APPRAISAL OF THE VARIOUS SPECIES 



337 



TABLE 42. PREDATORS CONSIDERED RESPONSIBLE FOR DEAD ADULT GROUSE 



EXAMINED BY THE INVESTIGATION— 1930-1942 



The predators which have been found responsible for the great majority of this niortahty 

 are the great horned owl and fox, both red and gray. In New York the former seems by 

 far the most effective since in actuality it undoubtedly accounted for at least half the dead 

 birds which could not be diagnosed beyond "hawk or owl." 



On the Adirondack area, however, this owl was not observed during the period of study 

 although this is a purely local condition. It is significant that under these circumstances the 

 total mortality experienced was very similar to that on Connecticut Hill and that it was asso- 

 ciated with a greater proportion taken by foxes*, Cooper's hawks and goshawks. 



Over the State the Cooper's hawk appears to rank next to the fox, followed by the weasel^. 

 During an average year this hawk is the more important in New York, aside possibly from 

 certain j)arts of the Adiroiidacks, since a few winter regularly throughout the central and 

 southern part of the State. The goshawk, on the other hand, is an irregular winter visitant 

 from the North. While there is ample evidence in jiublished accounts of the destructiveness 

 of this species when it appears in numbers no such invasion has been witnessed during this 

 study. A few individuals were recorded on Connecticut Hill for the winters from 1933 to 

 1987 and of the nine kills attributed to it four occurred in 1937. In view of this it is prob- 

 able that the majority of the records referred only to "hawk sp." were the result of Cooper's 

 liawk activity. The higher proportion of records attributed to the goshawk under Other Areas 

 (table 42) is due to the fact that most of this material was collected at Pharsalia where it 

 happened to be present during the winters involved. 



Other birds of prey have not been implicated except for the finding of grouse remains in 

 the pellet of a barred owl picked up on the Adirondack area. They, of course, may have 

 taken grouse now and then but there is nothing to indicate that such instances have been 

 more than occasional. In this connection McAtee^" found grouse in three of 754 red-tailed 

 iiawk stomachs, in four of 601 marsh hawks, and in one of 145 broad-winged hawks. Gross"' 

 found grouse only once in the many stomachs of the snowy owl^ which he examined. 



* Only the red fox is present in this locality. 



A No ditfercntiation has been made between the two aperies. New York and Bonaparte. 



t The same author has also reported grouse remains in one pellet of this owl.^'- 



