508 



ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATIO\ OF GROVSE 



Distance, unsatisfactory shipping crates inviting injury and disease, and delays in transit 

 sometimes due to importation difficulties all play their part. The condition under which the 

 birds are held prior to shipment is also a factor. Ihiless all these considerations are prop- 

 erly met, survival may be markedly lessened from the start. 



Ability of Liberated Birds to Survive 



In Chapter I liable 2, p. 18) one finds a record of some 2,300 grouse that have been lib- 

 erated over the years, largely by sportsmen. These for the most part were wild-trapped birds. 

 Yet a glance indicates that the number of valid returns covering the results obtained from 

 this restocking effort is discouragingly small. In part this follows from the general failure to 

 mark liberated birds in order to insure their subsequent identification. Likewise, only a few 

 releases have ever been intensively followed to determine survival. Grouse, like pheasants 

 and quail, even though plainly marked and faithfully followed are most difficult to find 

 again following liberation. The only other basis on which results may be judged are the 

 records of introduction that succeeded or were failures. 



The outstanding record of achievement already mentioned is the liberation of grouse on 

 Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Most other releases have been into coverts 

 where native birds were also present, thus making the attendant degree of success difficult to 

 determine. Liberations are also being made and carefully followed in Ohio and Missouri 

 but are not yet old enough to produce indicative results. 



Perhaps the most intensively controlled releases to date have been those made by the In- 

 vestigation. Over the past 13 years, 191 hand-reared and 76 wild-trapped grouse have been 

 liberated. These were made on areas where regular field surveys were being carried on by 

 trained crews. In addition to banding, some of the birds were marked with brilliantly dyed 

 chicken feathers wired or cemented to the tail feathers to facilitate subsequent identification. 



With the exception of 13 reared by Dr. Allen, the hand-raised birds came from the Re- 

 search Center. Unavoidably, they were chosen from the surplus that remained after the 

 breeding stock and birds for various experiments had been selected. Therefore, they might 

 not be expected to do as well as birds turned out in the pink of condition. Nevertheless, of 

 84 released on the Pharsalia Game Refuge in 1938, 40 were subsequently contacted. One of 

 these was four miles from the point of liberation. A marked female was found with a brood 

 of seven chicks 78 days after release. The remains of 17 were found, though in most cases 

 the cause of death was difficult to determine. 



In December 1932, on the same refuge, 29 marked, wild-trapped birds were released. At 

 least 12 were still resident there the following April. In fact, four females nested and reared 

 broods of young. Both of the above records are conservative as it is probable that some were 

 not recognized because of the loss of identifying feathers. The latter birds wandered widely, 

 one traveling three and a half miles in seven days while another was found six miles from 

 the point of liberation a few months later. Others undouliledh siir\i\e(l Imt. liaviiiL' jnur- 

 neyed off the survey area, were not contacted again. 



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