The Capercaillie it; 
" I have kept wild caught Capercaillie (German) for four or five years. The first male I 
ever kept became quite tame, but he was shy and timid for the first three years. My hen 
Capercaillie that nested here repeatedly made beautiful nests in quite typical positions, against 
the stem of a birch generally, or in one instance on very bare ground under a fine beech tree, 
quite out in the open. 
" In confinement, beside pine branches (Scots or Austrian) my birds in winter have plenty 
of mangold-wurzel roots. Capercaillie, Impeyan Pheasants, Blackgame, Grouse, Tragopans, true 
pheasants, &c, are all very fond of these, but they must not get frozen. These birds want plenty 
of room, and lots of cover to hide in." 
Young Capercaillie, of which seldom more than five survive the difficulties and 
dangers of early life in the northern woods, grow very slowly. By the 12th of August 
they are still small and only just commencing to exhibit the feathers of maturity. In 
September they gradually stray away from the mother, and are fit to shift for themselves. 
Capercaillie, if undisturbed, are fond of roosting in the same trees night after night. 
These are easily recognised by the numerous droppings. 
There is no doubt that Capercaillie are destructive to forests, and especially to 
young plantations of fir and larch. When the birds were newcomers to certain high 
land estates they were cherished as welcome additions to the fauna, but now it is common 
to find intense and often unreasoning animosity displayed towards these noble birds by 
proprietors. There are many estates in Perthshire where roe-deer and Capercaillie are 
shot on sight at all seasons, and the nests of the birds stamped upon. This, I think, 
is unjust. Kept within reasonable limits, the birds do very little harm to forests of 
twenty years and upwards. Moreover, it is quite possible that they may do good by 
destroying insects injurious to some trees. Young Capercaillie feed largely on larva; 
and insects, and Herr Dr. Meves of Stockholm expressly states that the young which 
he found in Jemtland had their crops full of Tenthredo or Nemitus larvae, insects most 
injurious to pine trees. 
Capercaillie seldom visit very young plantations of fir and larch where there are 
no roosting trees, and damage to top shoots — a misfortune that will destroy the shape 
of any tree — is more likely to be caused by blackgame, which are fond of breaking 
off the leader. Then, again, there is the beetle, which attacks the leading shoot of Scots 
fir and larch, and which does much harm. Its work, however, is easily recognised by 
the fact that it cuts into the base of a shoot, which dies and falls over, whereas a tree 
attacked by a Capercaillie or black grouse has the shoot or bud bitten clean off. The 
worst enemy of all to fir and larch is the squirrel, whose favourite food at certain seasons 
is the shoots of coniferous trees. 
No law regulating the shooting of Capercaillie has been passed since their introduc- 
tion. Consequently they come under the schedule of wild birds, which may be shot 
at all seasons, from August 1st to March 1st. This is unfortunate, as many are killed 
in August and early September, when the birds are totally unfit to be killed, except for 
the table. As an object of the sportsman's aim, rising out of heather or bushes, they 
are contemptible ; but the same bird, if allowed to live until November, when it comes 
rocketing and swaying above the tops of high trees, is an object worthy of the gunner's 
skill, to say nothing of the delightful variety it makes in the day's bag. Capercaillie are 
easily kept within limits by driving the woods, and I never met a sportsman who did 
