THE CAPERCAILE. 137 



to listen to a younger wooer. Hence the broods are 

 few, and smaller than would be the case if the hens 

 were more justly apportioned, and, instead of being 

 forced to remain with an enfeebled master, were distri- 

 buted amonof the robuster cocks. 



The capercaile is strongly built, and his glossy dark 

 plumage, varying in hue, gives him a handsome ap- 

 pearance. His yellowish short beak is much curved : the 

 nostrils are fringed by a border of short black feathers. 

 The head is of a bluish black colour, varying its tint 

 like shot silk, while from the throat a sort of collar of 

 black feathers hangs pendent. Around the eyes are 

 bare, wart-like, red excrescences, which vary in size 

 with the bird's age. The lower part of the neck as well 

 as the breast is like gleaming blue steel, but the rest of 

 the body is for the greater part quite black, here and 

 there a greyish feather shomng itself among the rest. 

 Those of the wings are brown shaded wdth black, and 

 on the middle joint of the pinions a spot of snowy 

 white is observable. The long feathers of the tail are 

 black, bordered with brown and spotted with white ; 

 and when they are all spread out and upwards like a 

 fan in the ardour of wooing, the lines on them are as 

 regular as though drawn with a pair of compasses. The 

 feet are feathered with a downy, dark, rusty-brown plu- 

 mage interspersed here and there with white spots. 

 Such bird weighs twelve or thirteen pounds. 



