EARLY EFFORTS AT ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION 



21 



shoot the last bird out of a covert, so adept did it become at dodging and screening its flight 

 behind a convenient tree. Practice truly gave it more perfection until hunters came to 

 have a very real respect for the bird and a genuine concern for its continued welfare. The 

 men who had secured their living hunting partridges gave way to those who made it their 

 recreation. 



Quick transportation made it possible for still larger numbers to enjoy the sport. The 

 successful introduction of the ringnecked pheasant throughout portions of the grouse range, 

 at a time when real sportsmen everywhere were particularly concerned about the ability of the 

 rufled grouse to survive, caused some to shift their hunting to the newcomer. With each 

 periodic recovery of the u])land favorite, however, devotees flocked back to it in ever in- 

 creasing numbers. On the average these later hunters may not compare with the old grouse 

 gunner in sheer deadliness, for they are neither such good shots nor do thev spend so much 

 time in pursuit of the grouse, but they are among the best class of sportsmen afield. 



But what has really appealed to the sportsmen as potentially the most practical measure 

 of all, were the attempts to raise grouse artificially. 



EARLY EFFORTS AT ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION 



It is as true with grouse as with other game that, next to protection as a method of in- 

 creasing abundance, man puts his faith in artificial propagation. Undisturbed, grouse are 

 probably the tamest game birds we have. Harried sufficiently, they compare favorably with the 

 wildest. But their nests, while hard to find, are not uncommon. Often they are uncovered 

 by accident. Once found, the resistless human tendency to "see what will happen" has been 

 the cause for literally hundreds of attempts to hatch out a clutch or two under a barnvard 

 hen and to raise the resulting brood, (tables 3 and 1). 



These efforts began early. In a letter from John Bartram to George Edwards, dated July 

 15, 1750"°, that keen observer wrote, "Many have attempted to raise the young ones and to 

 tame them, but to no purpose. Wlicn hatched under a hen thev escape into the woods after 

 ihey are hatched, where they either find means to subsist or perish." While such empirical 

 experiments were unquestionably repeated hundreds of times, it was not until 125 years 

 later that the results found iheir way widely into print. 



In the fall of 1874, near Dansville. Maine. M. \^'. Clark tra|)ped four wild partridge, over- 

 wintering them in a small cage. The following spring, he built an enclosure in the form of 

 a circle, 10 feet in diameter, with walls five feet high, to protect the birds and prevent their 

 escape. The lop was covered over with a conical tent. To make the grouse feel at home, 

 he planted little pines and firs in close clumps, between which were scattered dry forest 

 leaves. Even wild ruffed grouse may be tamed rather quickly in captivity and these proved 

 no exception, for one soon made a nest in which were deposited 18 eggs. 



