DESTRUCTION AND PROTECTION 541 



at some length in the Reports of the Massachusetts 

 Commissioners for the years 1907 and 1908. 



In 1907 the efforts of the Massachusetts Commis- 

 sioners to rear ruffed grouse in confinement resulted in 

 little more than the acquisition of some experience as 

 to what not to do. It was learned, for one thing, that 

 the males are extremely disposed to fight. During the 

 winter, in a pen of three young birds one male killed 

 another with which it had grown up. Even during 

 the mating season there was need of great care lest 

 the male kill the female. His attacks on the females 

 caused them great alarm, since it was impossible for 

 them to escape from the cage, and they hurt them- 

 selves in their efforts to do so. In fact it was not 

 safe to put the male in the coop for mating without 

 closely watching him, and it was necessary to remove 

 him almost at once. 



The birds in the coops of the commission soon be- 

 came noticeably unafraid. They paid little attention 

 to what was going on outside, and did not display the 

 timidity and restlessness of the bobwhite. It was ob- 

 served that they ate with appetite and appeared to 

 enjoy their food. Nevertheless, the male grouse died 

 late in the summer, evidently from an infectious dis- 

 ease communicated to him probably through infected 

 ground. 



No one has approached the success which has at- 

 tended the work of Prof. C. F. Hodge, of Clark Uni- 

 versity, who for some years, as a rest and recreation 

 from his ordinary work, has been trying to rear ruffed 



