THE CAPERCAILLIE 



(Tetrao urogallus) 



FOR the greater part of the year capercaillie, the largest representative of the 

 grouse family, passes its time concealed in the depths of the forests, where it 



manages to find sufficient food even in the most severe winters ; and it is 

 only for a short period in spring that it makes its appearance, during the breeding- 

 season, in the open. Its home is in the great forests of continental Europe and 

 northern Asia, more especially those in which fir and pines predominate ; abundant 

 under-wood, which affords a good supply of berries, open glades, patches of sand, 

 and pure water are, however, essential to the well-being of this magnificent bird. 

 The capercaillie, or auerhahn as it is called in Austria and Germany, ranged in 

 former days from the British Islands to the north-eastern portion of Turkestan, the 

 Altai Mountains, and Lake Baikal ; but by the middle of the seventeenth century it 

 had already become scarce in Britain, where it became extinct a century later. In 

 recent years the bird has, however, been reintroduced into Perthshire, Forfarshire, 

 and a few other Scottish counties. In the Urals, north-eastern Siberia, and 

 Kamchatka the typical capercaillie is represented by nearly allied species, or races. 

 In Scandinavia the auerhahn ranges as far north as latitude 70°, but gradually 

 becomes smaller and scarcer as the pine-woods tend to disappear ; and it is the vast 

 pine-forests of central Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Poland that form the great 

 centre of its habitat. 



Although its large size constitutes a sufficient means of recognising the cock 

 capercaillie, which measures as much as thirty-five inches in length, from all other 

 kinds of grouse, the species is distinguishable from its near relative, the blackcock, 

 by the evenly rounded tail ; while the blackish head and neck, with a patch of bare 

 vermilion skin above each eye, the pale horn-colour of the beak, the green band 

 across the breast, and the slaty brown back form other unmistakable characteristics. 

 The female presents somewhat more resemblance to an overgrown greyhen (the 

 female of the blackcock), but here again the rounded tail and superior size constitute 

 decisive points of difference ; while the general colour is more distinctly chestnut. 

 Additional peculiarities of the hen capercaillie are to be found in the presence of a 

 rufous patch at the base of the neck, and in the white tips to the black greater wing- 

 coverts. In length the hen measures about 10 inches less than her partner; while 

 her weight is only from 5 to 6 lb., against from 13 to 16 or 17 lb. in the cock. 



The food of the cock capercaillie consists principally of the leaves and young 

 shoots of the Scotch pine; and during the breeding-season these appear to form its 

 sole nutriment. At other times he also consumes the leaves of deciduous trees, 



