Massachusetts Audubon Society 



Upland Plover, 1. Chappaquiddick Island, Oct. 4, a very late 

 date. Mrs. James B. Worden of Edgartown has informed me that 

 the Indians formerly residing on this island called this bird 

 "Squatter Williams." She received this information from her 

 mother, who was a descendant from one of the old families of 

 the locality. As the name is not of Indian derivation, it may be 

 corrupted from some word of that origin. 



CAN WE SAVE THE GROUSE? 



That the ruffed grouse is in danger of extinction, so alarming is the 

 shortage in the numbers of this splendid bird in all our Northern States 

 is admitted by all who know the woods, sportsmen as well as bird-lovers. 

 At the opening of the hunting-season this year the Massachusetts Commis- 

 sioners on Fisheries and Game sent out a request to sportsmen to refrain 

 from shooting these birds. That alert and well-informed sportsmen have 

 heeded this request is not to be doubted. Unfortunately there are many men 

 with guns and shooting licenses in the woods who have either not heard 

 this request or are too selfish to heed it, for the few remaining partridges 

 are being shot just the same. If we are to save the birds, vigorous action 

 must be taken and taken at once. New Brunswick has just passed a law 

 making a three-years close season on grouse. Game Commissioners of both 

 New York and Pennsylvania, after careful and impartial investigation, pro- 

 pose a close season for a term of years as the only possible remedy. This 

 has been tried out for two years now in one Pennsylvania county with 

 excellent results. There is no better partridge country in the world than 

 Massachusetts, but if we want the birds to exist here we must stop shooting 

 them. A five-years close season would probably, even now, bring them 

 back in good numbers, provided it were rigidly enforced, but we must have 

 it and have it soon. Ruffed grouse are resident birds. They cannot be 

 propagated in any numbers artificially. The seed stock once reduced below 

 the limit of safe recovery, — and we are dangerously near that point now if 

 we have not already passed it in many sections, — the birds will be gone. 



PROTECT THE LAUREL 



Are we not willing to forego some decoration for the sake of preserving 

 for the enjoyment of future generations the beauty of our woods, swamps 

 and pastures where the laurel now grows? 



The mountain laurel is one of our most beautiful native shrubs, and 

 is a typical feature of our New England woods and pastures. Not occurring 

 in other countries, it is an essentially American plant, and it should be our 

 pleasure and duty to protect it from destruction, but its very beauty and 

 charm induce cutting to an alarming extent. In winter, especially, the 

 inroads upon this beautiful shrub are extensive and dangerous, for it is then 

 used for festoons, wreaths, etc., in Christmas decorations. As it is then 

 cold weather, the foliage keeps well and bears transportation to a distance, 

 so that the quantity collected is only limited by the demand and the avail- 

 able material. The flowers are borne only upon the shoot of the previous 

 year's growth, so that, if these are cut, a year's flowering is lost; and when 



