CAPERCALZIE SHOOTING. 41 



Wood. The capercalzie is the largest and strongest 

 of the birds of this section (Tetraonida) of the Rasores. 

 It is also the most beautiful in plumage. We speak 

 in the present tense, although the original caper- 

 calzie of the British Islands must be deemed to 

 have been for many years utterly extinct; those at 

 the present day, found or reared in our country, 

 being, in the first case, importations from Sweden, 

 and various parts of northern Europe. The power- 

 ful hooked bill of the male bird resembles that of a 

 bird of prey ; it is yellowish white, deeper in hue at 

 the end. The head and neck are dark grey, approaching 

 towards black. The feathers of the body are darkest 

 in their centres, and closely interspersed with minute 

 black dots ; they are of lance-like form. Those 

 below the chin are longer and raised at will; quite 

 black, but bordered with a beautiful glossy fringe of 

 purple and green hues. Below the eyes are patches 

 of white. The top of the back is of a splendid 

 orange-brown, freckled in undulating lines of brown- 

 black. The wings are the same, the quills of a red- 

 dish umber-brown. The lowest parts of back and 

 rump are grounded in a sort of brown-grey colour, 

 handsomely watered with bars of black; the effect 

 at a distance giving a blackish-grey colour. The 

 upper tail feathers connect together at the centre; 

 they are well nigh black, shot with a brownish grey, 

 white-tipped : the tail itself black, and brokenly 

 marked with white about two inches from its point, 

 forming a broad and wavy line, or bar, across it. 



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