ORTHOGRAPHY. 9 



Pennant as the first educated person who wrote it down. On 

 this point Professor Newton writes (in lit.}, " Pennant, who 

 seems to have been the first British (as opposed to Scottish 

 or Irish only) naturalist who mentions it as a bird of this 

 country, says that it was called ' in the old law books Caper- 

 kally!" ... I have hitherto in vain searched for this reading. 

 " I suppose," continues Professor Newton, " he intended the 

 second a to be sounded broad ;" and if so, then, doubtless, 

 the spelling will be the most correct English mode. We 

 have seen, however, that Bellenden, as a good Scotch writer, 

 spells it Capercailye. We have seen why the y should be 

 dismissed. We find it dismissed by another excellent Scot- 

 tish writer a little later, who compiles " from original manu- 

 scripts," and is an authority upon Scottish writing ; and he 

 writes " Capercailles" which is again changed by King James 

 VI. into " Capercaillies" which I think should be accepted as 

 the most correct Scotch way of spelling it, and approaching, 

 moreover, nearest to the Gaelic pronunciation, as already 

 explained. 



