450 ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF GROUSE 



breeders by comparison with hand-raised grouse, although the former did lay some eggs 

 while penned under semi-natural conditions at the Catskill Station. Even the number of fer- 

 tile eggs laid by the birds raised in captivity was found to vary widely. 



In an effort to locate the reason for this, a study of penning conditions was undertaken. It 

 was found that birds placed on the ground under semi-wild condition did no better than those 

 on wire. The all-purpose pens previously mentioned proved quite acceptable to breeding birds. 

 Much smaller pens were tried, but difficulties increased, resulting in a higher ratio of infer- 

 tile eggs. To save steps, in 1937 a multiple-unit breeding pen was constructed, which, with 

 few modifications, has proven quite satisfacto 



Looking towards the solution of the same problem, many combinations of breeding birds 

 were tried out. Grouse are polygamous in captivity. Combinations of one male with up to 

 five females in a pen have proven moderately satisfactory, although best results have been 

 obtained by penning the birds in pairs early in March. Also, females were penned alone, 

 fertile eggs being secured by introducing selected males which were in the mating cycle. Suc- 

 cess proved, however, to depend largely upon the experience and capabilities of the attend- 

 ant and so this latter practice, as a standard procedure was discontinued. 



After thoroughly testing several combinations of foods, a breeding mash and a grain mix- 

 ture commercially produced for game birds were selected for feeding breeders. 



Begun in a small way in 1933, the planned selection of breeders for high egg produc- 

 tion, fertility and for livabiUty in the resultant chicks was made a major project in 1936. 

 Since then all three items have shown a slow and irregular but encouraging trend upwards. 



Disease has caused the termination of many a grouse experiment, though, contrary to gen- 

 eral belief, grouse probably are no more susceptible to it than are bobwhite quail. It was 

 learned early that to confine young grouse, even on fresh ground, was to invite trouble from 

 disease. Some old as well as young birds died from blackhead or from ulcerative enteritis 

 (quail disease) in the large covered pens at the Catskill Station even though great care was 

 taken to avoid bringing in these ailments and no poultry had previously occupied the site. Both 

 these diseases likewise caused considerable loss during the early experiments even when the 

 grouse, old and young, were held on wire. 



Chemical preparations reputed to be disease-inhibiting when placed in food or water, were 

 found to have little, if any, beneficial effect. Nor did "rubber glove" sanitation prove effec- 

 tive in curbing epizootics of ulcerative enteritis and blackhead in the pens. Eventually, simple 

 and satisfactory methods of prevention and control were worked out. 



Results 



To some who may, in a few minutes, read this summary of 12 years of experiment and 

 glance at tables 179 to 183 in the Appendix, the story will not be complete without realizing 

 that excellent brooding birds have been produced whose forebears, to the eleventh generation, 

 have never touched their feet to earth. Nor have they been fed on aught save commercially 

 prepared foods, interspersed with leaves of apple, dried alfalfa or needles of pine or hem- 

 lock to furnish the requisite roughage. During the course of these experiments a total of 

 l.WJ birds has been raised to maturity. Of this group 191 have been utilized in liberation 

 experiments. From the rest, year after year, have been selected superior breeders from which 

 must eventually come a strain of birds psychologically and physically adapted to withstand 

 tho limitations and respond to the artificial stimulations of captivity. 



