338 TETRAONID^E. 



The adult female has the beak brown ; the irides hazel : 

 the feathers of the head, neck, back, wings, upper tail- 

 coverts and tail-feathers dark brown, barred and freckled 

 with yellow brown ; the neck in front and the chest are of 

 a fine yellowish chestnut ; those of the breast margined 

 with black, and with an extreme edge of greyish white ; 

 the feathers of the flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts with 

 broader edges of white ; legs greyish brown ; toes and 

 claws pale brown. 



The whole length of the female described twenty-six 

 inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing thir- 

 teen inches. 



The young birds of both sexes in their first plumage re- 

 semble the old female, the young males afterwards obtain- 

 ing by slow degrees the colours which distinguish that sex. 



A young male preserved in the Museum of the Zoological 

 Society, about twenty-two inches in length, and rather 

 larger in bulk than a cock Pheasant, has nearly completed 

 his change ; the chestnut coloured feathers on the chest 

 have assumed part of the green colour peculiar to the males, 

 but still retain a portion of the chestnut, and is evidently a 

 change of colour without losing the feather, the black cres- 

 cent changing to green. 



A simple and ingenious trap is sometimes used by the 

 peasants in Norway for taking the Capercaillie ; and I am 

 indebted to Mr. Grant for a description of it, and also for 

 the drawing from which the vignette below was derived. 

 Where the trees grow thickly on either side of a foot-path, 

 two long pieces of wood are placed across it ; one end of 

 these rests on the ground, the other being raised a foot and 

 a half, or somewhat more, from the surface, and supported 

 by a piece communicating with a triangular twig, placed in 

 the centre of the path, and so contrived that on being 



