CAPEECAILLIE BLACK GROUSE. 97 



ORDER GALLIN/E. 

 Family TETRAONIDJE. 



CAPEECAILLIE (Tetrao urogallus). 



Kesident. Found in considerable numbers in the central 

 counties of Scotland. Almost exclusively a bird of the forest. 



Plumage. Pendant feathers of throat black. Head and neck 

 dusky ; above eyes a bare red skin-patch ; upper parts slaty 

 grey. Wing-coverts, rump, and flanks chestnut, finely lined 

 and vermiculated with black and ash. Breast lustrous green ; 

 under parts and tail blackish, with some white spots. Bill 

 brownish white. Legs covered with brown hair-like feathers. 

 Length 35 in. Female : much smaller, and generally brown, 

 mottled with black, white, and tawny red ; neck and breast 

 brownish red ; tail dark red, barred with black, and tipped 

 with white. 



Language. Several utterances which are almost impossible 

 to syllabise ; they have given as follows : (1) " pellep " or 

 "peller," repeated two or three times; (2) " klickop " ; (3) 

 " hede." 



Habits. Polygamous, and at mating-time very pugnacious, 

 fighting most desperately for the supremacy of the hens ; the 

 male puffs out his plumage and struts about in a most frenzied 

 manner. Flight powerful and rapid. Like its congener the 

 Black Grouse, it perches on trees. 



Food. Berries, acorns, &c. ; especially the shoots of the 

 Scotch fir and fir-needles. 



Nest. May or June. One brood. 



Site. In hollow in the ground, among heather or under tree 

 or bush. 



Materials. If any, a few pieces of grass. 



Eggs. Five to twelve or more. Pale reddish yellow or 

 buffish, spotted and speckled with reddish brown. Like Black 

 Grouse's, only larger. 



BLACK GKOUSE (FEMALE, GKEY HEN) 

 (Tetrao tetrix). 



Eesident. Most abundantly met with in Scotland ; found 

 also in Devon and Somerset, and in smaller numbers in other 

 suitable parts of England and Wales. 



Haunts. Woods, and moors where rushy places abound. 



Plumage. Generally black with violet reflections. Bluer on 

 h 



