486 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 22, 1901. 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
The Capercailzie. 
Editor forest and Stream: 
It was with great regret that I read in your cohjinns 
at the time, of the untimely death of the caperacilzies put 
out in Vermont, not only on accottnt of the financial loss 
sustained, but particularljr because I am convinced that 
all foreign game birds introduced in our country can suc- 
cessfully be established and propagated if only all the 
important conditions for their sustenance and protec- 
tion arc duly observed. While I do not pretend to appear 
before you as an expert in raising game birds, I feel that 
I can nevertheless speak with authority of whatever I 
have to submit to you and your readers, inasmuch as I 
have at every opportunity presented during the past 
twenty years studied these birds, not only in their natural 
haunts but also in captivity, and furthermore, have hunted 
them successfully. Since I - do not know under what 
natural conditions in I'eference to cover and feed these 
birds were given their liberty, it may be taken for granted 
that one or the other necessary factor for their welfare 
must have been overlooked. The pot-hunter or poacher 
alone did not hasten their destruction. I believe faulty 
selection of their breeding grounds or want of proper 
food killed them. 
To write a natural history of the capercailzie would 
mean writing a book, and of course is out of the question^ 
here, but a few practical hints might be of value. Speak- 
ing of the capercailzie (Tetrao urogallus) as the king of 
European game birds, we must not forget that when he is 
brought over here he not only finds entirely new sur- 
round'ngs, different food, but, what I consider of particu- 
lar weight, arrayed against him a whole army of beasts 
and birds of prey which are unknown to him on the other- 
side and his large size making him so conspicuous he 
easily becomes their victim. 
In the localities where I have observed and hunted 
him such animals as our lynx, wildcat, panther, mink,, 
skunk and many other rapacious animals do not exist. 
His only enemies there are a few species of hawks and. 
rarely eagles. The red fox, marten, etc., are kept pretty 
well in check, so that from that side he is pretty well 
protected. 
Our native forests are, with a few exceptions up 'n the 
North Woods, not adapted for his existence, being entirely 
too open and generally stocked with .species of trees, which- 
with their seeds are not to his liking. Since he prin- 
cipally feeds on young shoots, tender buds and berries of' 
evergreens, who knows but that just the want of the right 
kind of food did not kill him in Vermont — the eating of 
strange and indigestible food? 
Wherever I found him it was in mountainous districts;, 
away from civilization, as in the southern part of Austria,, 
in Steiermark, in the Tyrol and the Bohemian forest- 
Here in thick stands of pine and spruce, mixed with 
birch and a generous undergrowth of juniper, he thrives 
best. 
These woods, of course, are more or less grown and 
managed by proper forestry systems, and are mostly so 
thick that he finds plenty of shelter therein. Of a num- 
ber of cocks shot (hens are never killed abroad) I found 
the contents of their stomachs and crops to consist prin- 
cipally of resinous substances. He seems to be particularly 
fond of the seeds of Norway spruce and Scotch pine, and 
in addition I found a variety of other vegetable matter. 
It would seem from this that if a proper forestry system 
were introduced, wherever one would like to have them 
establish themselves, a continuous war declared on all 
rapacious animals and all possible precaution taken against 
poachers, nothing would .stand in the way of success. 
Last April, while abroad, I received an invitation to- 
an Auerhahnjagd (hunt for the capercailzie cock) on the 
preserve of the Duke of S., and of course I was not slow 
about accepting. On arriving at the nearest railroad sta- 
tion to the preserve, I was met by one of the game keepers' 
who was to take me in charge and see that my trip was 
successful. 
Driving for about six miles into the forest, we put up for 
the night in a log cabin, and after the regulation hunter's: 
supper and a pleasant chat and smoke following, retired: 
early. The game keeper asked me during our conversa- 
tion if I had ever hunted this game before, which I an- 
swered in the affirmative. "Well," said he, "our birds here 
will strike you as particularly wild and hard to get at„ 
although in severe weather with plenty of snow on the 
ground, they congregate in large numbers on the place and' 
surroundings from which the original stock had been, 
liberated, and where we feed them during the hard win- 
ter. But the moment spring sets in away they go. Well., 
you will see for yourself. When you do your jumping, do' 
it as carefully as possible, otherwise you will not suc- 
ceed." I promised to do as directed, and when he called' 
me next morning at about 3 I was only too willing to' 
prove my ability as a hunter, and after some breakfa.st 
forth we went out into the dark night. 
