DUSKY GROUSE, 
123 
beneath, they shoot them at their leisure. Should 
there he several capercailzies in the same tree, how- 
ever, it is always necessary to shoot those in the 
lower branches in the first instance ; for, unless one 
of these birds falls on its companions, it is said the 
rest will never move, and, in consequence, the whole 
of them may be readily killed,” 
There is another fine European grouse, somewhat 
allied to the capercailzie, Tetrao medius of Meyer; 
the Rakkelhan of the Germans, It is chiefly found 
iu the north of Russia, Sweden, and Courland. In 
size it is scarcely inferior to the first, being, accord- 
ing to Temminck* two feet three, four, and five inches 
in length. The same author describes this bird as 
having also lengthened plumes upon the head and 
throat, which are raised during the love-season, or 
upon any irritation. The head, neck, and breast are 
rich black, with purple anil bronzed reflections. The 
hack and rump are black, but the feathers are termi- 
nated with a violet reflection, and each is marked with 
minute pale dotings. The belly is black, with some 
dashes of white on the centre. The scapulars and 
lesser wing-coverts are deep brown, marked with 
delicate yellowish irregular waves. The secondaries 
are white from their base for half their length, then 
brownish-black, and terminated with a tip of white. 
The tail very slightly forked, and upper coverts are 
black, the under coverts tipped with white. The 
female has nearly the same distribution of the plum- 
age with the former species. Both species extend 
