
KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 

287 

of the blue, excepting a quality at 42s. per cwt. 
or 44d. per lb., which, as a reason that it would 
not exactly suit, was openly acknowledged to be 
the price the sugar was to be retailed at when 
packed, as being superior in quality to precisely 
the same article done up in white paper. What 
the sugar itself costs, is not a matter of question 
with which we are at present concerned; but 
that deception was aimed at, through the medium 
of paper, there can be no doubt whatever. I 
have since been informed that the practice, even 
through necessity, has become quite common. 
White papers are often considerably adulterated 
with plaster of Paris, sometimes to the amount of 
30 per cent., for the sole purpose of gaining 
weight. ‘This can easily be detected by burning 
a sheet; when the plaster will remain, after 
combustion, in a whitish-colored ash. 
The manufacture of brown paper is as 
frequently assisted by the addition of clay for the 
like purposes ; which, by giving a more prefer- 
able color, though at the same time reducing the 
strength, yet necessarily the value, is, as things 
go, an unquestionable recommendation to the 
artfulness of the maker. I say as things go, for 
it is truly surprising to note the avidity with 
which people seek cheap brown paper by weight. 
Whereas, in the majority of cases, what they 
really want is strength, free from unnecessary 
substance. 
Compare, for instance, specimens numbered 
56 and 57; the one appearing so much better in 
color, is two or three shillings per cwt. less than 
that marked 56, which with many persons would 
at once be deemed an inducement to give it the 
preference, for the two plain reasons of more 
“stuff” for money, and a better appearance into 
the bargain. But, surely, a thick cumbersome 
article is not to be thought so advisable for 
wrapping purposes as one which, though thinner, 
is as strong and much more pliable. 
And to prove that itis a false economy alone 
which justities such a choice, I assure you that 
no less than 13 cwt. were placed in my presence in 
the centre of a sheet of that marked 56, when 
held out at the corners, before it gave way ; 
while, where you similarly to test a sheet of the 
same weight of quality 57 (which from color 
alone is ordinarily termed the best make), it 
would require scarcely more than one-third of 
that amount to break it down. 
So far, then, from two or three shillings per 
hundred saved being any decided advantage, I 
should rather be disposed to conceive it a sounder 
economical project to make use of the other kind, 
even at an advance of cent. per cent. 
Let all who are concerned in this matter, 
read, mark, learn, and “ digest ’’ (if they can) 
what they have here had brought under 
their notice. Paper-makers tell tales of 
grocers, now. By-and-by, we shall perhaps 
hear what the latter have to say about the 
former. All trades are honest,—till they 
are found out. 

Hoaa’s INstrucTorR,—NoVEMBER. Groom- 
bridge and Sons. . 
We have frequently given extracts from 
this instructive periodical. We will now offer 



another, describing the Capercailzie, or Cock 
of the Woods :— 
The Capercailzie, or Cock of the Woods, 
though formerly abundant in Scotland, has now 
long ceased to be a denizen of our forests. This 
splendid bird is the undoubted chieftain of the 
grouse tribe; the length to the end of the tail 
being 34 inches, and the extent of wings 52. To 
its great size, beauty, the large quantity of whole- 
some food supplied by it, and the gradual disap- 
pearance of the forests that afforded it both shelter 
and food, the Capereailzie owes its final extinction 
in Scotland. The same circumstances have led to 
the disappearance of the turkey, which swarmed 
in the primeval forests of many parts of the New 
World, before these resounded to the stroke of the 
white man’s axe. It is now more than half a cen- 
tury since the last native species of the Caper- 
cailzie was seen in Scotland. Various attempts 
have been made to re-naturalise it, by introducing 
individuals from Norway, in the wooded moun- 
tainous parts of which country the bird is plentiful. 
In the year 1828, the Earl of Fife caused a pair to 
be brought over; but the female dying before 
landing, the attempt was frustrated. In 1829, 
another pair was imported, and placed in an aviary 
at Mar Lodge, where incubation took place, with- 
out, however, producing a live bird. In 1830, 
another incubation of the same hen was again 
unsuccessful; but, after many precautions had 
been taken, a live brood was obtained the following 
year, 1831. It was intended, after several broods 
had been obtained, to set two or three pairs at 
liberty in the magnificent pine forests of Braemar: 
For the former existence of the Capercailzie in 
Scotland, we have the authority of Pennant, who, 
in his “ Tour of Scotland” (1769), notices as fol- 
lows :—‘‘ Near Castle Urquhart is the broadest 
part of the loch (Loch Ness), occasioned by a bay 
near the castle. Above it is Glen Moriston, and 
east of that Strath Glas, the Chisolm country, 
in both of which are forests of pine, where that 
rare bird the Cock of the Wood is still to be met 
with ; perhaps in those near Castle Grant. For- 
merly it was common throughout the Highlands, 
and was called Capercailzie and Anercalze, and in 
the old law books, Capercally.” In his “ British 
Zoology,” he says, ‘This species is found in no 
other part of Great Britain than the Highlands of 
Scotland, north of Inverness, and is very rare even 
in these parts. I have seen one specimen, a male, 
killed in the woods of Mr. Chisolme, to the north 
of Inverness.” 
According to various authors, the Capercailzie 
is abundant in many of the mountainous wooded 
tracts of the Continent, especially Norway and 
Sweden. In the latter country it is often domes- 
ticated, breeding even in confinement. It retains 
a good deal of its natural fierceness, and will peck 
at strangers. 
This fine bird is not much inferior to the turkey 
in size, and is more robust in proportion. The 
body is full; the neck strong, and of moderate 
length; the wings somewhat short; the feet of 
moderate strength; the tail rather long. The male 
has the upper parts undulated with grey and black ; 
the throat, fore-neck, and breast, black; the tips of 
the feathers, glossy dark green; the lower wing 
coverts, and feathers under the tail, white. The 
female is much smaller than the male, and has the 