A tramp of about two miles, covered under most trying- 
conditions, continually climbing up the mountains, brought 
us finally to a point where three valleys came together, 
and from which after light set in, one had a most beauti- 
ful and commanding view of the whole surrounding land- 
scape. After whispering into my ear to have a sharp' 
lookout for some prominent large spruce trees 200 yards, 
to my left and further up the mountain, the game keeper- 
left me, promising to meet me there again as soon as the- 
calling and strutting time for that day was over. While- 
it was still too dark to distinguish anything clearly, not; 
very long after he had left me, the first signal call from a- 
rock across the valley reached my ear and acted like an- 
electric shock upon me. Although I had heard this call 
many a time before. I could not control my heart's palpita-- 
tions, and just imagine one who has never heard it in his 
life. Would it be a disgrace for him to be overcome, by 
the so-called "buck" or hunting fever? Certainly not. 
The signal call of the capercailzie cock is so distinct., 
shrill and loud that it can be heard far away — it cannot- 
be properly imitated or described by words. It is a com- 
bination of whistling and smacking — a proclamation that 
his. majesty is wooing for the love of all the hens in hisi 
domain. It is one of the finest natiiral love and war songs 
ever heard. There are three distinct acts or verses in 
his calling that may be distinguished; the first is the so- 
called "knappen." It is a smacking with the tongue and 
bill .and acts as a part of introductory. His eyes are wide 
open, gradually he raises his head, his voice becomes 
louder and Ipuder, tmtil it almost sounds like a challenge. 
This is the signal call 'or act 2. From this his somewhat 
xmgry call gives place in act 3 to one of entreaty and love. 
With fan-like tail, lowering wings, body in the strutting 
attitude, his eyes shut, he enters love's dreamland. In 
this, the third act, or so-called (schleifen) grinding or 
whetting act, called so on account of the peculiar noise he 
makes with his wings, tail and feathers, the outside world 
and its dangers are entirely dead to him ; he, in fact, seems 
himself to be almost unconscious, hearing or seeing 
nothing. During this last act. when his eyes are shut and 
he seems to be in a regular fit, the hunter tries to stalk 
him. Generally two to four large jumps under as much 
cover as possil^le is about all he can do. The very mo- 
ment the cock stops with act 3 the hunter must remain 
in the place and position where he happens to be as if 
tran.sfixed. The least little movement and your game is 
gone. It has always seemed to me that nature actually 
comes to his assistance at the end of his love song in de- 
tecting an enemy. The moment he aAvakes from his trance 
he surveys his surroundings, and the least suspicious 
looking object is cause for his immediate removal to other 
quarters. As I have said before, the first signal call had 
been given across the valley, and soon was taken up by a 
number of cocks in various directions. To n-iv left some 
ball to knock him off of his perch, I did the next best 
thing under the circumstances, and stopped where I was. 
Carefully pulling my field glasses out of my pocket, I 
stood there for about twenty minutes observing this noble 
bird through the branches in all his love antics, which he 
repeated at regular intervals. Finally, as it became almost 
daylight, he suddenly stopped calling and flew off down 
toward the valley, and was soon lost to view, without 
even then giving me a chance for a successful shot. 
Probably another person in my place would have taken 
his chances and fired at -the cock anyway, but years of 
experience in the forest have taught me never to shoot 
imless I have a fair chance of bringing my game to bag. 
This blazing away, emptying your magazine at a fleeing 
animal, is simply absurd. Ninety-nine out of a hundred it 
is a case of wasting ammunition, alarming all other game 
foolishly for miles around, and should the game really 
receive a shot, its effect generally is not sufficient to stop' 
it, and the consequence is a miserable lingering death,, 
which is directly in opposition to all rules of true sports- 
manship. 
