248 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



ing grounds. Again, meat was scarce and high, and 

 the settlers killed grouse the year round in order to 

 supply their tables, and also killed thousands and sent 

 them to eastern markets. This, with the hundreds of 

 eastern market hunters, caused the almost complete ex- 

 termination of the grouse in Kansas. 



"About 1900, the people began to realize that the 

 grouse were nearly exterminated, and a crusade for 

 their protection started. Stringent laws were passed 

 in 1903, and still more severe ones in 1905, and I am 

 pleased to state that in the fall of 1905 in a number 

 of the central counties the birds have increased to num- 

 bers beyond expectations, and to-day the grouse can 

 be found in many of the eastern counties. With proper 

 protection, pinnated grouse will be abundant in all 

 parts of the State within five years. The day of the 

 game butcher, the pot and market hunter is past." 



Texas is now and always has been a State where 

 pinnated grouse were abundant, and it is so large that 

 there are still great numbers of birds there. The 

 growth of the game protective sentiment, which has 

 been so marked within the last year or two, promises 

 to protect these birds. 



There are other States, as Michigan and Wisconsin, 

 that have a few pinnated grouse, and the bird occurs 

 rarely in the Province of Ontario. 



Prof. Walter B. Barrows, of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College, whose writings on ornithological top- 

 ics are familiar to many of our readers, says : 



"This bird was formerly fairly common over the 



