284 



BIRDS. 



was shot in 1872, but they had appeared a year or two before " {aud. 

 Lord Southesk, in lit. to Mr. D. Douglas). 



VI. E.g. — Eegarding extension in Stirlingshire (refer to original 

 essay, chap. xii. p. 82). 



VII. E.g. — As to extension in Inverness (vide original essay, 

 chap. xiii. p. 93). 



VIII. E.g. — Its extension in Kincardineshire. Further remarks 

 on its advance into Dee, over the skyline. This "fulfils my 

 prophecy" of their "line of least resistance," and that it would 

 follow down Glen Dye. 



IX. E.g. — Regarding its extension into Ross-shire (see original 

 essay, chap. xv. p. 98). This has never been verified. (Also refer 

 to my remarks under species in The Vertebrate Fauna of the North-West 

 Highlands and Skye.) 



The remaining three other notes refer to bones of the bird found 

 at Settle ; the Capercaillie in Ireland ; and Capercaillies for America. 

 All the above are under date of publication May 17, 1880. 



I now proceed to take up what little more of interest I have 

 gleaned since, and considered worth keeping note of : — 



An early and accurate account of the former abundance, extir- 

 pation, and restoration is epitomised in a note to the first line of the 

 local bard's poem, " The Tay." This states its extirpation to have been 

 caused "by the almost utter annihilation of those immense forests, 

 which at one time covered the greatest portion of the Highlands " 

 {loc. cit. p. 51, notes, 1850).^ 



Now, at the present time, Capercaillies are resident in Drum- 

 tochty Woods. But Mr. J. Milne tells me that there had been an 

 introduction there about 1870, by eggs from near Criefi", since which 

 time there has been a rapid increase — as many as twenty having 

 been shot in one day (9th December 1896). They are also present, 

 but not so abundantly, in Glensaugh, and on Fordoun estates ; at 

 Dalavaird and Glenbervie more numerous, and have bred at these 

 places for some years back. They are now very numerous at Fasque 

 (see original essaj^, and the map, and remarks ante, p. 283). They 

 are to be found, too, above Fettercairn (property of the Honourable 

 C. F. Trefusis). All of these are Kincardineshire localities. 



Mr. Milne describes a fight between a male Capercaillie and a 

 male Pheasant, also a defiance by a Caper-cock to a spaniel. He adds 

 as regards their present distribution — " scarcely so numerous after 



^ As I have said before, the minute history of this great denudation of our forests 

 might well form a fine monograph on a not yet exhausted subject. 



