26 THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



Mr. A. G. More ('Ibis,' 1865, p. 426), while briefly allud- 

 ing to the statements of Pennant and the 'Historia Scotorum* 

 adds : that the Eev. George Gordon told him that it also at 

 one time inhabited the county of Elgin : also that Mr. Shearer 

 " marked it as extinct in Caithness," implying thereby its 

 former occurrence in that county. 



As we have seen, the final extinction of the species may 

 be considered to have taken place about the year 1*760. 

 There are, however, several other records of a considerably 

 later date, which are at least worthy of notice. The latest I find 

 on record are two given in Graves's 'British Ornithology! vol. i. 

 By this account we find that " one was killed by a gentleman, 

 of the name of Henderson, near Fort- William, about six years 

 ago, and sent to Dundee . . . The other specimen was shot 

 by Captain Stanton near Borrowstownness, two winters ago : 

 they are both males. Some few are said to be yet remaining 

 in the pine forests of Scotland, and also in the mountainous 

 parts of Ireland." Now, the date of Graves's second edition 

 was 1821, and Mr. J. H. Gurney junior informs me that he 

 has a note to the effect that his first edition was published in 

 1817. The plate of the Capercaillie bears date of 1813 (Scot. 

 Nat.! vol. i. p. 82). If we take the date of 1813, when he 

 might have been expected to get his information, the Fort- 

 William bird would be killed about 1807, and the Bo' ness 

 bird in 1811. 



With regard to the Fort-William bird, the Rev. A. Stew- 

 art (" Nether Lochaber," of the Inverness Courier) writes to 

 me as follows : 



" The Mr. Henderson who killed the Capercaillie in the 

 Camus-na-gaul woods, opposite to Fort- William, in or about 

 the year 1807, was factor for MacLean of Ardgour, and 

 tenant of the farm of Kiel, near Corran Ferry. At Ardgour 

 House, about twenty years ago, the gardener was an old man 

 of the name of Harry Kennedy. This Harry Kennedy was 



