CAPERCAILLIE 7 



slope. It is a beautiful sight to see one preparing to start 

 on a long flight. I once watched a hen thus, on a still 

 autumn evening, as she rose off a larch on the high cliffs 

 above Stenton ; after taking two or three little circles in 

 the air, as a sort of preliminary canter, she started off 

 again in circles growing wider and wider, and having 

 reached an elevation of about 200 feet above the cliffs, she 

 went off in a bee-line for " Craigie Barns," a hill about five 

 miles distant. 



When disturbed on hilly ground, they rise clear off the 

 trees and either proceed in a direct line or incline slightly 

 down-hill, flying forward in this manner till their journey 

 is ended by their pitching in some tree or on the ground. 

 It sometimes happens that they suddenly find themselves 

 at the end of the cover, with no other place of refuge 

 within reasonable distance. In this case they swing at 

 great speed up the hillside, skirting the tree-tops, appar- 

 ently borne forward by the impetus which their flight 

 down-hill has given them, and, flying back a short distance 

 in the cover, will alight within a hundred yards or so of 

 the edge of the wood. This is about the only time the 

 Caper makes any noise in flight, for, as he goes by you 

 with a " swish " like an express train, you find it difficult 

 to associate him with the bird that usuallv glides by like a 



/ O v 



ghost, and which takes all your perceptive faculties to 

 observe at all. When passing directly overhead, the noise 

 produced by their wings resembles that of a Wild Duck, 

 but scarcely so loud. If the wings are not being beaten, 

 there is absolutely no noise. The hen bird can, as a rule, 

 rise neatly and without much labour from the ground ; 

 but the cock is not quite so graceful, having to take two 



