Part 5

For the greater part of the year capercaillie, the largest representative of the grouse family, passes its time concealed in the depths of the forests, where it manages to find sufficient food even in the most severe winters; and it is only for a short period in spring that it makes its appearance, during the breeding-season, in the open. Its home is in the great forests of continental Europe and northern Asia, more especially those in which fir and pines predominate; abundant under-wood, which affords a good supply of berries, open glades, patches of sand, and pure water are, however, essential to the well-being of this magnificent bird. The capercaillie, or auerhahn as it is called in Austria and Germany, ranged in former days from the British Islands to the north-eastern portion of Turkestan, the Altai Mountains, and Lake Baikal; but by the middle of the seventeenth century it had already become scarce in Britain, where it became extinct a century later. In recent years the bird has, however, been reintroduced into Perthshire, Forfarshire, and a few other Scottish counties. In the Urals, north-eastern Siberia, and Kamchatka the typical capercaillie is represented by nearly allied species, or races. In Scandinavia the auerhahn ranges as far north as latitude 70°, but gradually becomes smaller and scarcer as the pine-woods tend to disappear; and it is the vast pine-forests of central Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Poland that form the great centre of its habitat.

Although its large size constitutes a sufficient means of recognising the cock capercaillie, which measures as much as thirty-five inches in length, from all other kinds of grouse, the species is distinguishable from its near relative, the blackcock, by the evenly rounded tail; while the blackish head and neck, with a patch of bare vermilion skin above each eye, the pale horn-colour of the beak, the green band across the breast, and the slaty brown back form other unmistakable characteristics. The female presents somewhat more resemblance to an overgrown greyhen (the female of the blackcock), but here again the rounded tail and superior size constitute decisive points of difference; while the general colour is more distinctly chestnut. Additional peculiarities of the hen capercaillie are to be found in the presence of a rufous patch at the base of the neck, and in the white tips to the black greater wing-coverts. In length the hen measures about 10 inches less than her partner; while her weight is only from 5 to 6 lb., against from 13 to 16 or 17 lb. in the cock.

The food of the cock capercaillie consists principally of the leaves and young shoots of the Scotch pine; and during the breeding-season these appear to form its sole nutriment. At other times he also consumes the leaves of deciduous trees, together with cranberries, whortleberries, juniper-berries, and grass, and sometimes a few insects or worms. On the other hand, the hens, which spend much more time on the ground than the cocks, and the young feed largely upon ants and other insects, worms, etc.; this being especially the case with the young birds.

The capercaillie is a polygamous bird, and in the spring--sometimes while the snow is still thick on the ground--each cock takes up a position on a tall pine, and commences his nuptial performance or spel, as it is called in Norway. This spel usually lasts from early dawn to sunrise, and is repeated from sunset till dark; but the time varies somewhat according to the state of the weather and the temperature. During this amatory performance the cock stretches out his neck, raises and spreads out his wings like a fan, ruffles his feathers, and assumes an appearance which has been compared to that of an angry turkey. A call, which has been expressed by the words peller, peller, peller, is uttered with continually increasing rapidity, and concludes with a gulp and an indrawing of the breath, when the bird throws up his head, closes his eyes, and appears to be in a paroxysm of passion.

At the sound of the cock’s call all the hens in the neighbourhood rush to the place, uttering cries somewhat like the croak of a raven; and when they have assembled on the ground below the cock descends from his perch to join the party.

In Scotland, capercaillie-shooting takes place from 10th August till 20th December; but in some parts of the Continent, as in Poland, for instance, the calling-season is the time for this sport, which is so highly esteemed, that in Hungary and Poland a tablet is fixed in the shooting-lodges to commemorate the death of each bird.

THE SQUIRREL

(Sciurus vulgaris)

Of all the smaller animals inhabiting the forests of Great Britain and the Continent, none is better known, more graceful in its actions, or more charming in its appearance than the squirrel, the typical representative of a vast family of rodents, second in number only to the members of the mouse tribe, and having an almost cosmopolitan distribution, although unknown in Australia. The European species, like the great majority of its immediate relatives, is completely arboreal in its habits, and frequents for choice dry and shady forests where there is abundance of tall trees. Its range includes practically the whole of Europe and a considerable portion of northern Asia; but, as might be expected, there is considerable local variation in the matter of colour in different parts of this extensive area, and the British squirrel differs markedly from the typical Swedish representative of the species. There are, moreover, especially in the British race, seasonal changes of colour, which render its appearance very different.

