CAPERCAILLIE 
239 
smaller than the cocks, but the cocks do not run 
as large in Scotland as they do in many of the 
pine forests on the Continent. The sexes are also 
very distinct in plumage, the cock Capercaillie 
being a very dark mixture of browns, greys, and 
greens, so as to appear almost black, with a few 
paler spots, when seen at large in the woods. It 
has a powerful hooked beak, and a red bare line 
above the eye ; the head is slightly bearded and 
tufted, and the legs are feathered, as also in the 
hen. The rest of the hen's plumage is a rich, 
warm mixture of reddish and orange browns, with 
numerous semi-circular markings of darker brown 
and of white ; the orange-red tint is brightest 
upon the breast. Both sexes are much like a 
magnified Black Grouse, but the cock has not got 
the same characteristic out-turned tail feathers. 
The Capercaillie feeds on young shoots of trees of 
the pine family, and is sometimes very destructive 
to young plantations ; also on moorland and forest 
berries. Breeding begins in April ; the nest con- 
sists of a hollow scraped in the ground among the 
heather or rough grass in a wood, or sometimes 
under a bush, or at the foot of a pine-tree. Six to 
ten or a dozen eggs are laid ; they are a little 
smaller than a Heron's, of a pale orange-brown, 
spotted and blotched with warm brown of deeper 
shades. 
