Order GALLINiE. 



Family TETRAONIDiE. 



THE CAPERCAILLIE. 



Tetrao urogallus, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 54. 



In former times the Capercaillie or Wood-Grouse inhabited to some extent the 

 pine-forests of England, as is proved by the discovery of its bones among Roman 

 remains and in caves in Yorkshire. According to Pennant, it also occurred in 

 Wales. 



This fine bird lingered to a much later date in Scotland and Ireland, and 

 is supposed to have become extinct in the two last-mentioned countries during the 

 last half of the eighteenth century, perhaps sometime between 1760 and 1770. 



In the autumn of 1837 and in the following spring it was successfully re- 

 introduced to Scotland by Lord Breadalbane, who imported birds from Sweden 

 and established them at Taymouth, whence they have spread far and wide over 

 the country. 



The Capercaillie is widely distributed over Europe, where there are tracts of 

 pine-forest large enough to meet its requirements, from Scandinavia and Russia, 

 to the mountain ranges of northern Spain and Italy, as well as the Carpathians. 

 In Asia it ranges eastwards as far as Lake Baikal. 



The nest, a mere hollow in the ground among trees, and lined with bits of grass 

 and pine-needles, usually contains from six to ten eggs, of a pale brownish-buff 

 colour blotched with reddish-brown. 



The food consists of various wild berries, buds and shoots of trees, pine-needles, 

 and also insects. 



The remarkable display of the cock Capercaillie in spring, when the bird, 

 perched on the bare bough of some pine, utters his weird love-song, has been 

 graphically described from personal observation by Millais in his Natural History 

 of British Game Birds (p. 10) as follows: "When in the act of display the male 

 stretches out the neck, spreads the tail and lowers the wings, and utters a note 

 something like the words ' Klick-kleck,' repeated at intervals. It then turns the 



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