22 The Ruffed Grouse 



disturb the others, he would get them all without any flying. While 

 I have never witnessed a phenomenon like this, I have shot gi-ouse 

 in the deep Adirondacks with a high-powered rifle by taking their 

 heads off, and within the past ten years. However, this is a far cry 

 from the sporty bird of most of our Northeastern coverts today. Even 

 those in remote mountainous areas are seldom the "fool hen" type. 

 The abflity of the grouse to make this change is truly remarkable. 

 Instead of a dumb biddy sitting on a limb awaiting its execution, 

 today the normal grouse flushes so fast that a hunter hardly has time 

 to get his gun braced to his shoulder in time to shoot, let alone to 

 take aim. How amazing is this transformation of character may be 

 judged by comparing it with the record of its near relative, the 

 Canada spruce grouse ( Canachites canadensis canace ) . This grouse 

 was unable to meet the adjustment necessary for survival. It re- 

 mained a fool hen, and today is exterminated from all of its former 

 range except where an area of wilderness has remained beyond the 

 hand of man. 



Cycles and Surveys. When the transition from market produce to 

 game bird extraordinary was completed, the grouse assumed a status 

 of far greater importance to man. It is natural then that the sporting 

 fraternity and nature lovers as well would become greatly concerned 

 when sudden scarcity seemed to threaten the species with extinction. 

 Then, as each crisis passed and was followed by a resurging abun- 

 dance, the alternating periods of scarcity and plenitude appeared to 

 possess an inexorable rhythm. Thus came the concept of the popula- 

 tion cycle. The baffling nature of the cause of this cyclic phenomenon 

 led many observers to the conclusion that some inscrutable, all-per- 

 vading force must be guiding it. This led naturally to the suggestion 

 that the cause must be ethereal, probably emanating from the sun. 

 Concurrent investigations indicating cycles in solar conditions abet- 

 ted this theory. This being the case, these cycles must have been 

 going on from time immemorial. And so the search for records be- 

 gan; records that would substantiate the existence of periods of 

 scarcity prior to those that had been fully documented. They were 

 not hard to find. 



The Indian lore telling of winters of game scarcity are probably 

 the earliest indication of the then unrecognized cycle. It did not take 

 the white man long, however, to register the occurrence of grouse 



