CHAPTER XIX. 



LAWS OF EXTENSION OF RANGE. 



THE general distribution of the Capercaillie throughout the 

 world is concisely given by Mr. H. E. Dresser in his great 

 work ' The Birds of Europe' part xxi. 1 He says : " This mag- 

 nificent grouse, the largest of its family, is found throughout 

 Northern Europe, and is even met with in the forests on the 

 mountain ranges in the southern or southern-central portions 

 of the Western Palaearctic region." Perhaps the most 

 southerly locality recorded in Europe is Acarnania in Greece 

 (pp. cit) 2 To the east it extends far into Asia, and has been 

 found to occur as far as the valley of the Irkut ; but in the 

 extreme east of Siberia it becomes partially, if not wholly, 

 replaced by a smaller species Tetrao urugalloides of Midden- 

 dorf. Beyond this, in the present connection, it is unneces- 

 sary to enter into detail as regards its distribution outside 

 the limits of Great Britain. 



Within the area of its present range in Scotland, suitable 

 woods e.g. woods of spruce, Scotch fir, or larch, or of these 

 combined of 100 acres, or even less in extent, and upwards, 

 are usually inhabited by the species ; the smaller woods hold- 



1 See also Lloyd's ' Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Sweden,' 1866, p. 2. 



2 Pennant, * Arctic Zoology,' 1792, vol. i. p. 365, seems to have traced 

 it as far south as the Archipelago, in the islands of Crete and Milo. Hassel- 

 guist is given as the authority for the bird shot in a palm tree in Milo, and 

 Belon for Crete ('Penny Cyclopaedia,' vol. vi. p. 260). 



