4 
CAPE lie AILLIE. 
remarks by Mr. Eiinn were evoked by special queries wliicb I put to him regarding the possil)ility 
existing of the buds affected by the pine-beetle being tliose chosen by the Capercaillie. As has been seen, 
Mr. ])unn is of opinion tliat the bird prefers ‘ clean, healthy, fresh food ’ and has ‘ no taste for damaged 
or decaying vegetation of any kind.’ lie does not consider that insects of any kind form part of their 
food, but he at the same time states that he ‘ never examined the crop of a young bird taken out of 
the nest.’ I have quoted Mr. Dunn’s letter fully, as it is perhaps the letter, amongst many others I 
have received, Avhich places the damage done in the strongest light. I am still of opinion, however, that 
the final results exhibited in certain young trees are just as likely to have been caused by beetles as by the 
Capercaillies. If the buds arc destroyed, whether by beetles internally or by Capercaillies, whether in 
summer or in winter, I believe the results will be the same, viz. — as will be seen further on — the trees 
becoming bushy, branchy, and stunted.” 
Here arc a couple more extracts : — “ A correspondent in Perthshire writes as follows : ‘ From the 1st 
of November up to the end of May the Capercaillie lives principally on Scotch-fir sprigs. Then, from 
the 1st of June to the end of October, he lives greatly on insects, digs deep into ants’ mounds* in 
search of food, and strips the bark of rotten trees in search of worms and beetles.’ Fancy hundreds, 
yes and thousands, of Capercaillies thus employed. Do they do no good ? ” 
“ Mr. J. B. Hamilton, of Deny, amongst others, informs me that he has seen abundant evidence of 
their work and mischief, and adds, ‘ on Scotch firs of twenty to thirty years old. My own impression 
is that they are not so injurious to young Scotch-fir plants of a foot or two in height as Blackgame, 
which are very fond of the leading buds in these, and are one of the causes of that tufty appearance in 
these that you allude to.’ ” 
It seems that these birds have a better character in the north of Europe than in this country, as 
Air. Harvie-Brown gives the following : — “ Mr. Robert Collett, of Christiania, in reply to inquiries I made 
of him regarding destruction done to forests in Norway and Sweden, writes: ‘In Norway there is not 
any trace of destruction to the forests done by the Capercaillie. Certainly they do live in winter almost 
exclusively on the leaves of the fir {Pinus sylvestris), but they only take some shoots here and some 
there ; for the most part from old — or at least not young — trees.’ ” 
The following lines by Mr. Harvie-Brown so exactly describe the damage I witnessed on the hill at 
Logierait in the spring of 1878 that it supplies all deficiencies in the remarks I made concerning the 
effect on the trees : — 
“ Becoming interested in the subject of destruction of forest-plants and trees, I visited, in January 
1878, a piece of ground fourteen acres in extent, or thereabouts, situated in the midst of old pine wood 
of different ages, and wTiich had been planted six years previously with pine seedlings on the above- 
mentioned estate. In one corner, facing the sun and the south and protected on the north and west 
by older growth, the damage which the young trees had suffered was perhaps most apparent. Upon this 
estate Capercaillies are tolerably abundant, as many as four having been shot in one day by a party 
in 1877, and I have myself estimated the numbers seen in one day as at least sixteen. Blackgame are 
scarce, and have been so for a number of years ; but I have seen Blackgame driven out of the adjoining 
covers, and once rising out of the above enclosure. The stunted, bushy, or tufty young trees were 
pointed out to me, and I clearly saw Avhere the central buds of the leaders had been picked out— or 
had dropped off! — resulting in side shoots taking the place of the leaders, and thus deforming the 
trees. This was affirmed to be the damage done solely by the Capercaillie, which birds were stated to 
stand upon the ground and pick out the buds from the leading shoots, when the trees were perhaps 
four or five years old, and had been planted perhaps three years. After reaching this age the trees are 
* Lloyd directs tliat ants’ eggs be provided for the young birds when rearing them by hand (op. cit. p. 32). 
