380 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 



preceding year, for if they had perished to any appreciable extent from the 

 same causes which carried off the old hens and the young, the numbers 

 of grouse would have been much less than they are reported to be. 



The following extracts from the monthly section reports of the Cli- 

 matological Service of the United States Weather Bureau for April, May 

 and June, 1907, will show conclusively what unusually severe weather the 

 ruffed grouse had to undergo during the past breeding season. 



April, 1907. 



New York. Mean temperature for the State, 39.5 , was 4. 6° below 

 normal. The weather during the entire month was very unseasonable, 

 and it was the coldest April since the Climatological Service was estab- 

 lished in 1875. Freezing temperatures were general over all sections 

 throughout the month. Precipitation was slightly above normal, fre- 

 quent, well distributed, and heaviest toward close of month. The average 

 snow fall for the State, 8.5 inches, was heavier than that of March. 



New England. The weather conditions in New England were more 

 like those that usually prevail in March. The average temperature, 40 , 

 was the lowest of any April for the past eighteen years. Twelve to eighteen 

 inches of snow fell in the interior on the 8th, 9th and 10th — the most 

 severe storm of the winter. 



New Jersey. Mean temperature, 45. 2 °, was 4.5 below normal and 

 lowest for thirty-one years. Freezing temperatures at night with destruc- 

 tive frosts up to the 2 2d inclusive. Average depth of snow was 4.7 

 inches. 



Pennsylvania. Mean temperature, 43. 6°, was nearly 5 below normal 

 and the lowest in eighteen years. Either rain or snow occurred almost 

 daily throughout the month. Average amount of snow for the section 

 was 4.3 inches. The abnormally low temperature retarded the growth 

 of all vegetation and at the end of the month the season was from two to 

 three weeks late. 



Michigan. April was an unusually cold month with persistent north- 

 erly winds, more than the* usual amount of cloudiness, and much more 

 snowfall than normally occurs. Mean temperature for the State, 35.1 , 

 was 7. 8° below normal, and it was the coldest April that has occurred 



