No. 123.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. Ill 



pet. All the above mammals destroy grouse on or under the 

 snow in winter, at a time when the numbers of these birds have 

 been reduced by shooting and when such destruction counts 

 heavily. All these enemies also hunt young birds. The cat is 

 particularly destructive to the bobwhite, but also kills grouse 

 in winter, and catches the old bird on her nest. 



It would be well now if measures to decrease the number of 

 foxes and vagrant cats could be taken, but it seems probable 

 that when our boys come home from the war the high price of 

 fur will encourage them in hunting and trapping cats and foxes 

 and so tend to reduce the numbers of these animals. 



Another cause of the lessening of the numbers of grouse and 

 bobwhites was the severe winter of 1917-18. Numbers of these 

 birds were found dead during the winter and early spring. It is 

 difficult to starve a grouse, and probably these birds perished 

 either from severe cold or from long imprisonment under a 

 thick crust of snow. Crust is much more fatal to the bob- 

 white than to the stronger, hardier grouse. An inquiry was 

 made during the spring of 1918 to determine how much the 

 breeding stock of upland game birds had been depleted. Ques- 

 tionnaires were sent out into every county of the Common- 

 wealth. The replies received may be tabulated as follows: — 



Ruffed Grouse. 

 Rare or decreasing — 75 reports. 

 Number unchanged — 15 reports. 

 Common or increasing — 15 reports. 



Local Breeding Woodcocks. 

 Extirpated — 17 reports. 

 Decreasing — 46 reports. 

 Number unchanged — 6 reports. 

 Increasing — 7 reports. 



Flight Woodcock from the North. 

 Decreasing — 58 reports. 

 Number unchanged — 5 reports. 

 Increasing — 8 reports. 



Bobichites. 

 Reports show that the bobwhite has disappeared entirely from large 

 sections of the State, but has increased locally in some of the south- 

 eastern parts. 



