of this bird, and their association with bone implements,
there can be no doubt,' I think, that the Capercaillie was,
in past ages, a common denizen of the forests of, dhe
north of England, and was freely used as an article of food
by the cave-dwellers. Remains of the Rear, Wolf, Lynx,
Black Grouse, Red Grouse, Woodcock, Curlew, Long^eared
Owl, and Grey-lag Goose were found in proximity.” This
discovery shews that a large portion of the north of England
was formerly covered by coniferous woods. Mr. Harting
states that bones of the Capercaillie have been found amongst
Roman remains at Settle; and that he has met .with; old
grants (circa 1343-1361) of land in the county ef Durham,
held by the tenure inter alia of paying “ one wode-henne
yérely ” to the Bishop of Durham for the time being.*
There seems t<rbe“no other evidence of the'»existence of: the
Capercaillie in England, or in Wales, within historic, times,
beyond the statement by1 several authorities that i t ; was
known to the Britons by the name of OèiliïïgftÇfbeàs ■
In the woôdëd parts of Scandinavia it is abundant, reaching
a s ‘far as 70* N. latT^but- towards the? limits of the pine
forests a diminution is observable both in numbers and in
size. It is also very numerous in the forests-of Russia,
as far south as the department of Saratov«onvthe1 left
bank of the' Volga/in about 52°'-N. lat.‘ In Denmark
its remains ' are found in the kitchen-middens of the prehistoric
races Who -inhabited the country when rif was
covered with the pine forests which have long since given
way to the oak and the beech; and »teder? these-altered ^conditions
-the bird became ’extinct-.' Throughout the forests Ml
Northern and Central Germany, Switzerland, Tyrol, and on
the pine-clad mountain frontier of. North Italy it still exists ;
a few still linger in the Vosges-and the Jura; and its remains
have beennbtained rin^seVOra'l of1 the bone-caves'of France;
From Auvergne it has nearly, if-not altogether* disappeared ;
and on the northern sloph of the - Pyrenees it' has 'become
somewhat rare, but it is -not uncommon in the wild forests on;
the Spanish side, ranging-to thé-extreme west of the Asturias,
, * Zoologist, Ï879, *
along the Cantabrian range. Passing eastward again, it is
found in the Carpathians, and, probably, in portions of the
Balkans ; but Dr. Krüper has failed to discover any evidence
of its reported occurrence in Akarnania; a few stragglers
are said to be found in Bessarabia on the northern side of
the Black Sea, but it does not reach to the Caucasus. In
Asiatic Siberia, as represented by a very grey form, it
is resident in suitable localities a,s far east as Lake Baikal;
but in Amoorland and Kamtchatka its place is r occupied;
by a distinct species, Tetrao mrogalloides of Middendorf
(not to be confounded with the. “Tetrao, hybridus, -Urogalr,
loides ” * or T. urogallides’f of Nilsson, which is a hybrid
between the Black-cock and the hen Capercaillie). The
real Tetrao urogalloides of Middendorf is a more slender
bird: the head and neck are rich purple-blue, in which re»-
speet alone it resembles the above-mentioned hybrid; ihe
wing-coverts and tertials are much margined with white*
and the upper tail-coverts are broadly tipped with the same,
and the tail is much longer-in proportion and more graduated
than in the Capercaillie—-not in the least forked, as it is in
the hybrid. Owing to the same name having been applied
to a genuine, but little-known species, and also to a far more
common and well-known hybrid which«wMl be treated later-
on, much confusion has arisen, and even some recènt authorities
appear to be unaware that T. urogalloides of Eastern-
Siberia is a perfectly distinct bird from T. urogallus.J
About the end of the year 1827, or early in January, 1828,
Lord Fyfe imported a cock and hen from Sweden, only the
former of which reached Braemar; and in 1829 another
cock and hen; but although the latter laid a couple of dozen
eggs in the ensuing April, this attempt at restoration-was--
a failure. The probable reasons.for -this,, with a long account
of the experiment, are given in Mr. Harvie-BrownJs able,
monograph above cited, and from which many subsequent-
particulars are taken. In 1837, however, Lawrance Banville,
head keeper to the late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, of. Norfolk,
was sent over to Venersborg, in »Sweden, the residence-
* Skand. Fogl. ix. p. 72 (1836). •f'Qp. eit.ai?p. 78 ‘
VOL. III. ’ h