Capercaillie

Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus; Ukrainian: hlushets, hotur, or hlukhar zvychainyi). A species of game bird of the grouse family (Tetraonidae), Galliformes order. The male capercaillie grows up to 110 cm in length and 6 kg in weight. In Ukraine this bird now lives only in the northern forest belt and the Carpathian Mountains; in the second half of the 18th century it could still be found in the forest-steppe between the Dnipro River and Don River. It is valued for its feathers and tasty meat; hence it has been intensely hunted.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]