THE GAME BREEDER 



156 



These birds at one time were common 

 and cheap in the markets of New York 

 and Boston. They resemble the grouse 

 of the prairies so closely that only an 

 expert can distinguish them. 



The range of the prairie sharp-tailed 

 grouse extended from Montana and the 

 Dakotas to New Mexico and from Illi- 

 nois and Wisconsin to Colorado. The 

 sharp-tailed grouse and the Columbia 

 sharp-tailed grouse are very similar to 

 the prairie sharp-tail in pattern, mark- 

 ings and habits and the three species 

 for sporting and food purposes may be 

 regarded as one. The range of sharp- 

 tailed grouse is British America from 

 Lake Superior and Hudson Bay to Fort 

 Simpson; the range of the Columbia 

 sharp-tail is from Montana and Wyom- 

 ing to Oregon and Washington and 

 northward to Alaska. 



It is evident there is an abundance of 

 territory suitable to grouse breeding and 

 if a very small part of the area be de- 

 voted to this industry, soon the birds can 

 be made plentiful for sport and for food 

 for all of the people in the country. 

 There is literally room enough for all 

 and soon there will be birds enough for 

 all provided a small part of the area 

 suitable for grouse be properly utilized. 



The prairie grouse still occur in some 

 of the counties of Illinois, Kansas, Ne- 

 braska, Iowa and a few other states and 

 the sharp-tailed grouse are fairly plen- 

 tiful in parts of Montana and other 

 Northwestern States and in the prov- 

 inces of Canada, which they inhabit. 

 All naturalists, however, agree that these 

 two splendid grouse of the open country 

 are doomed to extinction unless shoot- 

 ing be prohibited, and I am inclined to 

 believe they will be thoroughly extirpated 

 from, the greater part of their range even 

 if stringent laws be enacted prohibiting 

 shooting at all times. The close cultiva- 

 tion of the land makes it impossible for 

 these birds to find cover and food dur- 

 ing certain seasons of the year ; they are 

 exposed to their many natural enemies 

 and the dogs, cats and rats ; they are 

 destroyed by forest fires and farm ma- 

 chinery, and being large, easy and tempt- 



ing marks, they are shot, no doubt, by 

 men and boys who are not familiar with 

 game laws or who disregard them when 

 a fine chance offers to have a grouse for 

 dinner. The additional checks to the in- 

 crease of the numbers of the birds re- 

 ferred to are sufficient, I believe, to war- 

 rant the statement that the birds are 

 doomed to extinction even if shooting be 

 prohibited provided no one looks after 

 the grouse or takes any interest in their 

 propagation and practical protection. 



The vast area suitable to these birds, 

 wh^re they have become extinct or nearly 

 so, easily can be made to produce thou- 

 sands of tons of grouse as they formerly 

 did, provided it pays to do so. There 

 are records of as many as twenty tons 

 of prairie grouse being shipped to the 

 New York markets in a single consign- 

 ment. 



Fortunately some of the prairie states 

 now have laws permitting and encourag- 

 ing the profitable breeding of prairie 

 grouse and I can imagine no industry 

 which will prove to be more profitable. 

 The birds command splendid prices and 

 can be produced much cheaper than 

 pheasants can be, and a good crop of 

 quail can be looked after on the same 

 ground in the central and southern parts 

 of the area inhabited by the grouse and 

 as far north, in fact, as Montana* and 

 some of the provinces of Canada, where 

 the bobwhites have been successfully in- 

 troduced. 



The grouse are not detrimental to ag- 

 riculture,' but, on the other hand, are 

 known to be highly beneficial on account 

 of their fondness for grasshoppers and 

 other insects. 



Since the grouse must have natural 

 covers and foods at all seasons of the 

 year, it is important that the grouse 

 breeder should know what these covers 

 and foods are and how to restore and 

 maintain them. Late in the year the 

 grouse are strong on the wing and have 

 a well sustained flight, often going a mile 

 or more before alighting; it is important, 



*See article on bobwhites in Montana, by 

 Hon. M. D. Baldwin, Game Breeder for 

 November, 1914. _ , 



