Capercaillie

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

capercaillie (sometimes given as capercailzie) Tetrao urogallus, a bird which belongs to the same family (Tetraonidae) as the grouse; and has been described as ‘a very large grouse’. The average total length of an adult male is 85 cm (34"). As a result of forest clearance and other unfavourable factors, this magnificent game bird became extinct in Britain around the end of the 18th century, but successful introductions have since then taken place in parts of Scotland.

Various subspecies are recognized, but there is also another species, T. parvirostris, the Siberian capercaillie.