PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 25. 73 



complaints concerning the damage to crops by this bird have 

 been sent in by farmers. In one instance on Cape Cod straw- 

 berry beds were slightly damaged, and in western Massa- 

 chusetts a more serious injury was reported by two fruit 

 growers, who claimed that the grouse stripped large numbers 

 of buds from apple trees. 



The ruffed grouse is probably the most unsatisfactory and 

 the hardest of our game birds to raise in captivity. The rear- 

 ing of this bird is as yet in the experimental stage, and it will 

 probably take some years before a satisfactory method can be 

 obtained. Supt. H. E. Torrey, who has had previous ex- 

 perience in rearing ruffed grouse, started hatching these birds 

 at East Sandwich in 1914. 



Ducks. 



The increased number of ducks breeding in Massachusetts 

 during the past two years has been markedly noticeable, and 

 many favorable comments have been made in favor of the 

 prohibition of spring shooting. Almost every section reports 

 that they are gradually coming back to nest. For the sake of 

 illustration may be mentioned one incident at a certain pond in 

 Bridgewater. In previous years the few birds which came in 

 the spring were either killed or disturbed, so that none were 

 ever reared there, but in 1913, just previous to the open season, 

 nearly 400 young ducks were reported in that locality. 



The rearing of ducks began at the Sutton game farm in 1912, 

 when several pairs of mallard, wood and black ducks, as well as 

 a few widgeons, redheads, pintails, Australian eyebrows and 

 gadwells were purchased. Of these, the mallards proved the 

 easiest to rear successfully, although some progress was made 

 with the wood and black ducks. In 1913 the rearing of mallard 

 ducks commenced in earnest. The same success in rearing 

 mallards continued in 1914, but few results were obtained from 

 other ducks. 



Mallard ducks were first bred at Wilbraham in considerable 

 numbers in 1913. The birds were confined, until after the lay- 

 ing season, in pens 50 by 50 feet, the brush providing a place 

 for concealment and the lowland the necessary water. Later 

 they w T ere allowed a wider range in order to furnish them with 

 more varied food. 



