The Capercaillie. 3 



Family— '1 'E TRA ONID^. 



The Capercaillie. 



Tctrao urogallus, LiNN. 



THIS magnificent bird, the largest of the family, received the singular name 

 of 717-ogallus, or wild ox-cock, in reference to its size, was formerly a native 

 of the north of Bngland, Scotland, and Ireland, but was exterminated about the 

 middle of the last century, and again re-introduced into this country about forty 

 years ago, by the exertions of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. The story of this 

 re-introduction is exhaustively told in Mr. Harvie-Brown's interesting volume on 

 " The Capercaillie in Scotland." It appears somewhat doubtful whether the 

 extinction of the birds was not due to their destruction by the proprietors of the 

 estates, in consequence of their consuming or destroying the young shoots of the 

 trees on which they fed. Since its re-introduction it has spread widely, and now 

 is to be found in considerable numbers in many parts of Scotland. In some cases 

 the pine forests have proved too limited for it, and it has now extended into oak 

 and beech coverts. 



Seebohm gives an interesting account of it as observed by him in Siberia. 

 He describes it as a bird of powerful flight, and writes : — " The motion of its 

 wings is rapid, steady, and not particularly noisy, except when it gets up suddenly; 

 on such occasions there is noise enough, and the contemplative traveller who 

 flushes a Capercaillie unexpectedly at his feet as he strolls on mountain or moor, 

 may be excused if some seconds elapse before he has re-collected his scattered 

 senses, and realized the fact that the world has not come to an end." 



The Capercaillie is almost exclusively a bird of the forests, and during the 

 winter feeds on the spines of the Scotch fir, at other times on corn, acorns, 

 and the shoots and buds of various trees. The superiority of the hen when brought 

 to table, has been assigned to the fact that she obtains her food on the ground, 

 whilst the cock, living so much on the trees, is tempted to feed on the pine 

 needles even during the summer. The Capercaillie is polygamous, the cocks 

 fighting most desperately during the spring. 



The nest of the Capercaillie is simply a hole scraped in the ground amongst 

 the heather, without lining of any kind. There are seldom less than five, but 



