PRACTICABILITY OF ARTIFICIAL GROUSE PRODUCTION 501 



lays an unusually large number is likely to have diflBculty in finding a male still in his repro- 

 ductive cycle when a second mating is necessary. 



It now seems that these limitations may best be attacked by selectively breeding to produce 

 vigorous though not strongly dominant birds which exhibit relatively long breeding cycles. 

 The presence of escape cover in the pen for the female when chased is, of course, an impor- 

 tant corollary. 



The situations mentioned above may be mitigated to some extent by the care and skill of 

 the game breeder. This applies also to the third problem, that of reducing loss of young 

 chicks in the brooders. By penning the grouse in small groups as is customary in battery 

 brooders, or in units of not over 25 or 30 birds to a larger hover and by giving them close 

 attention, one may reduce the losses considerably. Still they remain high. The answer again 

 lies in part in selective breeding, for there are certain families in which survival is compara- 

 tively high. 



Here, too, a part of the difficulty may rest with the feed, although extensive experiments, as 

 described*, have not as yet located it. 



The younger birds also appear to be extremely susceptible to chilling. This is a forerunner 

 to diarrhea, lung congestion and death. 



While the above evidences of biological limitations are both a lax on and a challenge to 

 Man's resourcefulness, there is still no clear indication that they cannot be satisfactorily over- 

 come, providing that the end justifies the means. 



Scarcity of Obtainable Breeding Stock or Eggs 



So few grouse have been raised in captivity that it is almost imperative for one to secure 

 eggs or breeders from the wild. This is not easy, for in most states and provinces it is illegal 

 to collect them. Thus limited, most experimenters have found further progress blocked by 

 their inability to raise more than a few birds from the clutch or two of eggs that accidentally 

 have come to hand. In past years an interested sportsman's club or a conservation commis- 

 sion occasionally assisted in the collection of eggs or birds, but the numbers were seldom suf- 

 ficient to make up for the losses inevitable in pioneer work. Under such discouraging condi- 

 tions it is no wonder that few individuals carried their experiments beyond the recon- 

 naissance stage. 



In passing, one might suggest that, where grouse are widespread and abundant, no biologi- 

 cally sound reason exists for depriving qualified research men, interested in game breeding, 

 from securing a seed stock of grouse from the wild. Considering that, out of every hundred 

 grouse eggs laid in New York during an average year, only about 12 to 15 of the birds hatched 

 survive to breed, the few thus diverted would never be noticed in terms of birds in the coverts 

 by even the most ardent sportsman. 



Lack of Trained Manpower 



The success of any experiment is usually dependent upon the number of trained, 

 experienced and interested minds whose attention can be concentrated on the problem at 

 hand. With the present situation this is particularly true, for the nature of the grouse is such 

 that the usual game propagation methods are not always applicable. 



* See Appendix, p. 880. 



