ing at their legs and feet, and striking with the wings. Mr.
Adlerberg mentions such an occurrence» During a number
of years, an old Capercali cock had been in 'th e habit of
frequenting the estate of Yillinge at Wormdo, which, as
often as he heard the voice of people in the adjoining wood,
had the boldness to station himself on the ground, and,
during a continual flapping of his wings, pecked ;at the
legs and feet of those that disturbed his domain. It is also
stated that the Capercaillie occasionally has a spel of ;Short
duration about Michaelmas.
The nest is a mere hole scraped in the ground, under
a tree or bush, and the eggs are from six to twelve in
number: as many as fifteen being on record ; they areiof a
pale reddish-yellow colour, mottled with brown spots:?and
blotches, and measure about 2*3Hn length-by 1*5 in breadth.
Incubation lasts about a month, and’ the young are usually
hatched early in June: remaining .with the mother until the
approach of winter.
The adult male has the beak of a whifisbuhorn colour;
the irides hazel; over-the eye a semilunar patch of naked
skin which is bright scarlet; plumage of the head,JM?he
neck in front and. .behind,-.the., back, rump, and upper tail-
coverts, minutely freekled with ~slate-grey da* a brownish-
black ground ;tthe feathers of the crown of the head and
on the throat rather elongated wing-eoverts and wings
freckled with, light brown, on a darker brown ground :$dhe
depth of the tint-“ depending on the greater age! ofsithe bird;
quill-feathers russet,; tail-feathers nearly bluek,with ajfefew
greyish-white spots on the: outer webs jsagome of the Iohger
and lateral upper tail-coverts tipped with white; the chest
of a fine ^shining dark, greeny breast -black, with a:jfew
white: sp o ts fla n k s and under tail-.covertsgreyish-black,
Spotted With white; • under wing-coverts '.whitey a . small
patch appearing on the outside near: the shoulder; thighs
grey; legs Covered>with h air?liM# brown feathers which overhang
the toes in winter, .but are. shorter-in summer;, toes
and claws naked-,and black.
The dimensions .of the males are: subject to..considerable
variation, but the extreme length may be set down at three
feet four inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the
wing, sixteen inches: the first feather two inches shorter
than the second, and the second one inch shorter than the
third; the third and fourth equal in length, and longer than
the others.
The adult female has the beak brown ; the irides hazel ?
the feathers of the head, neck, back, wings, upper tail-
coverts, and tail, dark brown, barred and freckled with
yellow-brown and tipped with white; those of the neck in
front and the breast are of a fine yellowish-chestnut margined
with black, and with an extreme edge of greyish-
white; the feathers of the flanks, vent, and under tail-
coverts with broader edges of white? .legs greyish-brown;
toes and claws pale brown.
The whole length of the female described was twenty-six
inches. From the carpal ’joint to the end of the wing,
thirteen inches.
The young birds of both sexes in their first plumage
resemble the old female, the young .males afterwards obtaining
by slow degrees the colours which distinguish that
sex. Full plumage is not attained untjblhe- third'yeaiy jj
Varieties of both sexes are not unfrequent, and jSfilsson
mentions several. They are usually of a pale, faded grey,
with a few darker markings; and Mr, Lloyd (Game Birds
and Wildfowl of Sweden and Norway) figures a nearly-white
female, which, when killed, had a brood of young ones with
her; one of them being .-nearly /full grown, and -o.f the usual
colour of the Capercaillie hen, A male variety in the
Thunberg collection, at IJpsala, has received the name of
Tetrao eremita. ' Sterile females, which have assumed to a
greater or less extent the plumage - of the male, are often
met with : indeed Mr.' Oollettfof-Christiania, says that he
finds them every winteryand ’\>he, obtained1 on the 18th
October, 1872, exhibited so striking a resemblance to an old
and fully-coloured male as to be with'difficulty'1 distinguished
from o,ne. The distinguishing characteristics -were the
beard-like feathers on., the throat speckled '# ith white, the