During the winter months the British squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris leucurus) is a foxy coloured rodent, with long tufts of hair to the summits of the ears and the tail practically the same colour as the body. In the spring the long winter coat of the head and body is exchanged for a shorter summer dress and the ears lose their tufts; but the hairs of the tail are not changed, and consequently become dirty white, owing to the bleaching effect of light on their colour. This dirty white or cream-coloured tint of the tail in summer is absolutely characteristic of the British squirrel; and it may be added that even in winter this appendage is much less red than in many continental squirrels, being in fact reddish brown.

In the typical squirrel (S. v. typicus), of southern Norway and Sweden, the body in summer has a brownish red coat very similar to that of the British race; but the tail is red, and does not bleach when the hairs are old and worn. In winter the body-coat is soft greyish brown in colour, with traces of the summer tint along the middle line of the back and on the limbs. We now come to the subject of our illustration, which shows the German race of the squirrel (S. v. rutilans) in its winter coat. In this variety the colour is bright red at all seasons, although there is a tinge of light smoky grey along the flanks in winter; the tail being at all seasons bright rufous, often rather darker than the body. There is, however, a brown phase of this race; and all continental squirrels exhibit a more or less marked tendency towards individual melanism.

Omitting mention of several other red or reddish races of the species met with in various parts of the Continent, reference may be made to the Grecian squirrel (S. v. lilæus), in which the tendency to blackness is general if not universal; the general colour being brown, passing into blackish on the hind half of the back and the outer sides of the limbs. This, however, by no means exhausts the colour range of this extremely variable species, for in northern Russia and Siberia we find squirrels (S. v. argenteus and S. v. sibiricus) in which the general colour of the winter coat is light French grey, with the long ear-tufts black. It is these grey squirrels which are used in such numbers to form the linings of ladies’ cheap cloaks; but perfect skins, to say nothing of the living animal, are scarcely ever seen in England.

For the reception of their young, squirrels build a well-constructed nest, or “drey,” which is oval in shape, and made of fibres and leaves with a lining of moss; its usual position being the fork of a large tree or a hole in the trunk. The fibres are neatly and intricately interwoven; and when the nest is placed in a fork, the entrance is usually made to open near to one of the branches, with the colour of which it agrees very closely. In this comfortable home the female brings forth three or four young, usually in June, which are tended by both parents, with whom they remain till the following year.

Although squirrels are stated to make an occasional meal of birds’ eggs, they are in the main strict vegetarians, feeding chiefly upon pine-cones, nuts, beech-mast, bark, buds, and young shoots. Where they are unusually numerous, as in certain parts of Scotland, they are stated to inflict considerable damage on young larch-plantations. When feeding, squirrels sit up and grasp the food in their fore-paws, with which they hold nuts while these are pierced by the chisel-like front teeth. Long flying leaps from tree to tree are frequently taken by these active rodents.

THE ROE-DEER

(Capreolus caprea)

The roe-deer, or roebuck, as it is commonly called, is the smallest European representative of the deer family, or Cervidæ, and belongs to a small group confined to Europe and northern Asia. So far as external characters are concerned, roe-deer differ from more typical Cervidæ, such as the red deer and the fallow deer, by the simpler structure of the relatively small antlers of the bucks, which rise nearly vertically from the head, and carry only three points; the basal, or brow, tines of the red deer being absent. As a distinctive character, common to both sexes, may be mentioned the absence of a tail.

The summer and winter dresses of the species, as in so many of the deer of the temperate zone, are strikingly different; the summer coat being bright foxy red, while in winter the general colour of the fur is olive-brown. At the latter season, at any rate, there is a conspicuous white patch on the rump, which serves as a guide to the hinder members of a family or party when fleeing from danger. The beautiful fawns are marked with a comparatively small number of longitudinal rows of white or yellowish spots and streaks upon a rufous ground; this indicating that the roe is descended from deer of which the adults were similarly spotted in summer. The black moustache-mark on the muzzle, and the white tip to the chin, are other features of these elegant little deer.

