bird, which hitherto had not budged an inch from the spot, suddenly takes wing. Our Nimrod is just about to give vent to his feelings, and pour maledictions on his villainous weapon, when, to his joy, he sees the bird alight on a tree within an easy distance. To place the gun to his shoulder and fire is now the work of a moment, and to the undisguised delight, not to say astonishment, of both our doughty knights of the chase, the old blunderbuss went off with a loud bang, and the Troll-bird gave up the ghost." "In Scandinavia," continues Mr. Lloyd, "the Capercali is in considerable request for the table. It is more palatable, however, during the autumnal months, when it lives for the most part on berries and the like, than in the winter, when its food consists of pine-leaves, which give it a somewhat resinous flavour. In Wermeland and the adjacent country it is a standing dish at the last-named season at the houses of the gentry, who usually lay in an ample supply of these birds at the setting in of the frost. On the occasion of births, marriages, and deaths with the peasantry, the Capercali is looked upon as a needful addition to the feast. With them it is eaten either simply boiled or first parboiled and afterwards roasted until hard as a stone, in which state it will keep for weeks or months." * * * * * The HEATH COCKS (_Lyrurus_) represent a group of slenderly-formed birds, possessing short, arched, and rounded wings, the third quill of which exceeds the rest in length. The tail, composed of eighteen feathers, is in the female very slightly excised at its extremity, but in the male is so deeply forked as to present somewhat the form of a lyre. The powerful beak is of moderate size; the foot has its exterior and inner toes of equal length, and is completely covered with feathers. The very glossy plumage exhibited by the members of this group may be regarded as their most distinguishing characteristic, the male in particular being remarkable for the resplendent brilliance that adorns his feathers. [Illustration: THE CAPERCALI (_Tetrao urogallus_).] THE BLACK COCK.