Practical Game-Preserving. 234 



inhabits. The haunts of the ptarmigan may be described 

 as the highest, most barren and stony of all the mountain 

 districts of Scotland, north of the Grampians. They 

 seem to choose the parts most exposed and showing least 

 signs of verdure; indeed, anyone unaccustomed to the 

 habits of this bird would consider it impossible for it to 

 find sustenance on some of the expanses where it is most 

 plentiful. There is no need to notice here all its habits, 

 and to detail the points in which it differs from the 

 grouse, for to all practical intents the mode of life is the 

 same in both. Game-preserving can hardly be made to 

 reach these birds, although they are game, and highly 

 esteemed as such by many sportsmen who are great 

 enthusiasts for ptarmigan-shooting. 



To the capercailzie, however, the game-preserver may 

 with great benefit extend his sheltering arm, for, in the 

 absence of that protection, it had already once become 

 extinct here ; but, thanks to several ardent admirers of this 

 noble game-bird, it is once more reinstated in our pre- 

 serves. Still, it will want much considerate care before 

 again becoming fairly general as a bird of sport. It may 

 therefore be not uninteresting to recapitulate the history of 

 its re-introduction. 



It was in 1827-8 that an attempt was made for the first 

 time after the complete extinction of the bird to re- 

 introduce it, but it failed, and not till 1837 were any 

 serious endeavours repeated. Under the directions of the 

 late Sir Thomas Buxton and the late Mr. L. Lloyd, a 

 number were imported from Sweden and turned out in the 

 woods at Taymouth. Rearing by hand was, at the same 

 time, tried, but practically failed. In 1841, however, 

 eggs were hatched under wild Grey-Hens, chiefly in the 

 woods of Drummond Hill, and this mode of rearing, 

 coupled with subsequent successful hatching under fowls 



