266 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



importation and sale of capercailzie, blackcock, and ptarmigan 

 in the English markets. Some game and poultry salesmen, 

 of Liverpool, were summoned in March for selling these 

 birds, and a nominal fine of a penny a head, and costs, was 

 imposed. The penalties were inflicted under an Act of 

 Parliament passed in the reign of William IV., cap. 32. 

 This Act does not mention capercailzie ; whether, however, 

 the magistrates imposed fines respecting them I do not know. 

 They, however, considered that the Act applied to birds 

 imported from other countries. I have been asked to give 

 my opinion upon this subject ; I do so as a naturalist, but 

 not as a lawyer. The London shops are at this moment full 

 of capercailzie, blackcock, and ptarmigan. These are im- 

 ported, via Hull, from Norway and Sweden, and enormous 

 numbers of them are sent over during March and April from 

 Bergen, Drontheim, and other ports on the west coast of 

 Norway. Two questions now arise. First, is there any 

 close time in Norway and Sweden for these birds; and, 

 secondly, what is the actual condition of the birds as regards 

 their state of (as we should say, if it were a question of 

 salmon), spawning i.e. nidification ? I have made it my 

 business to examine the internal anatomy of a female 

 capercailzie, of a male and female blackcock, and of two 

 female and one male ptarmigan, the birds themselves being 

 much better witnesses as regards facts than anything recorded 

 in books. I find in every case that the ovaries are exceed- 

 ingly minute, and that, therefore, the birds are not yet near 

 their breeding time. I find it recorded that the capercailzie 

 go in packs during the winter, disperse in the spring, and 

 nest about the beginning of May. The ptarmigan pair early 

 in the spring, the eggs are begun to be laid in June. The 

 blackcock nest in May. The above applies to the British 

 Islands, the breeding in Norway and Sweden is probably 

 later. As regards the law : In 1871 a most valuable report 

 (C. 401) was presented to Parliament, giving the laws and 

 regulations relative to the protection of game in eleven 



