150 FOREST CREATUBES. 



I do not share his enthusiasm in this matter, though 

 I grant the sport is pleasurable, and, what is always most 

 interesting, affords opportunity for witnessing leisurely 

 the habits and developed instincts of a wild, uncurbed, 

 free, nature-impelled creature. And the method of it, 

 as well as those features which afford no small delight, it 

 is my intention to describe. 



But first, a word or two about the bird itself. Black 

 Cock * are found in all northern countries more 

 frequently than in the south. In some parts of England 

 they are very abundant; also in Scotland, Norway, 

 Sweden, Podolia, Lithuania, Courland, Esthland and 

 especially in Volhynia and the Ukraine. Iii Thuringia 

 there are more capercaile than black cock. 



The cock is a fine bold-looking bird, and the gleam- 

 ing steel-blue tints that play in his black plumage, the 

 scarlet circles round the eyes, and his animated look, 

 make his whole appearance most attractive. The older 

 the bird, the more this blue tint spreads over the bod}^ 

 There is a bluish star in the centre of the eyes. The 

 scarlet border which surrounds them grows broader in 

 ths pairing season and more swollen. 



Short as are the wings of the black cock, its flight is 

 rapid nevertheless. It mounts pretty high at once, and 



* In Scotland it is called Moor cock, in Germany Birk-huhn, Birch- 

 cock, from its predilection for that tree ; being always found in places 

 where it is more or less abundant. 



