EARLY EFFORTS AT ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION 



23 



TABLE 3. KNOWN ATTEMPTS TO REAR RUFFED GROUSE IN CAPTIVITY FROM EGGS 

 COLLECTED IN THE WILD— 1879-1942 (Cont'd) 



^Results of both wild and hand-reared eggs. 



ARaisnd some birds. 



fSonif r;uM<'(i ill large, open pens and sold. 

 JSonif (•t.'^'s liiitched; none reared. 

 §Oiu; liriiod started. 



^Includes wild chicks rescued and raised. 

 ^Week-old chicks caught in the wild. 



But then, as now, it was easier to try out the raising of grouse than to read of others' ex- 

 periences — and infinitely more fun. "Penn"^ in 1886. "0. 0. S."°^ in 1891, and Commis- 

 sioner Brackett"" in Massachusetts, about 189.5. all started grouse under bantam hens with- 

 out bothering to leave more than passing records of their methods or their difficulties. Per- 

 haps the most encouraging record was made by Newcomb. who, in 1897, collected 40 eggs, 

 hatched 34 under hens and raised 31 chicks beyond four weeks of age. 



By the turn of the century it was generally established that grouse could be hatched from 

 eggs gathered in the wild. Folks were not so sure, however, that the resulting birds could be 

 raised to maturity, kept over winter and encouraged to produce fertile eggs the following 

 spring. Long arguments around cracker barrels failed to settle the subject, but helped might- 

 ily to make the job the more worth doing. It became a challenge to ability as well as an 

 opportunity to contribute to science. With this in mind, Dr. Clifton F. Hodge"", head of 

 the Department of Biology of Clark University, weighed carefully, in the fall of 1902, the 

 problem of raising grouse on a large scale, and found it worth doing, "if merely to prove 

 its practicability from the standpoint of science". So Massachusetts, long a pioneer in grouse 

 rearing work, issued Dr. Hodge a permit to collect the necessary eggs from wild nests. A 

 student, fired with the doctor's enthusiasm, placed the eggs in his hat and, putting it gingerly 

 on his head, brought them to the Hodge home, there to be turned over to a broody bantam. 

 This care was rewarded when six young partridges were hatched. None survived, however, 

 beyond the first two weeks. 



Undiscouraged by the chorus of "I told you so" that arose, the spring of 1904 saw six 

 birds raised from a clutch of 12 eggs. But, with these almost a year old and victory in his 



