4 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



CLOSED SEASON ON GAME BIRDS. 



The close of the hunting season on upland gamebirds here in Massachu- 

 setts brings much anxiety among sportsmen as to the stock of ruffed grouse 

 left in the coverts, an anxiety which is certainly shared by all who are 

 interested in birds, whether sportsmen or not. A record scarcity of these 

 splendid birds is reported all over New England. George F. Morse, Jr., 

 Secretary of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, calls 

 attention to it in a striking article in the Boston Herald. He says, "The 

 ruffed grouse may be justly termed the 'King of New England Game Birds.' 

 How he has survived all the trials for life he has been put to is a great 

 cause of wonder. Although he is still with us, we cannot help but realize 

 that the time is coming, and is not far distant, when he will require the 

 protection of the establishment of more, better managed, and permanent 

 sanctuaries if we wish to assure to future generations of sportsmen the 

 pleasure and excitement of his presence in our woods." 



Other sportsmen suggest that the time to protect this bird adequately 

 is at hand. For instance, the Maine State Game Warden has recently called 

 attention to the present absolute dearth of partridges in Maine and says that 

 he believes that when the Maine Legislature again convenes it will place a 

 closed season on this bird for a term of years. 



The West has already waked up to similar conditions and is applying 

 the only effective remedy in many of the states. For instance: In 1917 

 Utah enacted laws protecting all upland game birds by closed seasons for 

 some years. Idaho completely protects quail for three years and sage grouse 

 for five. Nevada gives her upland game birds five years of rest. Oklahoma 

 does the same. Iowa has a five-year closed season for prairie chicken and 

 quail. Montana reduced the open season to two weeks only. California 

 established seventeen game sanctuaries and stopped the shooting of sage 

 grouse for five years. New Mexico protects sage grouse and bob-white for 

 a long period. In Ohio the "Sportsmen's League" fought the five-year closed 

 plan for quail, with the result that the farmers rose up in their wrath and 

 put the quail perpetually on the song-bird list. 



Our Massachusetts ruffed grouse is the peer of any game bird that flies. 

 There is just one way to save it for future generations, and that is to follow 

 the example of less thickly settled, wiser Western states and put a complete 

 closed season on the bird for at least five years. This is the plea of hard- 

 headed sportsmen who see their favorite sport in danger, rather than that of 

 sentimental bird-lovers. Regarding the ruffed grouse merely as a game bird, 

 stocking the woods as a source of food and sport, it still would be as foolish 

 to reduce their numbers beyond the point of reproduction as it would be 

 for a chicken farmer to kill all his breeding stock and expect to make money 

 selling chickens next year. The state game farms succeed in breeding quail 

 in considerable numbers. As yet they have had little success with grouse. 

 If the bird is to be saved to the state it is time to act. We have had two 

 cold wet springs in succession, nesting seasons in which hardly a young 

 brood survived in the four northern states of New England. Palliatives 

 such as might be effective during seasons of successful breeding — short 

 seasons, bag-limits, local sanctuaries and the like — will no longer suffice. 

 To shoot next year and probably for some years to come will come danger- 

 ously near to extirpating the breeding stock in Massachusetts. 



