390 INFLUENCE OF MAN 



off. In this connection, Elliott"" states further, "If a number have perched on the branches 

 of different trees, the attention of the prouse is entirely taken up with the antics and noise 

 of the dog . . . the report of the weapon does not frighten other birds and firing is continued 

 until a number of birds are tossed upon the ground." 



An anonymous writer in Moore's Rural New Yorker^, reflecting a change in attitude, 

 writes, "the only sportsmanlike way to bag partridge is with a good dog and gun . . . learn 

 to shoot on the wing, and . . . despise the trapping of game birds as every true sportsman 

 does." However, Stoddart""*, in 1918, revealed that unethical practices still continued by stat- 

 ing that shooting from automobiles was one of the causes of grouse scarcity. 



The present law in New York State provides that game "shall only be taken . . . with a 

 gun fired at arm's length, without rest, or with a long bow". 



Such, briefly, is the chronology of how grouse have been brought to bag. But these few 

 references only give an intimation of the innumerable devices and tricks which have been the 

 stock in trade of grouse hunters in the past, mainly market hunters. 



The changes in ethics have been equally important. While laws have restricted the means 

 of taking and good sportsmanship has ruled out unsportsmanlike tricks, the grouse itself has 

 changed some of the old methods by changing its own characteristics. WTiether or not it is 

 ethical to shoot down a whole covey of grouse from a tree while the cur dog raises a rum- 

 pus below is now of small moment for it is not generally possible today because the grouse 

 has adjusted its reaction to the dog. 



Even among the current generation of grouse hunters, one hears suggestions of changing 

 grouse habits. "The birds don't lie to the old setter like they used to do", says an old timer. 

 So today, grouse hunting has become more a sport of hunters alone than hunters with bird 

 dogs as it was a decade or two ago. This is partly due to a growing lack of "grouse dogs", 

 most of them now being "spoiled" on pheasants. The ways of our forefathers have changed 

 and the history of the methods of taking grouse is a chronology of grouse hunting. 



Predator Control 



Conservationists have long debated the question of predator control as a means of increas- 

 ing the abundance of game. The American sportsman's belief in this method rests to a con- 

 siderable degree upon its use on the grouse moors of Britain. True, it has undoubtedly been 

 an important factor in producing the high fall jjopulations so frequently encountered there. 

 Few realize, however, the intensity of the management practiced on most of these Scottish 

 estates where full-time keepers are employed and wiierc the cost of purchase and maintcnancr 

 is to some extent defrayed by the sale for meat of a large pro])ortion of the birds shot. 

 Referring to American conditions. Leopold says^: "I would point out. however, that 

 stringent predator control is usually unnecessary save in the upper scale of intensive game 

 management." The same author continues that in general in this country suitable game 

 crops "can best be achieved bv light, local, seasonal and selective handling of the predator- 

 factor".* 



The history of increasing protection for our game birds has been paralleled to a lesser 

 extent by growing restrictions in the taking of predatory species. Tiiere was a time when 

 the expression, "the only good hawk is a dead one" exemplified the universal opinion of 

 sportsmen. To some, this still applies but tlic light of facts has gradually dawned and in 



• Sec Chiplcr XV. i>. 630. 



