THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
nests in somewhat exposed situations, generally in the open forest at the 
foot of a Scotch fir, beech, or oak, and their nests when vacated, are easily 
observed by the sharp-eyed crow. Of late years Highland proprietors 
have taken much interest in arboriculture, with the result that all creatures 
hostile, or thought to be injurious to trees, have been exterminated without 
compunction. Under this ban comes the Capercaillie, I think most unjustly. 
Capercaillie are accused of destroying young plantations wholesale, but 
this is a gross libel on these noble birds, because they seldom, if ever, 
resort to very young plantations, and never if there are no big roosting 
trees. Moreover, at Murthly, which is one of the finest estates for trees 
in the kingdom, where all the conifers grow to their largest size, and young 
plantations are numerous, the question of Capercaillie injuring young 
timber was never advanced, nor were the birds ever seen or known to 
touch any trees except larch, birch, and Scotch fir of reasonable size, and 
these they only prune, as it were, scarcely arresting their growth. The 
top shoot is often bitten off young forest trees, but the sinner in this respect 
is generally the Black grouse. By far the worst enemy of young fir and 
larch is the squirrel, whose favourite food at certain seasons is the shoots 
of conifers. Another ridiculous theory is that Capercaillie drive off 
Pheasants. This is most unlikely even if we consider the comparative 
activity of the two species, and even if it were the case I cannot imagine 
any sportsman preferring the smaller to the larger bird in the great fir 
forests. The latter is not the true home of the Pheasant, and as there are 
always plenty of coverts frequented by Pheasants where the Capercaillie 
seldom, if ever, come, it seems churlish to desire the presence of this much 
pampered creature everywhere. 
Capercaillie are now so generally distributed in the localities they 
frequent, that they may be found in all the little outlying woods on the large 
estates. It is pleasant, therefore, to the shooter satiated with grouse and 
pheasants to be able to have little improvised drives, taken at haphazard 
at the end of a long day on the moor, and to have a chance at the noblest 
game bird these islands contain. Many a man would sooner shoot an old 
cock caper than scores of grouse, so that to the average shooter this little 
variety often affords a red-letter day. Wet days are not the time to pursue 
the caper. In heavy rain they lie close in the thickets or bracken, and will 
not leave the trees. Last year an enthusiastic young sportsman ousted me 
out of bed at 5.30 a.m. to come and help to beat a wood I knew well con- 
tained many Capercaillie. By breakfast time, after an immense amount of 
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