136 THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



Dalerne about a month ago (his letter is dated 16th March 

 18 78) ha'd pine-needles (Pinus sylvestris), juniper-berries (Juni- 

 perus), and cranberries ( Vaccin. mtis-idcea) in their crops." 



Here is one little gleam of sunshine. They must destroy 

 vast numbers of Tenthredo and Nemitus larvae, even during 

 the at-present-supposed short period of their insect-feeding age. 

 But a question of interest is : How long does this insect- 

 feeding age continue? And another question of interest 

 is : How much good do they do in that time against the 

 harm they do at others ? These are questions the solution of 

 which, I think, cannot fail to prove of economic interest to 

 proprietors of forests, and which, if thoroughly investigated, 

 may more than likely induce many to modify their wholesale 

 condemnation of the Capercaillie. The rook, against which 

 species Acts of the old Scottish Parliament were passed, now 

 increases, and even with many farmers lives upon altogether 

 a different footing than formerly. Many farmers know now 

 that it would be a dangerous experiment to rid the country of 

 rooks altogether. There are two sides to every question, and 

 I have strong faith that if all the good the Capercaillie does 

 were as thoroughly investigated as the evil has been, there 

 would not be quite such a hue and cry against it. 



A correspondent in Perthshire writes as follows : " From 

 the first of November up to the end of May the Capercaillie 

 lives principally on Scotch fir ' sprigs.' Then, from the first 

 of June to the end of October, he lives greatly upon insects, 

 digs deep into ants' mounds * in search of food, and strips the 

 bark off rotten trees in search of worms and beetles." Fancy 

 hundreds, yes and thousands, of Capercaillies thus employed. 

 Do they do no good ? 



I have quoted Mr. Dunn's letter fully, as it is perhaps the 

 letter, amongst many others I have received, which places the 



1 Lloyd directs that ants' eggs be provided for the young birds when 

 rearing them by hand (op. tit. p. 32). 