By. this time Father Sun had put his nose above the 
raotmtains and asserted his supremacy. Returning to the 
place of our rendezvous, I met the game keeper, as ar- 
ranged, who greeted me with a broad smile upon his 
face, assuring me at the same time that he had followed 
my movements as best he could from his hiding place, and 
that I was perfectly justified in not shootng, since this 
very cock would probably come to that same place again, 
as they invariably do if not alarmed in the meantime. 
"Patience is a virtue," and particitlarly so in stalking 
THE capercailzie's CALL. 
gigantic pines, almost 200 feet in height, with the ad- 
vancing daylight became more distinct, and as instructed, I 
kept a close watch over them. One large dead branch 
quite near the top of one of them stretched out far across 
the valley, forming all sorts of fantastic figures against the 
sky behind, and as the game keeper told me afterward, at 
least one dozen cocks had been shot from that particular 
branch. While this wooing was going on all around me, I 
had carefully loaded my little three-barreled i6-bore with 
an 8 mm. smokeless rifle barrel attached (by the way. a 
most powerful little gun) and stood there well hidden 
among some thickly grown spruces awaiting develop- 
ments. I had just listened to the love song of a cock fur- 
ther up the valley to my right, and it seemed to me not so 
very far away, still I remembered that on former occa- 
sions I had been misled many a time in judging distances 
from sotmd, and was just figuring out if a stalking of a 
mile or so would be advisable, when suddenly to my left 
the first introductory notes from a cock w'ere sounded. 
Quickly turning my head in that direction, I failed at first 
to see anything, owang to trees and branches obstructing 
the view, but when I had left my hiding place and had 
begun the jumping or stalking during the first production 
of act 3 of the cock's love song, I could make him out 
perched on a limb almost near the top of one of the 
monarchs of the forest. 
The distance to that tree from where I stood then was 
at least 300 yards, and he was anywhere from 100 to 150 
feet above the ground. At every repetition of his strutting 
I came closer and closer, executing all kinds of catlike 
performances to keep under cover, until I must have ap- 
proached to within about 100 yards or even less. Here, to 
my great chagrin, further progress was stopped by an 
opening among the timber over which I could not proceed 
without exposing myself. There being no chance what- 
ever to either get around this one way or the other, and 
.shooting from where I stood being equally out of the 
question, the bird being hidden more or less by intervening 
branches and twigs that it would have taken a cannon 
any noble game, we argued, and then went back to the 
cabin, where, after a second breakfast, I indulged in a 
little nap, dreaming of course of nothing else but swarms 
of capercailzie cocks. 
Wanting to see the various winter feeding grounds, we 
went out in the afternoon and first visited a few of the 
cleared places where the red and roe deer are fed. On 
approaching one a number of deer were seen feeding on 
hay and unthreshed oats tied around a number of large 
trees. They allowed us to come within about 200 yards, 
but soon saw or smelled us, and olif they went with tre- 
mendous big bounds. Making a little detour, the game 
keeper took me to the place from which eight years before 
the capercailzie had been first liberated, and where thej^ 
are being fed during severe weather. The whole_ arrange- 
ment and layout of this place struck me as so ingenious 
and practical that before leaving I famiharized myself 
thoroughly with every detail, and hereby submit it to 
your readers with the hope that my observations may be 
of practical value. 
It seems thaf the whole secret in the successful intro- 
duction of the capercailzie lies, as I have remarked, in 
the proper selection of the grounds first and all the time. 
In this particular case an area of from two to three acres 
stocked with closely grown together spruce, pine and 
birch, with some juniper trees as undergrowth, of various 
sizes, had been fenced in by wire netting to the height of 
10 feet, 18 inches of the bottom being buried below the 
ground in suc;h a way that no animal could very well dig 
in under the fence without bringing up at the wire. 
Around the whole inclosure about i foot away a trench 
2x2 feet deep and wide was dug to serve as a means of 
further impediment; to be short, the whole arrangement 
was made so that it was_ equally impossible for any animal 
to get in or out of the inclosed area. To still more pro- 
tect the birds against any animal that might try to climb 
over the fence, a wire was stretched as tight as a piano 
string across the tops of the posts all around, and to this 
finally at certain intervals necks of old broken bottles -were 
