RESTORATION. 45 



were all well on the 25th, having reached Taymouth Castle 

 in safety. Larry remained a short time at Taymouth, and 

 got home again to Norfolk by the 20th July. Mr. E. Buxton, 

 in his further account of the birds, sent to the proprietors of 

 ' The Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports,' (continued, p. 816), gives 

 an account of the successful hatching out of two broods in the 

 woods, and the arrival of 16 more hens at Taymouth in the 

 summer of 1838. Larry had again been over in Sweden 

 assisting, as before, in their safe transmittal. In September 

 1839 Mr. James Guthrie, the head gamekeeper at Taymouth, 

 wrote : " With regard to the Capercaillies, I think we shall 

 have between 60 and 70 young." Mr. E. Buxton also 

 mentions, the fact that already two strayed birds had been 

 shot in the north of Scotland, and one hen had been offered 

 for sale in a poulterer's shop in Princes Street, Edinburgh. 

 I would recommend, however, to those interested in further 

 particulars, to read the excellent account of the restoration in 

 Elaine's work, of which the above is an extract. 



Mr. Lloyd informs us that there were 20 birds in the 

 second lot sent off from Sweden. The balance, I believe, 

 were sent to Cromer Hall, but I have been unable exactly to 

 trace what became of them, unless, as Mr. D. Brown, lately 

 naturalist in Perth, informs me, they were taken not to 

 Cromer, but to Northrepps, where young were reared ; but all 

 died, owing, Mr. Brown writes, to the want of proper food. 



It would appear at all events, that, in all, 13 cocks and 29 

 hens arrived in safety at Taymouth in 1837 and 1838. Some 

 accounts give 48 birds ; and Knox, in his ' Game Birds and 

 Wild Fowl; p. 221, says, " 54 adult CapercaiUies in 1838-39 " 

 (fide ' Zooi: ix. p. 3018-9). 



In September 1838 Sir Fowell saw eighteen of the birds 

 at Taymouth in good health, and ten more had been turned 

 down on the estate. The birds were carried out at night in 

 large baskets, and placed about amongst the woods, principally 



