132 THE WOOD GROUSE OR CAPERCAILZIE, 



have been made at Mar Lodge, and of the habits of 

 the female and young, will be read with interest. 



" I was wading down the Dee one fine afternoon, 

 a little below Mar Lodge, and with a lighter pannier 

 than usual, when I heard the cry of a bird to which I 

 was unaccustomed, and my bad success in that day's 

 angling, induced me the more readily to diverge 

 from the ' pure element of waters,' to ascertain what 

 this might be. I made my way through the over- 

 hanging wood for a few hundred yards, and soon af- 

 ter reaching the road, which runs parallel with the 

 river on its right side, I observed a wooden palisade, 

 or enclosure, on the sloping bank above me. On 

 reaching it, I found it so closely boarded up, that I 

 had for a time some difficulty in descrying any in- 

 mates, but my eye soon fell upon a magnificent bird, 

 which at first, from its bold and almost fierce ex- 

 pression of countenance, I took rather for some great 

 bird of prey than for a Capercailzie. A few seconds* 

 however, satisfied me, that it was, what I had never 

 before seen, a fine living example of that noble bird 

 I now sought the company of Mr Donald Mackenzie. 

 Lord Fyfe's gamekeeper, the occupant of the neigh- 

 bouring cottage. He unlocked the door of the for- 

 tress, and introduced me to a more familiar acquain- 

 tance with its feathered inhabitants. These I found 

 to consist of two fine capercailzie cocks and one hen, 

 and the latter, I was delighted to perceive, accorr- 

 panied by a thriving family of young birds, active 

 and beautiful. 



