362 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



from any other branch but its own, and this would prove a very 

 insecure seat for so heavy a bird. However, capercailzie are 

 increasing in Scotland, in spite of the determination of many 

 woodmen to keep them down. That they form a very pretty 

 addition to a day's bag, and create the excitement that variety 

 usually affords, is true enough. There is no place equal to some 

 of the less elevated estates in Perthshire for variety of bag. 

 There capercailzie, roe deer, brown hares, rabbits, duck, teal, 

 blackcock, pheasants, grouse, partridges, woodcock, two sorts 

 of snipe, and wood pigeons, as well as a variety of the scarcer 

 kinds of duck, may all be killed in one day. But it is difficult 

 to beat for the majority of these varieties of game in any one 

 way ; for instance, capercailzie and black game seem to require 

 special methods of beating covers for them, and then they are 

 not both likely to take the same course, as the caper can make 

 but little headway up hill and the black game can. Where 

 capercailzie are numerous they are very interesting to drive and 

 shoot, for it is not easy to do either properly. But they are 

 usually too scarce for special days in October, and in August 

 they give no sport in their half-fledged condition. Seventy of 

 these birds have been killed in driving in one day near Dunkeld. 

 The hens lay from 6 to 13 eggs. The full-grown cock-of- 

 the-woods weighs from 9 to 1 3 Ibs. in Scotland, but is bigger 

 in Scandinavia. The hen lays late in May, and the birds are 

 polygamous. Linnaeus gave the scientific name Tctrao urogallus 

 to the cock-of-the-woods, which is known in Gaelic as Capult- 

 coille. He is Tiwr to the Norwegian, and Tjader to the Swede ; 

 Glouhar to the Russian, and Auerhahn to the German. These 

 birds became extinct in Ireland about 1760 and in Scotland 

 about 1780, and were not re-introduced successfully until 1837, 

 although repeated attempts had been made. 



THE QUAIL 



is rarely a winter resident in England or Ireland, but was so 

 much more frequently in the middle of last century. Then, 

 too, large numbers used to come to this country in May to breed 



