PART III.— OUR DRIVE FOR UPLAND GAME BIRDS 

 BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 



NEGLECT OF WESTERN GROUSE AND QUAIL; 

 AND OUR SAVING CAMPAIGN 



IN THE spring of 1915, it was borne in upon us that all 

 the grouse species of the entire United States west of 

 the Mississippi were in a dangerous state of neglect. The 

 results of our trans-continental tour in 1915, fully confirmed 

 that surmise. Even a brief survey of the field was suffi- 

 cient to show that some of the state open seasons on the 

 sage grouse were absolutely barbarous and inhumane, and 

 other grouse species were faring no better. Nevada and 

 Oregon began grouse-shooting on July 15, and Wyoming 

 and Colorado on August 1, when it is well known that young 

 grouse are only barely able to fly! And the enormous bag 

 limits of six states, from 10 birds daily up to 25, notwith- 

 standing the known scarcity of sage grouse, pointed straight 

 toward extermination.* 



Up to August 1, 1915, not one visible force of any kind 

 was in the field, or at work anywhere, for the amelioration 

 of the desperate condition of the sage grouse, pinnated 

 grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, other grouse, ptarmigan and 

 quail of the trans-Mississippi region. Imagine, if you 

 please, the grouse and most of the quail of that vast western 

 empire neglected, forgotten, and literally at the mercy ( ?) 

 of a million gunners who know no such thing as mercy be- 

 yond the actual letter of the law, and often not even that! 

 And this, too, in the face of the fact that even the great 



* All the open seasons and bag limits on sage grouse are given 

 in detail on pages 18 6-7 of the Bulletin Section of this volume. 



