8 THE CAPERCALZE. 



in his supposition that these birds are incapable of 

 being propagated in the domestic state, chiefly on 

 account of the difficulty of providing them with 

 proper food, which, in their wild state, he describes 

 to be heath-berries and large earth worms. Probably 

 the HAW, or white-thorn berry might succeed equally 

 well. Mr. Castang informed me a few years since, 

 that a person in Norfolk had at that time some 

 bustards : also, that he had the previous year an old 

 bustard and four eggs, which he sold to Lord Stanley, 

 and a pair of bustards to the Earl of Darnley. 



Newgate is, probably, the only market for these 

 fowls, where they generally obtain a high price, dead 

 or alive, but merely, it would seem, as objects of 

 curiosity. The few that do come to market, are 

 either shot in the fens or on rivers near the sea 

 coast, or are sent from France. Hungary is said to breed 

 more bustards than any other country in Europe. 



For the following information we are obliged to 

 W. Yarrell, Esq., F. L. S. & F.Z.S. The Zoological 

 Society have not hitherto exhibited any living speci- 

 men of the bustard, and some zealous friends to that 

 institution have lately reported from Africa, that the 

 bustards of that country, when in confinement, are 

 so inveterately sulky, that their repeated attempts 

 to preserve them alive, under restraint, have hitherto 

 been unsuccessful. 



The Capercalze, or Cock of the Wood. 



This bird, indeed a wood grouse like the bustard, 

 was formerly somewhat numerous in Scotland and in 

 the northern parts of England, but both species have 



