CAPERCALL CAPERKALLY, or CAPERCALZE, the Scotch name for 'be Capercail, Wood-Grouse, or Cock of the Wood, the Tctreo Urogallus of Lintueus.
Pennant refers this bird to the Coc de Bois, or Fabian Bruyant, of Belon, and the Gallo Cedrone of the Italians; and it is very probable that these and other names, namely, Gallo di Monte, Gallo Selvatico, Gallo Alpestre, Faaan Negro, and Fasitulo Alpestre, were applied both to the Caperkally and the Black-Cock, according to the different localities where the species occurred. [Bt./ice-Cote.] Part of Belon'a description of his Coc de Bois—such, for example, as the plume "si noire et reluisant au-demons du col, et de l'estotnach, qu'elle mower° en extra touts chengeante," and the tail with the feathers "voult6as, c'est k dire court ea en arc, et largess par le bout, ayant quelque petite. madrnres blanches," might apply to the Black-Cock, while "the size approaching to that of the peacock "—" the head not less than that of a bustard, with the great massive trenchant beak," —are much more applicable to the Csperkally, which in Le Grand Coq de Bruy2sres of Brinson, the Coq de Bruyare on Tetra° of Buffan, Kjader of the Fauna Sueeica, Tjaderbona of liaaaelquist, the Tetra° Auerlinn of Tenuninck, Auer Hahn of Friach, Auerwaldhuhn of Bechstein, the Peacock of the Wood (Pare syfreefris) of GimIclus Cambrenaie, Capricalca of Sibbald, the Cock of the Mountain or Wood (called by the Venetians Gallo di Montagu's) of Willughby, the Cock of the Wood or Mountain of Ray, Wood or Great Gross of Pennant, Ceiliog Coed of the ancient British, Crogallus scu Tetra° major of Aldrovand, Trtrao Urogallus of Linnaeus, and Urogallus rulgaris of Fleming.
'I'errninek says that this Mini is numerous in the north of Asia, and in Russia towards Siberia : and that it is common in Livonia, sufficiently abundant in Germany, in Hungary, and in certain parts of the Archipelago : he adds that it is more rare in France, and never found in Holland. Pennant states that these birds are common in Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, and several parts of the Alps. It is added in a note, on the authority of Hasselquist, that the bird was shot in the Isle of Milo on a palm-tree, and on that of Belon that it is found in Crete; and it is observed that the English translator of Hasselquist gives a false name to it, calling it Black Game. Mr. Lloyd says that it is to be found in moat parts of the Scandinavian peninsula ; indeed as far to the north as the pine-tree flourishes, which is very near to the North Cape itself. He adds that the bird
is very rare in the more southern of the Swedish provinces.
That it was once frequent in the British Islands there is no doubt, though it is now utterly extinct as a wild British species. Ray says : "Anglia hunc non alit, In Iliberni& inveniri dicitur." Pennant writes : "This species is found in no other part of Great Britain than the Highlands of Scotland, north of Inverness, and is very rare even in those parts. It is there known by the name of Caperealze, Auer calze, and in the old law-books Caperkally—the last signifying the Horse of the Woods—this species being, in comparison of others of the genus, pre-eminently large." He also says : " In our country I have seen one specimen, a male, killed in the woods of Mr. Chisolme, to the north of Inverness. About the year 1760 a few were to be found about Thomas Town, in the county of Tipperary, but I suspect that the breed is now extinct in every part of Ireland." Graves (1813) says: "This species is nearly extinct in Great Britain ; two instances of its being killed in Scotland within these few years are the only satisfactory accounts we have received of its being recently found in these kingdoms. One was killed by a gentleman of the name of Henderson near Fort William about six years ago, and eent to Dundee; but the vessel that conveyed it to London was detained so long on the passage that the bird became so putrid that only the head and legs could be preserved. The other specimen was shot by Captain Stanton near Burrowstoneness two winters ago; they were both males. Some few are said to be yet remaining in the pine forests of Scotland, and also in the mountainous parts of Ireland." Bewick speaks of it as very rare in Great Britain. In the last edition of Montagu (1833) it is stated that the bird was last seen in 1760 in the woods of Strathglass, that it continued in Strathspey till 1745, and that recent attempts have been made to re-introduce it from Norway without success. Selby (1825) alludes to its extirpation, and omits the species. Jenyns (1835) observes that it was formely abundant in the mountainous forests of Scotland and Ireland, but that it is now extirpated. A living pair came into the possession of the Zoological Society of London, but they did not long survive the loss of liberty.