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British Birds. 
well known that no detailed description is necessary : no other British Game-bird 
can be mistaken for it. The Black Grouse is found throughout the pine-woods and 
birch-woods, especially in the mountains, of Europe and Northern and Central Asia, 
and it inhabits the north of England and Scotland in the localities suited to its habits, 
being also found in the wilder districts of the west and south-west of England and 
Wales. It is a tree-frequenting species rather than a ground bird like the Red 
Grouse and Ptarmigan, and further differs from those birds in being polygamous. 
When the breeding-season comes round the males often indulge in furious combats, 
and go through all sorts of dancing manoeuvres, but they disappear as soon as the 
females have begun to sit. The nest is a hollow in the ground, with scarcely any 
lining, and the eggs are from six to ten in number, of a buff colour, richly spotted 
with brown : they are about two inches in length. 
The Capercailie. 
THE 
CAPERCAILIE. 
( Tctrao urogallus.) 
This, the finest of our British Game-birds, is only found in 
certain districts of Scotland, where it has been re-introduced after 
having been exterminated. It is also an inhabitant of the pine- 
forests of Scandinavia and the rest of Europe as far east as 
Central Asia and the Baikal region. 
Like the Black Grouse, the Capercailie is polygamous, and drives away all the 
younger males from its district as the nesting-season approaches, fighting furiously 
with any other old male bird that trespasses on its particular domain. It is often 
