132 THE WOOD GROUSE OR CAPERCAILZIE. 
have been made at Mar Lodge, and of the habits of 
the female and young, will be read with interest. 
“ I was wading down the Dee one fine afternoon, 
a little below Mar Lodge, and with a lighter pannier 
than usual, when I heard the cry of a bird to w'hich I 
was unaccustomed, and my bad success in that day’s 
angling, induced me the more readily to diverge 
fi-oiu the ‘ pure element of waters,’ to ascertain what 
this might he. I made my way through the over- 
hanging w'ood for a few hundred yards, and soon af- 
ter reaching the road, which runs parallel with the 
river on its right side, I observed a wooden palisade, 
or enclosure, on the sloping bank above me. On 
reaching it, I found it so closely boarded up, that I 
had for a time some difficulty in descrying any in- 
mates, but my' eye soon fell upon a magnificent bird, 
which at firet, from its bold and almost fierce ex- 
pression of countenance, I took rather for some great 
bird of prey than for a Capercailzie. A few seconds) 
however, satisfied me, that it was, what I had never 
before seen, a fine living example of that noble bird 
I now' sought the company of Mr Donald Mackenzie. 
Lord Fyfe’s gamekeeper, the occupant of the neigh- 
bouring cottage. He unlocked the door of the for- 
tress, and introduced me to a more familiar acquain- 
tance with its feathered inhabitants. These I found 
to consist of two fine capercailzie cocks and one hen, 
and the latter, I was delighted to perceive, accom- 
panied by a thriving family of young birds, active 
and beautiful. 
