178 THE PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



Among the decidedly useful class, the Owls for mice and voles, 

 the Cuckoo for hairy caterpillars, and the Starling and the Hedge- 

 Sparrow for other insects generally, are the forester's best friends. 

 The Cuckoo usually lays its eggs in the nests of Starlings or 

 Hedge-Sparrows ; but to protect the Starling's eggs and young 

 against Cuckoos, wild cats, and other enemies, nesting -boxes, 

 which cost little and last many years, can be hung up in the 

 branches of trees. 



The rather useful class includes birds subsisting chiefly on grain, 

 but also preying to some extent on insects ; while the rather in- 

 jurious class do more harm by destroying eggs and killing small 

 birds, than good by feeding partly on insects, mice, and voles. 



The decidedly injurious class includes game-birds of the 

 Grouse family, Pigeons, Jays, and Finches. 



Destructive birds of the Grouse family (Tetraonidce) are the 

 Capercailzie or Cock-of-the-wood (Tetrao urogallus) and the 

 Blackcock (T. tetrix), and also, but very rarely, the common 

 Red Grouse (Lagopus scoticus). 



The Capercailzie is only found occasionally among Conifers in moun- 

 tain tracts. During the winter and the spring it lives near nurseries or 

 young plantations, and feeds on the buds and foliage of young shoots ; 

 and as the birds keep very much to one feeding-ground, their destructive- 

 ness is more apparent than if spread over a larger area. When snow covers 

 the ground, and only the tips of leading-shoots appear above it, they bite 

 them off. Spruce and Silver Fir are more attacked than Scots Pine. 

 But its spring diet includes insects. 



The Blackcock of heathery moors and hill-slopes feeds mostly on the buds 

 of Birch, Alder, Saugh, and Rowan, and on Rowan-berries. But when 

 these are destroyed by exceptionally severe frosts (as in November 1909) 

 or become exhausted, the birds attack plantations or nurseries near their 

 haunts. They feed mostly on the ground ; and when forced to feed on buds, 

 they attack Larch, Spruce, Silver Fir, and Pines almost indiscriminate!} 7 , 

 wherever within easy reach. They are fond of the male catkins of Birch, 

 Alder, and Hazel in the early spring. The common Grouse has recently 

 done much damage by picking the buds from young Larch plantations 

 near Loch Lomond (Buchanan Castle estate), and has also beep seen feeding 

 pn Larph in Perthshire (Taymouth estate). 



