132 THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



specially studied, and who read a paper upon the subject 

 before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (see ' Zool! 1875, 

 p. 4338), writes to me as follows : " In reference to the 

 damage done to plantations by both Capercaillie and black 

 game, the proof is too strong to admit of the slightest doubt. 

 Where either exist in large numbers, in, or in the neighbour- 

 hood of, young plantations of larch and Scots fir, they do a 

 vast amount of injury to the young trees, by eating the young 

 buds, leaves, and shoots of the trees ; and, in the case of the 

 Scots fir especially, at a season of the year when there are no 

 insects of any kind upon them I here refer to beetles, cater- 

 pillars, or Aphides coccus or scale insects may be upon the 

 trees, but not on the wood or leaves eaten ly the Capercaillie. 

 This is the opinion of all my correspondents who have paid 

 any attention to the matter, corroborated by my own experi- 

 ence. Of the very many ' crops ' of the Capercaillie which I 

 have dissected and carefully examined, none contained any 

 traces of the bird having fed upon insects. In the winter the 

 crops are usually entirely filled with the leaves, "buds, and young 

 shoots of the Scots fir. The contents of one ' crop ' of a male 

 bird, which I examined in November 1873, were as follows : 

 203 points of shoots of Scots fir, with the leading buds entire, 

 some of the shoots being fully 3 inches long ; 11 pieces of 

 young wood, 1 J to 2 J inches long, having leaves attached, but 

 no terminal buds ; and 52 buds making in all 266 shoots and 

 buds, besides a large handful of single leaves of the Scots fir, 

 which the bird had devoured at one meal. The whole were 

 quite fresh and green, were to all appearance selected from a 

 very healthy tree, and showed no trace whatever of ever having 

 been attacked by the pine beetle (Hylurgus piniperdd) or any 

 other insect ; and MOST CERTAINLY there were no insects in 

 the crop. The contents of this crop I presented to the Edin- 

 burgh Botanical Society, and they can now be seen in the 

 Museum of the Society in the Botanic Gardens. In another 



