June 20, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
975 
found in great numbers in grouse dying of 
“grouse disease,” but they were found equally 
numerous in grouse that were otherwise per¬ 
fectly healthy. After careful post mortem and 
bacteriologic investigations, however, the trouble 
was proved to be due to an infectious disease 
caused by a microbe, a variety of bacillus coli. 
Circular No. 109, Bureau of Animal Industry, 
Department of Agriculture, is a preliminary re¬ 
port on a disease that has become prevalent 
among all quail (Bob White) received by dealers 
in live birds from Alabama, Kansas and Indian 
Territory, and which appears to be infectious. 
Whole shipments were wiped out. Bacterio¬ 
logical investigation of these proved that the 
cause was a microbe similar to that found in 
the “grouse disease” of England and Scotland. 
The best argument against the theory that an 
epidemic of some disease was in itself alone 
responsible for the destruction of the ruffed 
grouse is that which has previously been given 
to explain the large proportion of old cocks to 
hens and young which were killed in the fall 
of 1907. In other words that if there was a 
disease, it was merely secondary, and serious 
in its effect only because of the weakened con¬ 
dition in which it found the majority of the 
birds, a condition due to the inclement weather 
of the breeding season. 
There is enough evidence to prove that many 
birds were infected with a parasite, but noth¬ 
ing to prove that this would have been fatal to 
them. 
The fact that ticks were abundant in some sec¬ 
tions does not prove anything, for in most locali¬ 
ties they do not seem to have been any more 
prevalent than in recent years, and in many not 
noticed at all, while the grouse scarcity was uni¬ 
versal. 
The scarcity of the ruffed grouse has also 
been attributed to their being shot and snared 
by pot-hunters during the closed season. This 
may have been a contributory factor in a few 
restricted localities, but pot-hunting is not so 
widespread nor so serious throughout the whole 
range of the ruffed grouse as to be accepted as 
an explanation of their universal scarcity. 
That the scarcity of the ruffed grouse is to 
be explained by the resumption of an innate 
migratory instinct causing the birds to leave the 
section in which they had been raised is a theory 
that can hardly be sustained. Granting it to be 
true that this was a migratory year and that the 
partridges left the localities in which they were 
raised, where did they go? Migrating birds 
move from one locality to another, and a move¬ 
ment of this kind is always marked by an in¬ 
crease in the number of birds in that locality 
which is thus invaded. But no reports have 
been received from any locality testifying to any 
such invasion or increase in the numbers of 
grouse. So this theory can be dismissed as un¬ 
substantiated. 
The writer believes that the wholesale destruc¬ 
tion of ruffed grouse during 1907 cannot be at¬ 
tributed to any one factor, but that it was due 
to an unhappy combination of three separate 
factors, each one of which alone was serious in 
its effects. These are: 
The unusual abundance of foxes and par- 
3. An epidemic of some disease or parasite, 
or both, just which we cannot now determine. 
The most serious of these was unquestionably 
the cold, wet and late spring of 1907, which was 
universal throughout the range of the ruffed 
grouse, and which almost entirely eliminated the 
normal increase to be expected. Furthermore 
it was also at least indirectly responsible for the 
destruction of most of the adult hens and such 
of the young as were successfully hatched, by 
so impairing their vitality that they quickly suc¬ 
cumbed to the third serious fact—a disease, or 
parasite, or both. 
The destruction caused among the grouse by 
foxes and goshawks, especially the latter, was 
more serious in its after effects than would first 
appear. This becomes evident when we con¬ 
sider that for every pair of adult birds killed 
during the winter there must be a correspond¬ 
ing loss of the brood that these two birds would 
be expected to raise the following spring. In 
other words a total loss of from eight to six¬ 
teen birds for each pair killed. 
Nova Scotia Game and Fishing Laws. 
Annapolis Royal, N. S., June 5 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: May I add a few words 
to Warden Jenner’s letter, published on May 16, 
in which no mention was made of fishing, for 
the probable reason that the fishing laws are 
unfortunately made by the Dominion and not 
the Provincial authorities? This year one new 
law has been ■ made, and will be carried out 
rather strictly, that cannot fail to be obnoxious 
to visitors. It directs that every fisherman riot 
a British subject must pay a fee of five dollars, 
unless he remains at least thirty consecutive 
days in the Province and employs native guides. 
This law has already led to considerable dis¬ 
satisfaction and threats on the part of Ameri¬ 
cans not to return to Nova Scotia, but it is 
probable that, when the regulation becomes gen¬ 
erally known, the fee will in most cases be cheer¬ 
fully paid. It will depend upon the manner in 
which the other fishing laws are enforced, as 
a man resents being the victim of one clause 
while many escape the others. 
