REDUCTION IN NUMBERS NEAR CENTERS OF POPULATION 7 



Today the effect of woods edges on the abundance of many a wild-life species is well rec- 

 ognized. Perhaps more woods-wise but certainly less analytical, the early settlers utilized this 

 source of fresh meat close at hand. They seldom questioned (if we may believe the records) 

 but that the woodland beyond the ring i>i their axes likewise held countless thousands of birds. 

 For then, unlike now, the hunter apparently rarely inquired as to the cause of such concen- 

 trations. They preferred rather to harvest the crop and. when the number of grouse in their 

 coverts periodically shrank to a fraction of their former abundance, to hope for better days. 



Thus the axe. where not followed too closely In fire and the plow, served to break up the 

 forest cover and. as with deer, to increase its carrying capacity for game. Partridge thrived 

 accordingly. 



REDUCTION IN NUMBERS NE.AR CENTERS OF POPULATION 



The diffprence between optinuim and poor grouse habitat is often a matter of the degree to 

 which forest cutting and clearing are carried. Men were eager to turn the forest duff into 

 fertile fields. It was. of course, inevitable that, aniund the larger centers of population, where 

 this activity was greatest, food and shelter for grouse became progressively less and hunters 

 more numerous. This led to a gradual reduction of the species in such areas. Bartram '. about 

 1752, noted the disappearance of the grouse in the lower settlements of Pennsylvania. Sixty 

 years later. Alexander Wilson"" saw the same trend and wrote: "formerly they were numerous 

 in the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia but. as the woods were cleared and the jjopulation 

 increased, they retreated to the interior". 



Some of this range, in the East, has Ix-cn taken over by the pheasant and the bobwhilc 

 quail. All too nnuh of it. particularK uhere it is heavih |)astured has been left barren of 

 any game bird, save possibly the woodcock. b\ the retreating feet of the jiarlridge. 



Influences generalh little recognized, in the form of the machine and of scientific agricul- 

 ture ha\e recently made farming unprofitable in so much of the hill land and back country 

 that once was grouse habitat, thai the trend has been reversed again. Woodlots are going 

 lirush). and woods" edges are growing up to a variety of plant species furnishing both food 

 and shelter for the grouse. In New York alone, upwards of r).0()().O(M) acres of once-farmed 

 fields are now in process of abaridonment. Even the lands of medium quality are apt to be 

 worked less intensively. The woods are accordingK. growing back toward the centers of 

 population, bringing the grouse in tlieir train. 





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