CAPERCAILLIE. 187 



caught in traps, and also are watched for by gunners, who 

 lie in wait for them all night, and in the morning steal a 

 march upon them while engaged in singing, as their noise 

 is also called, pausing when they cease, and drawing nearer 

 again when they re-commence. These hirds are generally 

 found in packs at the beginning and during the continuance 

 of winter, dispersing again witli the return of spring. The 

 packs are said to consist sometimes of as many as fifty or 

 a hundred birds, and to frequent the sides of the lakes and 

 morasses which abound in the northern forests. 



Their flight is said to be not particularly heavy or noisy, 

 considering their size, and they can take a flight of several 

 miles at a time. The wings are clapped very quickly together. 

 In walking the body is carried in a horizontal position, the 

 tail drooped, and the head stretched out. If need be they 

 can run fast. 



These birds feed on grain, juniper berries, cranberries, 

 blaeberries, and other berries, and the leaves of small shrubs, 

 the buds of the birch and other trees, and insects, and also, 

 but probably only in winter and the early months, the males 

 it is said, the most so, on the leaves of the fir, which 

 impart a perceptible flavour to them: they drink frequently. 

 The young are at first fed with ants, worms, and insects. 



The play of the Capercaillie, for so is his note called, is 

 harsh and grating, and is said to resemble the syllables 

 'peller, peller, peller.' It is made from the first dawn of day 

 to sunrise, and from a little after sunset till it is quite dark ; 

 but it is dependant on the state of the season. While 

 playing, his neck is stretched out, the tail raised and spread, 

 the wings drooped, and the feathers ruffled out, and he seems 

 absorbed in his thoughts, and may be more easily approached 

 than at other times. 'These sounds he repeats at first at 

 some little intervals, but as he proceeds they increase in 

 rapidity, until at last, and after perhaps the lapse of a 

 minute or so, he makes a sort of a gulp in his throat, and 

 finishes by drawing in his breath. During the continuance 

 of this latter process, which only lasts a few seconds, the 

 head of the Capercaillie is thrown up, his eyes are partially 

 closed, and his whole appearance would denote that he is 

 worked up into an agony of passion.' The voice of the female 

 resembles the sound 'gock, gock, gock,' a call to her mate 

 and to the young. Old birds will not permit the young, 

 even of the second year, to play. If, however, the old birds 



