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rorULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
to be treated of in the next two volumes, tlie preparation of which has been 
handed over by the author to his colleagues, Professor Goodall and Professor 
Farlow. The fourth volume, giving a sketch of the natural orders of phgeno- 
gamous plants, with other special information, Professor Gray says that he 
rather hopes than expects himself to prepare. We sincerely trust that this 
hope may be fulfilled. 
TIIE CAPERCAILLIE. * 
I T is so long since the present writer had the pleasure of seeing a certain 
book which once upon a time made a considerable noise in the world, 
namely, MacPherson’s version of the Poems of Ossian, that he cannot say 
whether the Great Cock of the Woods figures therein, although his impres- 
sion is that it does not. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that this bird 
ought to have made his appearance somewhere in the poetical record of the 
doings of the Fingalic chiefs. In the days of Fingal he must have been 
abundant in many parts of Scotland, and as he inhabits, not the inaccessible 
summits of the mountains, but the wooded region near their foot, and, being 
nearly as big as a turkey, furnishes no contemptible supply of savoury 
food, we can hardly suppose that his body was absent from the feasts with 
which the warriors of those days prepared themselves for those copious liba- 
tions of whisky (varied occasionally, no doubt, by a little dirk practice), in 
which they celebrated their feats of arms. 
Even in later days the records of the occurrence of this grandest of all 
European game birds in Scotland are of the scantiest description, and the 
earliest of them, an often-quoted passage from the description of Scotland by 
Hector Boetius, dates only from 1526. From this time down to 1760, about 
which date the species appears to have become extinct, we have only a few 
scattered references to the existence of the bird in Scotland. Of its presence 
in Ireland, the evidence, although sufficient, is still more scanty. The earliest 
references are those of Giraldus Oambrensis, and Iligden, the monk of Chester 
(1357-1387), both of whom mention “ pavones silvestres,” which in all pro- 
bability were Capercaillies. In Ireland also the species appears to have 
become extinct about 1760; although, according to one authority, the birds 
still existed in that country as late as 1787. 
All the references to the former existence of the Capercaillie in the 
Biitish Islands have been carefully brought together by Mr. Harvie-Brown, 
in his book, entitled, “ The Capercaillie in Scotland ; ” in which he also dis- 
cusses the origin of the names given to the bird, of which the most correct 
would seem to be Copullcoille, signifying “ Horse of the Wood.” By Boetius 
it is spoken of as the “ Auercalze,” which is interpreted in like manner, and 
this name is of interest from its connection with the German “ Auerhahn ” 
(Bison-cock), represented by the Latin word Urogallus, which was adopted 
by Linnseus as the specific name of this great grouse. Upon these and other 
critical points the reader will find abundant information in Mr. Brown’s 
work. 
* “ The Capercaillie in Scotland.” By J. A. Harvie-Brown, F.Z.S. 8vo. 
Edinburgh: Douglas. 1879. 
