Chronicle of tlie Ruffed Grouse in Eastern United States 25 



Chafing under the repression of two successive closed seasons on 

 grouse in New York, leading sportsmen of the state met to consider 

 what might be done to remedy the alanning situation. They re- 

 quested Dr. Allen and Herbert Stoddard to draw up a compre- 

 hensive plan for a thorough investigation of the grouse in New York 

 State, the proposed study to be financed by the New York State 

 Conservation Department. As a result of their recommendations the 

 Conservation Department in 1930 entered upon a thorough scientific 

 study of the whole problem. 



From 1930 to 1932 the grouse in the Northeast recovered from the 

 depression of 1927-29. From 1932 to 1944, the population had nu- 

 merous moderate ups and downs from a general plateau of moderate 

 to great abundance, none of which can be compared in intensity 

 with the 1927 crash or probably with some of the high populations 

 of previous periods of abundance. The declines that have been ob- 

 served in the East during the 1930's have been very spotty geo- 

 graphically, and usually quite local. In 1945 the number of grouse 

 in the Northeast again declined to a low level. Owing to war, no 

 studies were in process at the time. 



Concurrently with the modem New York Investigation, a studv 

 of the ruffed grouse was being made in Minnesota under the leader- 

 ship of Dr. Ralph T, King. Begun in 1929, these studies reached a 

 climax in 1934 when the observers witnessed a very severe grouse 

 decline. As a result of his studies. Dr. King came to the conclusion 

 that the cyclic decline was precipitated by an upset in the reproduc- 

 tive functions of the female followed by an almost complete loss of 

 young birds of the year. The imderlying force causing this condition 

 appeared to be beyond the control of man. 



In the 1930's there were a number of smaller studies of the grouse, 

 some confined to limited phases of the broad problem. C. H. D. 

 Clarke in Ontario (1932-36), L. W. Fisher, F. W. Baumgartner 

 and others in Michigan ( 1932-39), studied many of the factors gov- 

 erning populations. Other studies were made in Pennsylvania, Con- 

 necticut, Maine, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and 

 Massachusetts. 



And so, with scientists of all classes sitting on the sidelines waiting 

 to examine every aspect of the long overdue cyclic decline— theoreti- 

 cally to have occurred in 1937 in the Northeast— we find that appar- 

 ently the phenomenon wasn't what it was thought to be after all. 



