he has as good a chance of escaping unobserved as if he 

 were hidden beneath the thickest cover ! So, too, it is 

 extraordinary to see in what a scanty cover a large bird 

 like a cock Capercaillie can hide himself without being 

 discovered. It is a common sight to see an old cock come 

 tumbling down with a broken wing amongst the short 

 heather and utterly baffle the efforts of two or three 

 beaters to find him. They come up and stamp down all 

 the ground round about the spot without success, and 

 then, after a considerable time has been wasted and the 

 scent destroyed as much as possible, with much shouting 

 and yelling a " dug" will be brought up, who will at once 

 pick up the lost one from amongst their feet, much to 

 their astonishment. 



Notwithstanding the size and shape of the wings of the 

 Caper, when fairly launched in the air its flight is botli 

 graceful and rapid, the bird at times moving as fast as any 

 one could wish, as far as shooting purposes are concerned. 

 I have on several occasions seen Capers approaching a line 

 of guns, in company with Grouse and Blackgame, and 

 noticed with w r hat apparent ease they held their own, 

 flying about the same pace as the other two species, but 

 with apparently half the effort, giving now and then two 

 or three steady beats of the wing, a little slower than 

 Blackgame, and then sailing for a great distance. When 

 passing over roads, drives, or small clumps of trees, which 

 they think are dangerous, they often adopt a peculiar 



