The Capercaillie 
13 
on the 27th of September, in the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary. It was before daybreak, I 
was listening to a stag calling, when a cock began to sing quite close to me — on one of the 
pairing places, where there are eight or ten as a rule in spring — and went on as if it had 
been April. The gamekeepers in these different localities which I mentioned do not consider 
it a very rare thing to hear the cock in autumn, especially on a fine night. It may by the way 
interest you to hear that I don't know of anybody having shot more Capercaillie than my late 
father in Austria and Germany. He killed over 1100 in his lifetime, and sometimes bagged as 
many as fifty to sixty in one spring pairing season — six in one night being the record." 
The usual nesting month of the Capercaillie is May, but on high ground the eggs 
are often not laid until June. The site generally chosen by the female is the foot of 
an old Scotch fir or larch, or the sheltered side of an uprooted tree. The shadow of 
a sloping pine is also a favourite position. I have also seen nests in deep heather 
and in clumps of raspberry bushes, but this is unusual. As a rule, no attempt at 
a nest is made. A hollow is scraped and lined with pine needles ; sometimes a few 
feathers and a little moss is added to the sides with surrounding sticks worked into a 
slight barricade ; but if there are no twigs the bird seldom carries any to her nest. 
At first the female covers the eggs with pine needles on leaving the nest, but neglects 
this precaution as soon as incubation commences. The eggs are somewhat similar 
to those of the greyhen, only much larger. They are 2.2 by 1.5 in size; the ground 
colour, of a light reddish brown, is thickly spotted and blotched with dark reddish- 
brown markings. From six to eight is the usual number, but ten is not infrequent, 
whilst I have heard of twelve. Incubation lasts about thirty days. The hen bird sits 
fairly close — that is to say, she will permit an interview at 12 feet. If the intruder 
approaches nearer she will rise with much flapping, and perhaps break some of the 
eggs, some of which are often flung from the nest. It is therefore very unwise to 
disturb a hen bird on the nest, and the claims of the photographer are the only excuse. 
It is curious to notice on viewing a nest where Capercaillie have recently been hatched 
that the egg-shells are broken exactly in the centre, one-half being placed inside the other. 
This could hardly take place accidentally, and Mr. Seton Gordon thinks it is done by 
the parent bird. The nest of the Capercaillie is most conspicuous when the hen 
bird is absent, and she has failed to cover her eggs as she often does. In consequence, 
large numbers of nests are destroyed annually by vermin, especially by hooded crows. 
Both pheasants and greyhens occasionally lay their eggs in the nests of Capercaillie. I 
have known of three cases, all in Perthshire, where female Capercaillie have made nests 
in trees 10 to 15 feet above the ground, and have successfully hatched out broods. 
Nests are often made close to keepers' houses, or roadsides, and Prince Henry of Liech- 
tenstein informs me that a female Capercaillie made a nest in 1907 within 5 yards of 
the rear of a dog-kennel (where the dog was always chained up), and only a few yards 
distant from a forester's hut. In spite of the disturbance of the dog, she hatched off her 
eggs. Young Capercaillie are very delicate in their early stages, and many succumb 
to late frosts and heavy rains. Moreover, the mothers are not, I think, so careful with 
their offspring as grouse are. From the first the young are very active little creatures, 
and run swiftly. The hen bird is very courageous if her brood are suddenly menaced, 
more so than any gallinaceous bird I know of, except ptarmigan in unfrequented places. 