The bucks attain their full development in the third year, when the antlers, which commence as simple spikes, first acquire their third tines. Adult bucks usually shed their antlers about Christmas, and the new ones, which increase in size, although not in complexity till the sixth year, are in most cases fully developed by the end of February. The fawns, of which there may be either one, two, or three at a birth, usually make their appearance in the world in May, at any rate in the British Isles.

The favourite haunts of roe-deer are woods and forests on the plains, where under-wood is abundant, from which they issue forth at evening to graze in meadows and corn-lands. On the Continent these deer are, however, also found in forests on the lower mountains, as well as on the spurs of the higher ranges. As a rule, they associate for the greater part of the year in small family parties; such parties, according to continental writers, usually consisting of a buck with two or three does and their fawns, although it has been stated that roe are strictly monogamous. When put up in covert, they generally start off at a gallop with enormous flying leaps, but their speed is not great. They are also excellent swimmers, and can likewise climb rocks to a certain extent. Their food comprises grass, herbs, berries, and the young shoots of bushes and trees; ivy-leaves, where they are to be obtained, forming a favourite article of diet.

The range of the roebuck extends from the British Isles to Spain and Italy in the south and to southern Scandinavia in the north, while eastwards it stretches across Poland and the south of Russia at least as far as the Caucasus. In the Altai and certain other parts of Siberia it is, however, replaced by a much larger, paler-coloured species with more thickly haired ears, commonly known as the Siberian roe (Capreolus pygargus), of which a local race inhabits the Tian Shan range. Still farther east, in Manchuria and Mongolia, we come upon a smaller and redder species, the Manchurian roebuck (C. manchuricus, or bedfordi), which is more like the European roe, the red coat being exchanged for one of olive-brown or grey in winter.

In former days roebuck were doubtless distributed all over Great Britain; but by the middle of the eighteenth century they appear to have been killed off everywhere, except in the highlands of Scotland. Later on, with the increase of game-preservation, they have reasserted themselves, and spread over the lowlands of southern Scotland, as well as parts of the north of England. In North Wales they were reintroduced into Vaynol Park in 1874; and they have likewise been turned down in the Blackmoor Vale of Dorsetshire, where they are now once more wild.

In height, a good roebuck will stand fully 26 inches at the shoulder; while in weight he will turn the scale at 60 lb., if in first-rate condition. On the Continent these deer are generally hunted by means of beating the woods, where the guns are stationed along the tracks by which the roe pass to their feeding-grounds. Roe-venison, which is in best condition during winter, is generally regarded as inferior to that of either the red or the fallow deer.

THE REINDEER

(Rangifer tarandus)

The reindeer, the ren of the Swedes, is by far the most valuable member of the deer tribe, as it furnishes the Laps and many of the tribes of northern Asia not only with food, raiment, and leather, but likewise serves as a beast of draught and burden to transport them and their food across the inhospitable regions which form their home. Reindeer are likewise in all probability the most numerous in individuals of any of the Cervidæ, occurring in vast herds on the high fjells of Scandinavia, while in many parts of North America, where they are known as caribou, they are met with in countless thousands, if not indeed in millions.

But it is not only in these two respects that reindeer are worthy of special notice, for they are the only members of the deer tribe in which antlers are carried by both sexes, those of the females being, however, considerably smaller than those of the males; while they are further remarkable for the early period of life at which these appendages make their first appearance. Then, again, the antlers, as is well shown in the illustration, are quite unlike those of any other deer; generally having the two pairs of front tines more or less branched and unsymmetrical, while the main beam sweeps backwards and then forwards in a bold curve, frequently giving off a single back-tine at the middle of the arch, and always carrying a number of tines on the hind edge of the upper portion.

Reindeer have a circumpolar distribution, except that they are naturally absent from Alaska; and in the former respect therefore agree with elk, although their range extends much farther north, and is proportionately curtailed in the south.