" The nest of the Capercaillie is sometimes made beneath the loppings of felled trees/' 



THE CAPERCAILLIE 



T 



HIS is by far the largest 

 member of the Grouse 

 family found in Britain. 

 Its name is of Gaelic origin, 

 and may be spelt in several 

 different ways without seri- 

 ously outraging the laws 

 of orthography. Some 

 authorities favour Capercaillie, whilst 

 others, with apparently equal justice, 

 write it Capercailzie or Capercally. 



In olden times it nourished in the 

 immense forests that grew in the north 

 of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but 

 as the trees were destroyed from one 

 cause or another it dwindled away in 

 numbers until it became quite extinct, 

 even in Scotland, its last stronghold, 

 towards the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. In 1837 it was reintroduced from 

 Scandinavia, and although it has refused 

 to establish itself, owing, no doubt, to 

 the lack of satisfactory natural condi- 

 tions south of the Tweed, it has thriven 

 and spread with astonishing success 

 north of the Border. 



The male is very much larger and 

 heavier than the female. He may be 

 said to approximate a turkey in size and 

 coloration, whilst she has more the 

 appearance of a glorified edition of the 

 grey-hen. Considering the immense size 

 of the male, which sometimes attains to 

 a weight of ten pounds in Scotland, and 

 frequently half as much again on the 

 Continent, his powers of flight are aston- 

 ishing. I have on more than one occa- 

 sion been surprised at the extreme swift- 

 ness with which the bird can escape 

 through the trees after being flushed 

 from the ground. 



During the pairing season the old 

 males select some favourite spot in the 

 forest, and, taking up their station on 

 a pine tree about dawn, commence to 

 attract the females. This is said to 

 be a somewhat grotesque procedure by 

 those who have enjoyed the good fortune 

 to witness it. With outstretched neck, 

 wings adroop, tail spread out fanwise, 

 and the plumage of the body ruffled as 

 if in anger, the bird begins to call, and 



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