174 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 
his statement: not only on accountyofythe fact that he 
is recognised as a reliable antiquary and topographer, but 
also because he was the contemporary and the friend of 
Marmaduke Tunstall, the original owner of the specimen. 
Proof positive is, of course, not forthcoming, but I venture 
to think that the claims of many other so-called “ British- 
killed birds” are admitted as satisfactory on much less 
convincing evidence. A letter dated “ Wycliffe, Nov. 6, 
1788,” from Marmaduke Tunstall to Messrs Beilby and 
Bewick, is of considerable interest and is as follows :— 
“T duly received yours of the 31st ult., as also the prints for 
the Lapland Tour,! which demand my grateful thanks; think them 
very finely executed, especially the birds, which are not peculiar 
only to the high northern latitudes; the Kader is undoubtedly the 
Wood-Groose of Pennant, the Cock of the Wood of most authors, 
and lately, at least, existing in the highlands of Scotland, and called 
in the Gaelic or Erst tongue, Capercalley; is still found in several 
parts of France, Germany, Switzerland, etc.” ? 
It will be noticed that, although Tunstall does not say 
he possessed a Scottish specimen of the Capercaillie, he 
writes of the species in 1788 as “lately, at least, existing 
in the highlands of Scotland.” This statement is of no 
assistance in determining whether, or not, Tunstall’s collec- 
tion comprised a Capercaillie of Scottish origin, but it is, 
at least, of interest as indicating the distribution of the 
species as known to him at the time he wrote. 
Before concluding this paper I must point out that 
Mr Fox, when writing his Syzops¢s in 1827, was of opinion 
that a specimen of a British-killed hen-Capercaillie was in 
the British Museum. He states :— 
“The British Museum, the Directors of which have lately 
taken great pains to fill the British bird department with native 
specimens, is in possession only of the female Wood Grouse, as 
British, which was formerly in Mr Bullock’s Museum.” ® 
1 Matthew Consett, A Your through Sweden, Swedish Lapland, 
Finland, and Denmark [in 1786], 1 vol 4to, 1789 (plate of “Kader” faces 
pazl): 
OX, OP e22.,0p= 23: 
aN. 
enG: 
S9Ga dl, HOxj10p) 677, p75: 
