GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 
151 
hunt farther afield, trespassing upon their neighbours’ preserves, and the 
stress is intensified. Many wander far in their hungry search and invade 
localities where they do not normally appear. The keenest pinch naturally 
occurs in winter and then the resident grouse and upland game birds suffer 
severely. On our prairies may be an influx of coyotes, goshawks, and large 
owls from the north, which, with the usual resident vermin, turn to the 
Prairie Chicken, Sharp-tailed, and other grouse as the most available food 
supply, and hunt them with systematic persistence. The grouse naturally 
suffer proportionately, and by the time their enemies are reduced to normal 
numbers, may be sadly depleted. When the tide turns, however, it does so 
decisively. Rabbits are astonishingly prolific and increase faster than all 
their enemies combined. The enemies, now tremendously reduced in 
numbers, again turn their attention to their natural furry prey; the food 
supply exceeding the demand, the wandering raptores return to their 
former ranges. The resident vermin have been reduced by the bitter 
competition with the visitors and the grouse are again free from intensive 
persecution. Life becomes comparatively easy and undisturbed for them. 
Only the strongest and most vigorous have survived, large clutches of eggs 
are laid, and unless other deterrent circumstances arise they soon regain 
their wonted numbers. 
Besides these climatic and raptorial influences, probably, as is the 
case with the rabbits, epidemic disease and parasites play no small part 
in the vicissitudes of the grouse and their allies. These birds are to a large 
extent gregarious, and disease can be readily communicated. Some seasons 
we find many birds infested with parasitic worms, and showing other 
evidences of diseases that doubtless have much to do with their sudden 
reduction in number. How many of these diseases have been introduced 
by our domestic poultry it is difficult to say, but such an origin is probable. 
Recent investigation suggests that some, perhaps all or most, of our 
native grouse are particularly intolerant of common poultry disease, have 
not yet acquired resistance to the imported organisms that cause it, and 
cannot long exist in health in contact with domestic fowl. Perhaps the 
common practice of feeding wild coveys during hard winters with the 
poultry in the barn yard is a mistaken kindness that may disseminate 
disease in the ranks that we are trying to conserve. 
Shooting should not be overlooked as a cause of great reduction, but 
the fact that in notoriously poor grouse years the birds are as scarce in 
un-shot as in well-shot covers, indicates that it is not always a primary, 
though it may often be a contributing, cause. No species, however numer- 
ous, can successfully withstand persistent, unregulated, or excessive shoot- 
ing, but just what constitutes excessive shooting varies with the locality, 
the season, and passing conditions. Shooting that barely keeps a numerous 
thrift}'' species in reasonable control will annihilate it when it is already 
depleted by other causes. Consequently, laws for the protection of grouse 
have to be continually altered and adjusted to conditions, but even in spite 
of the best of laws thoroughly enforced in both letter and spirit, upland 
game must be expected to fluctuate in numbers and years of plenty be 
followed by scarcity, at which times every endeavour must be made to 
assist recuperation. 
Of this suborder there are four families in Canada: Tetraonidae the 
grouse; Percinae the partridges and quails; Phasianidae the pheasants 
(introduced); and Meleagridae the turkeys. 