One clause must remain a dead letter; namely, 
that prohibiting fishing on Sunday, as there are 
many fishermen, especially natives, who have 
little chance to fish on week days, and at least 
one fish warden has assured me that he will not 
attempt to enforce it. 
A very grave crisis in the angling develop¬ 
ment of Nova Scotia is now imminent, as a 
test case has brought up the question before the 
courts whether the salmon streams of the Prov¬ 
ince shall remain open to all citizens or shall 
soon be absorbed into “private preserves” in 
the manner of the other Canadian Provinces. 
A Halifax sportsman named Michael Dwyer has 
summoned F. L. Mack, brother-in-law of the 
well known sportsman and guide, Laurie Mit¬ 
chell, of Mill Village, for fishing on his alleged 
private waters in the Port Medway River. 
There is little doubt that, if the case against 
Mack is upheld, the doom of open fishing in 
this Province will have been tolled, for which 
reason there is much agitation on the subject, 
and sportsmen are subscribing to help Mr. Mack 
fight the case and appeal, if necessary, to the 
limit of possibility. Certainly it would be an 
immense moral and material loss if the land¬ 
lordism, which now disgraces New Brunswick 
and Quebec, should gain a foothold in Nova 
Scotia, whose proud boast it has ever been that 
all waters are free to all anglers. For this rea¬ 
son it is a very sad mistake on the part of the 
Dominion Government to inaugurate the five 
dollar fishing fee, and it is the wish of all Nova 
Scotians that the fishing regulations be made 
and enforced by the local Provincial authorities. 
It is expected that the new game law, pro¬ 
hibiting non-licensed aliens from carrying fire¬ 
arms in the woods, will also become a dead 
letter, at least so far as .22 caliber rifles are 
concerned. It would have been wiser to frame 
the law so as to allow nothing larger than a 
.22 caliber, which is the source of much amuse¬ 
ment in camp target shooting, and seldom re¬ 
sults in the death of anything more than a por¬ 
cupine. The most radical of the new game 
regulations which affect fishing parties is that 
compelling all nonresidents to be accompanied 
by licensed guides, even when camping or fish¬ 
ing in the woods. It is worth while mentioning 
that the charges for guides in this part of the 
country are $2 per guide for fishing and $2.50 
for hunting, these charges including canoe, tent, 
kit and blankets. Provisions are charged for 
at the average rate of seventy-five cents a day 
for each sportsman and fifty cents for each 
guide. Edward Breck. 
Recent Publications. 
“The Huntsman in the South,” by Alexander 
Hunter. Cloth, illustrated, 318 pages; $1.50, 
postage, 14 cents. New York and Wash¬ 
ington, the Neale Publishing Company. 
Volume I. of this series is devoted to stories 
of Virginia and North Carolina, and it opens 
with a chapter on Sporting in the Olden Time. 
Then follow chapters on Coon Hunting; The 
Great Dismal Swamp; An Old Virginia Fox 
Hunt; Ducks and Coons at Hatteras; Among 
the Quail in Virginia; Cobb’s Island; A Fish¬ 
ing and Hunting Trip Along the North Caro¬ 
lina Coast; etc. Readers of Forest and Stream, 
who recall the many charming stories that have 
appeared in its columns over his signature, will 
be glad to add this volume to their collections. 
“The Sanitation of Recreation Camps and 
Parks,” by Dr. Harvey B. Bashore, Medi¬ 
cal Inspector of the Pennsylvania Depart¬ 
ment of Health. Cloth, 109 pages, $1. New 
York, John Wiley & Sons. 
Coming, as it does, at the opening of the camp¬ 
ing season, this, Dr. Bashore’s third work on 
sanitation, is timely, and if we could have a 
wish gratified, it would be that every party con¬ 
templating a camping trip this summer supply 
itself with a copy of this excellent work and 
follow the advice given in it. The chapter de¬ 
voted to springs and water supply is in itself 
extremely valuable, particularly to thoughtless 
persons who believe that all clear, cold water 
is pure. He points out the fact that the Japanese 
army actually lost more men by bullets than by 
Bacillus typhosus in their last war, mainly for 
the reason that they took no chances but boiled 
their drinking water. 
Chapters are devoted to Location anti Con¬ 
struction; Water Supply; Waste Disposal; The 
Camp Surroundings; The Sanitary Care of 
Parks. The illustrations are well chosen and 
effective. 
1 
