286 



BIRDS. 



on the ground-floor being devoted to these and to different 

 hybrids. 



Millais figures one in his Game-Birds and Shooting, etc., p. 16 — a 

 pale variety, killed at Ballathie, Perthshire, in December 1889. 



The hybrid between Capercaillie and Pheasant he also figures, 

 which was obtained by my friend Mr. James Lumsden, of Arden, 

 Dumbartonshire (Clyde). I would at any time be glad to hear of 

 any other varieties, or crosses, anywhere in Scotland, and even the 

 occurrences of the commonest hybrid, i.e. between the Blackcock and 

 the hen Caper, as that indicates often the first advance into a new 

 district. 



Since all the above was written, Millais sent me the following 

 additional notes : "I have seen 35 cocks shot in a day ; 100 Caper- 

 caillies have been killed in a day's shooting at Fotheringham, my 

 authority being James Keay, the Murthly head-keeper, who was 

 present at the shoot." 



"During the great gale about six years ago (that of 1898) 

 which blew down half the Scots fir in Tay, the whole of the woo'd to 

 the east of Killin was blown down in a single night, i.e. all except 

 one Scots fir, which was seen in the morning to be covered with about 

 40 Capercaillies. These birds are said to have been moved eastwards 

 to the Loch Tay side woods the same day. I cannot," continues 

 Mr. Millais, "vouch for this story, but it was told to me by a Killin 

 keeper, and is of interest." (The whole of that wood was not blown 

 down, but the remains seen by me in 1905 certainly might well 

 express the general destruction. — J. A. H.-B.). 



Millais mentions that he has four female Capercaillies assuming 

 the male plumage, and one silvery white variety — "a splendid old male 

 shot by Colonel Eichardson at Ballathie. I have weighed a cock 

 Capercaillie at 12 lbs. This weight is far in advance of the usual 

 weight, which is about 9 lbs. Malloch killed a cream-coloured 

 Capercaillie at Foulis- Wester, Earnside." 



Capercaillies have greatly increased in numbers at Drumtochty, 

 as Mr. Milne again assures me in July 1905, and he tells me that 

 Blackgame have also greatly increased simultaneously, owing to the 

 large additional acreage now under plantations. Young Capercaillies 

 were successfully reared at Drumtochty this (1905) spring and 

 summer by the keeper along with his Pheasants. 



The present status of the Capercaillie in the north of Fife may 

 be expressed as little diff'ering from what it was when I wrote the 

 original, viz. " resident but not common " (Mr. Berwick). 



