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THK NATIONAL GKOGR API TIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph 



SECOND WHITE FAWN AND THE NORMALLY 

 Both are wild and unapproachable (see 



adjustment of the open seasons through- 

 out the country consistent with the pro- 

 tection of this class of birds.* 



An epidemic or some convulsion of the 

 elements, such as an offshore gale, with 

 the clouds raining down heavy hailstones, 

 may have accounted for their sudden dis- 

 appearance, but from information avail- 

 able one can only guess as to the imme- 

 diate cause which brought about their un- 

 timely end. 



RUEEED GROUSE MOST HIGHLY ESTEEMED 

 OE UPLAND BIRDS 



The most highly esteemed game bird 

 of the northern uplands, whether for 

 sport or the table, is the ruffed grouse. 

 Clothed in rich gradations of brown or 

 gray, the neck encircled by a ruff of iri- 

 descent black, erect in figure, with a 

 sweeping fan-like tail, its presence is 

 often disclosed by a sudden whirr and a 

 meteoric flight, startling even to the ex- 

 pectant hunter or the trailing fox. 



With the extinction of the passenger 

 pigeon, once so numerous about Lake 



* Mr. Shiras has refrained from stating that 

 in 1904, when a member of Congress, he was 

 the author of the original migratory bird bill, 

 the later enactment of which has insured not 

 only the perpetuation of our wild fowl and 

 insectivorous birds, but has already led to a 

 greatly increased number. This measure is 

 generally regarded as the most important game 

 legislation that has been passed by State or 

 nation. — Editor. 



George Shiras, 3d 

 COLORED MOTHER 

 page 183). 



Superior, and the rar- 

 itv with which shore 

 birds or wild fowl 

 venture across broad 

 waters with unsighted 

 shores, the perpetua- 

 tion of the ruffed 

 grouse as the sole resi- 

 dent game bird of the 

 region becomes un- 

 usually important. 



On my first camp- 

 ing trips the grouse 

 were found in many 

 clearings, second- 

 growth thickets, and 

 about old lumber 

 roads ; for berries, in- 

 sects, seeds, and sun- 

 light induced such 

 gatherings. For years 

 I was under the im- 

 pression that this bird 

 was well distributed and numerous. Later 

 I found that in the main forests and in 

 localities where water was distant more 

 than a quarter of a mile scarcely a grouse 

 could be seen, except when midwinter 

 drove them into the heavier timber. 



After the local hunters increased ten- 

 fold and the automobile gave access to 

 the more remote places, the grouse of 

 upper Michigan declined to a point where 

 extinction was imminent and appeared 

 certain when two cold, wet springs oc- 

 curred and hardly a young bird survived. 



A REMARKABLE INCREASE IN BIRDS 



In 19 1 7 the legislature closed the sea- 

 son for two years, and the result exceeded 

 all expectations. The ensuing year showed 

 a great many scattered coveys, and the 

 next they more than doubled, while in 

 the spring and summer preceding the 

 open season the birds were found in num- 

 bers never known before in the history 

 of the country, automobiles being stopped 

 frequently by birds dusting themselves in 

 the woodland roads. 



With a daily limit of five birds and a 

 total of 25 for the season, one might have 

 supposed that the number killed would 

 hardly have equaled the best years of the 

 earlier days. But they were brought in 

 the first day by the hundreds, by thou- 

 sands the next week, and then by tens of 

 thousands, exceeding a total of one hun- 

 dred thousand in the shortest season. 



