many other districts in Scotland, I am given to under- 

 stand that it is now exceedingly scarce in the Jura, 

 whilst in the north of Spain I do not think that it ever 

 was really abundant. With regard to the existence of 

 this species as an indigenous bird in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, I must refer my readers to the 4th edition of 

 ' Yarrell.' I gather from that work that the Capercaillie 

 was virtually extinct in our Islands at the end of the 

 last century, and that it was not till 1837 that it was 

 successfnlly re-established in Scotland by importations 

 from Sweden. In 1863 the head gamekeeper at 

 Tay mouth estimated the number of these birds on the 

 Breadalbane estate under his supervision at 2000. 



To enumerate the localities in Scotland in which our 

 bird now exists and thrives would be tiresome, and 

 quite out of place in this work. The whole subject 

 has been most ably treated of by Mr. Harvie-Brown in 

 his work ' On the Capercaillie in Scotland ' (1879) ; 

 and it is more than probable that many of my reai>rs 

 know a great deal more of this bird in Scotland and 

 abroad than I can tell them without plunder from 

 better informed writers than myself. Although fir- 

 woods are undoubtedly the favourite and usual haunts 

 of this species, we found it in Northern Spain in a 

 region where coniferous trees are, if they exist at all, 

 exceedingly scarce, and where the food of the " Faisan," 

 as the present species is there called, consists of various 

 berries, ants, beech- mast, acorns, and the buds and 

 young shoots of birch, alder, and hazel. In Scotland 

 during the winter months this species seems to prefer 

 the leaves or " needles " of the Scotch fir to any other 



