TETK.AO TJROGALLTTS, Limv
Walter,Imp.
lus et hyhridus, I
crassirostris et v,
which they now present. So receutly as the twelfth century Kuglati
and other trees, and probably the larger portion o f Scotland with
are to be found in her peat bogs and morasses. At that period the
extinct, ranged a t large just as the badger, the otter, the martin,
though even their existence, like that o f their predecessors, becom
A similar fate has obtained among the more remarkable of the bird:
comparatively but a short time since the Great Auk was pientif
less since the Bustard stealthily walked over our extensive downs i
straggler flying over from the Continent at indefinite periods are
The gradual physical changes effected by time appear to have bee
species alluded to from Great B ritain ; but I fear the hand of in a:
that of the Great Auk, the Bustard, and the Capercailzie. This lat
a hundred years ago, but has recently been reintroduced through th
o f our more wealthy highland proprietors, and has again become
Owing to the absence o f the Capercailzie from our islands durin
when a renaissance o f the study of natural history took place, none c
all obliged to quote largely from Mr. Lloyd’s ‘ Field -sports'of the n
Wild Fowl o f Sweden and Norway,’ &e.; nor can I do' better than
interesting volumes contain the fullest account of the bird that ha
such extracts from the latter book as appear to me of general infc
itself for many curious anecdotes as to the sport it aflbrds, the various
“ The Capercali or Capercailzie,” says this gentleman, “ has a wide §
the vicinity of the Frozen Ocean to the Spanish Pyrenees. Temminck
of the islands of the Grecian archipelago, in Siberia, and throughout
Europe, including Poland and Livonia. In the mountainous and wo
Switzerland it is met with more dr less frequently. I t is also found
rather sparingly. Throughout all the wooded parts of Scandinavia, :
pine-tree flourishes, it is pretty common.
“ The chosen haunts of the Capercali are mountainous and hilly disrii
such as are of mature growth, and studded with lakes and morasses,
woods interspersed with deciduous trees, more especially the oak, as it
autumn and when the young are small and follow their mother, these
or even in the woods of young growth, and then only when in the vicini
“ During the summer the food of the Capercali consists chiefly of se\
trees and bushes, such as the alder, birch, and hazel—of acorns, where
found in the northern forests, as, for example, the cranberry ( Vaccinium
or cowberry (Vaccinium Vtiis-idaa), the common bilberry or bleaberry i
(.Fragaria vesca), the juniper berry (Juniperus communis)—and of insects, &
fir (Ptnus sylvestris, Linn.) and of the spruce-pine (Pinus Abies), thoug
goes, very sparingly. The larch (Pima Larix, Linn.) is unknown in Swi
but the late Lord Breadalbane told me that at Taymouth Castle, wher<
its leaves with avidity. In th. e winter time, when the ground is deepl
readily procurable, the Capercali would seem to subsist almost entire!
young feed, a t first, on insects, larvae, ant-eggs, and small worms, but soc
specified, and, by degrees, acorns and pine-leaves.