384 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



old bird and thirteen young were found. In another, seven 

 young birds were found. 



In the early part of the last century the Grouse of England 

 and Scotland were swept away by an attack of the "grouse 

 disease." The Bob-whites on a large preserve in North Carolina 

 were nearly exterminated in 1907 by a disease that was in- 

 troduced among them by the importation of Bob-whites from 

 Alabama. If some such disease appeared among our Grouse 

 in 1907 it probably was a secondary and more or less local 

 cause of their destruction, the prime cause being the unfavor- 

 able breeding season following a hard winter. This unfavorable 

 season and the flight of Goshawks are the only adverse con- 

 ditions known to have been prevalent over most of the great 

 area in which the destruction of the birds was apparent. 



Grouse did not breed well in many localities in 1908, and 

 although they have increased quite generally in number since 

 then, they are uncommon or rare still in many localities. 

 Such a combination of adverse conditions as obtained in 

 1906-07 probably happens rarely, but it is likely to occur 

 again at any time. 



We must seek some other cause for the general and con- 

 tinued diminution of the species during the past thirty years. 

 One hundred and six of my correspondents attribute it largely 

 to the increase of gunners, and since most of them are gunners 

 themselves, and know whereof they speak, we must concede 

 that they are right, but many of them believe that illegal 

 hunting and snaring are responsible for the decrease. 



I have written much on the habits of this Grouse in Useful 

 Birds and their Protection; its conservation is considered in 

 Part III of this volume. 



Note. — The Willow Ptarmigan or Willow Grouse, a bird of the arctic 

 and subarctic wilderness, is accidental in New England and New York. One 

 was taken in Manchester, Essex County, Mass., May 10, 1859;^ another 

 was collected in Watson, Lewis County, N. Y., on May 22, 1876, by Romeyn 

 B. Hough; ^ and still another at Kenduskeag, Penobscot County, Me., 

 April 23, 1892. ^ 



• Coues, Elliott: Proc. Essex Inst., 1868, Vol. V, p. 289. 

 2 Coues, Elliott: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, 1878, p. 41. 

 ' Merrill, Harry: Auk, 1892, p. 300. 



