THE PERIOD OF CORRELATED RESEARCH 33 



disease", over a three year period. Selected because of their previous work. Dr. Allen and 

 Alfred 0. Gross of Boudoin were placed in charge. A research project was thus started that 

 was to continue and enlarge, during the next six years, eventually to be superceded by the 

 present Investigation. 



In 1925, C. C. Adams resigned from the Committee and Dr. A. O. Gross and John C. Phil- 

 lips were appointed. They, in the meantime, had organized a New England Grouse Investi- 

 gation Committee under the personal direction of Dr. Gross to delve into conditions in this 

 region. 



At the 13th Game Conference in 1926, Allen and Gross presented their combined findings 

 of the previous seasons. This was based on an examination of nearly a thousand grouse 

 which had been shipped to them from various parts of the iXortheast. Included were some spe- 

 cimens from as far west as Wisconsin and Minnesota. Over twenty different parasites and 

 diseases were identified, any one of which, they felt, might prove important in some locality, 

 under certain conditions. This study was made in close cooperation with the Game Depart- 

 ments of many of the northern states. The Michigan Conservation Department ordered each 

 of its wardens in counties inhabited by grouse, to send one each week throughout the year to 

 Dr. Allen, A good many interested sportsmen likewise sent in specimens so that it became 

 necessary to call on specialists in various fields for help. 



Dr. E. E, Tyzzer, of the Department of Pathology of the Harvard Medical School took 

 charge of the diagnosis of diseased birds from New England and Dr. E. L. Brunett. of the 

 New York State Veterinary College at Cornell University, rendered similar service for the 

 General Committee. Dr. Eloise Cram, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, identified many of 

 the parasites and, later, while associated with and financed by the New England liuffed Grouse 

 Investigation, was successful in working out the intermediate host of the stomach worm, a 

 problem upon which Mrs. E. K. Burckmyer did some preliminary work. Mr. Charles C. 

 Sperry of the U. S. Biological Survey identified the food contents of the crops and stomachs 

 of the New England birds and two of Dr. Allen's graduate students, Thomas Smyth and the 

 late Dana Leffingwell, also rendered similar service for the General Committee. Smyth had 

 just completed a 3 year study of the bird in central New York and written a doctor's thesis on 

 the life history of the grouse. In it he answered many a moot question about the environment 

 and habits of the bird. An earlier pa|)cr by Snnth'". on the food of the grouse, still stands 

 as a first-class list of the fall food habits of the bird, particularly in New York. Leffingwell 

 moved to the State College of Washington where he initiated a western division of the grouse 

 investigation but did not live to get it more than well started. 



By 1928, over two thousand specimens had been sent in to the New England Committee 

 by local sportsmen and by others from Nova Scotia and Quebec, while the General Committee 

 had received as many more from other parts of the country from Virginia to Minnesota. Thus 

 a fairly accurate picture of the fall foods and of the degree of parasitic infestation was ob- 

 tained. However, no disease or parasite discovered in the wild birds was thought to be of 

 greater significance than the stomach worm. (Displiarynx spiralis). This was found to occur 

 in large numbers only in New York and New England. Unfortunately, too few birds were 

 received from the same area over a period of several years to make it possible to chart changes 

 in the local incidence of the more important diseases. But the picture of their distribution 

 and effect upon the individual birds sent in represented an invaluable contribution. In addi- 

 tion, birds were weighed and about 25 standard measurements taken of each. Plumage and 

 moult studies were also made and later served as the basis for a manuscript by James L. 



