260 



GENERAL HABITS 



were found to be in groups of four or more. These groups were as follows: 36 of four birds 

 each; 23 of five each; 8 of six; 4 of seven; 3 of eight and one each of nine and 11 birds. Dur- 

 ing April and May, on the other hand, out of 1,327 birds, only one such group was encount- 

 ered, this being of four birds in April. During the summer, it is very rare to find even two 

 adults together. 



Several other observers, both before and since Wilson, have noted much greater degrees of 

 gregariousness. Thus Morton in 1632,"" stated he saw 40 grouse in one tree. Forbush"" men- 

 tions the report* of C.C.Abbot that, at one time, thousands congregated in the swamps of 

 New Jersey. Again Lahontan^', in speaking of this bird to which he referred as "fool hen", 

 says, "they sat in the trees in flocks and were killed one after another". More recently, 

 Brewster™ and Spiller""'^ have reported large flocks in the fall. 



In view of the usual reactions of this species today, such records are striking by contrast. 

 Undoubtedly, some degree of change in its habits has taken place, although it is very unlikely 

 that large flocks were ever of more than infrequent occurrence. Furthermore, it is probable 

 that many of the early records applied to broods. 



A common belief is stated by Billings"^. "The males form small parties and continue sepa- 

 rated from the females until the approach of winter, when the males, females and young mingle 

 together". The Investigation has secured no evidence of social groups of this kind among male 

 birds at any season. Likewise, the supposition of Maynard™ that wintering groups represent 

 broods which have not broken up, appears to be of rare occurrence. Rather, such groups 

 merely represent birds whose territories include the same patch of winter shelter. 



Wariness 



One of the most important qualities which places the grouse of today in the first rank among 

 game birds is its customary wariness wherever hunted to any extent. 



Primitive Tameness 



But this has not always been so. Descriptive of its original habits was the name of "fool 

 hen" by which it. as well as its cousin the spruce grouse, was known in colonial days. The 

 Indians hunted it with the club and with blunt arrows". 



Many early writers referred to it as stupid and stated it was considered fit game for small 

 boys who most often secured the birds, not by means of firearms but by knocking them off 

 their perches with sticks and stones, or by snaring them in a noose at the end of a pole. 

 Another method is described by Nuttall"*: "They are even smoked to death, in the same man- 

 ner as the wild pigeons in the western country, while sleeping harmlessly and unsuspectingly 

 in their leafy roosts". Other accounts tell of groups of birds which allowed themselves to be 

 shot, one after the other, without flying "■ "". 



• It teem* quite pnHsible that •nme confunion SB to nimes may have riiBtrd among Bome o( the early writing*. 



good auliiority that the heath hen onre occurred in the pine i>laini o( New Jersey in large packs, especially 



Abbot's report may in reality have applied to the latter species. 

 A See discussion of Mobility, p. 2^^. 



It is known on 

 n winter. Thus 



