CAPERCAILZIE. 
79 
Capercailzie, as first in both size and strength ; 
the strong and hooked bill of the male reminding 
us more of that member in the birds of prey, than 
in one of the Rasores. The Capercailzie was 
certainly the noblest of the British feathered 
game : but the attributes of size, strength, and 
beauty, have proved his destruction, and it has 
been for many years extinct. In ancient times 
they were tolerably abundant in the primeval 
forests of Scotland and Ireland.* From the latter 
they appear to have been entirely extirpated at a 
very early period, while in Scotland their destruc- 
tion was more gradual, but they dwindled away, 
and the last specimen is recorded to have been 
killed in the neighbourhood of Inverness, more 
than sixty years since. There is a prospect, how- 
ever, of the species being again introduced into 
Scotland, by the exertions of some of our Highland 
nobility. Lord Fyfe has attempted to naturalise 
the Cock of the Wood at Mar Lodge. The first 
importation from Sweden was accomplished in 
1827, or early in 1828, but was unattended with 
success, owing to the death of the male bird, most 
probably from harm received during the trans- 
portation. In the year following, fresh birds 
were imported, and young were successfully reared 
after several attempts. These, in 1831, it was 
intended to turn out, so soon as they were suffi- 
* Smith, in his History of Cork, completed in 1749, re- 
marks, that this bird is “ found rarely in Ireland since our 
woods have been destroyed.” 
