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It still inhabits Switzerland, in some parts of which country it is not uncommon. Mr. Olph 

 Galliard records it as " tolerably common in the mountains near Boll (canton Friburg), especially 

 on the Berra. It is, however, not a true Alpine species, is not found in the Breyerz valley, nor 

 on the mountains near Zaun ; but it descends, though rarely, on the plains near Boll." In Italy 

 it is found only in the high mountains, being met with, according to Savi, in those of the Savoy 

 and the Veronese Alps. It is found even in Greece, where, according to Lindermayer, it is 

 " tolerably common, and breeds in the forests of Akarnania," and is still to be met with in many 

 parts of Southern Germany. Dr. A. Fritsch records it as " common in the large forests of 

 Bohemia, and found in the woods of Dobrichovic, near Prague;" and my friend the late 

 Mr. Seidensacher informed me that it inhabits the Bacher Mountains in Styria. 



Count Wodzicki states that it is tolerably common in the Hungarian and Galician Carpa- 

 thians, as high as 4000 feet above the sea-level ; and Messrs. Elwes and Buckley write that they 

 "believe that this bird is found in the pine-forests of the Balkan Mountains," though they have 

 " no positive evidence as to its existence there." Professor von Nordmann states that it does not 

 inhabit the Caucasus, and is rare in Southern Russia, being only met with in the wooded portions 

 of North-east Bessarabia. 



To the eastward the Capercaillie extends far into Asia ; but in the eastern portion of Siberia 

 it appears to be very generally replaced by a smaller race, named by Professor von Middendorff 

 Tetrao urogalloides. Professor Sundevall, who has gone carefully into the question as to whether 

 this latter is a really distinct and valid species, inclines to the opinion that it may be a barren 

 hen which has assumed the male plumage. I myself have not been able to examine a specimen 

 of this smaller race or species, and am therefore unable to speak with any degree of authority 

 on this question. Mr. Sabanaeff records T. urogalloides, Midd., as occurring in the Ural; but 

 Mr. Meves points out to me that the bird he refers to is not that race, but the hybrid between 

 the Blackcock and Capercaillie hen, and that the species found there is the Common European 

 Capercaillie. Von Middendorff met with the present species at Krasnoyarsk ; and Dr. Radde 

 observed it in the valley of the Irkut, whereas in the Apfel Mountains he only met with T. uro- 

 galloides, Midd. In the market of Irkutsk he only found T. urogallus. He met with it 

 breeding near Lake Baikal, and on the 9th and 17th of July he observed scarcely fledged young. 

 In the Eastern Sajan, at an altitude of 4000 feet, where the black game were entirely absent, 

 this species was not rare. 



The Capercaillie of Kamtchatka is said to be T. urogalloides, Midd. ; and Mr. Swinhoe 

 records a Capercaillie from China which may be that or the present species. 



In its habits I have usually found the Capercaillie more a frequenter of the large forests 

 than the black game are. I found it, however, common in the second-growth woods near 

 Uleaborg, in the north of Finland, and saw them there during the pairing-season, when, lacking 

 large trees, they used some of the smaller trees for their "lek;" and it was easy to distinguish 

 those which had been used for that purpose, as the tops were bent down by the weight of the 

 birds. I have seen but little of the breeding-habits of this species, and therefore cannot do 

 better than transcribe the notes published by that most zealous sportsman Mr. Lloyd, as follows: — 

 " The ' lelc-tid,' or pairing-season, with these birds usually commences towards the end of March 

 or beginning of April, the time more or less depending on the mildness or severity of the 



