DEc. 7, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
893 

of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, would 
collect statistics regarding New York fur bearers 
as thorough as he does those of deer and bears, 
jin a few years his work along this line would 
}prove invaluable to sportsmen and _ nature 
students generally. RAYMOND S. SPEARS. 

1 
tf New York, Nov. 25.—Editor Forest and 
«Stream: In the issue of ForEST AND STREAM 
|for Noy. 23 grave consideration is given edi- 
{torially, and in communications from sportsmen 
ito the reported general scarcity of ruffed grouse. 
(In the same number readers are desired to con- 
| tribute their observations upon this important 
) subject. 
{| During the fore part of the present month I 
spent a week on a little camping trip by my- 
} self on the Black Head range, at the upper end 
tof the East Kill Valley, in the Catskills. The 
(time was occupied chiefly in prowling on the 
| beech ridges and over the higher peaks. Grouse 
i have always been more abundant in that vicinity 
\ than in any other section of the Catskills. The 
| locality is somewhat out of the way. It con- 
{tains no hotels and only an isolated house or 
' two. In consequence very little shooting is 
idone. The only enemies of the birds are owls, 
| foxes and lynxes, which are quite numerous. As 
(my familiarity with the neighborhood covers 
| many years it is possible to estimate with some 
accuracy the number of grouse the covers should 
¢ contain. This year I observed no diminution in 
i their number. As I carried a rifle and as the 
§ birds were generally flushed before being seen, 
i no shots were obtained. Had I been in quest 
i of them, however, even without a dog, no diffi- 
t culty would have been experienced in finding 
t plenty of ruffed grouse. 
| Aside from a snow squall in October and a 
{slight flurry now and then later on, the fall 
4 weather in the Catskills, I was informed, had 
1 been comparatively mild. The usual number of 
| heavy frosts had not occurred. Flickers, blue- 
| birds and goldfinches remained in the valleys. 
il whereas, had the season been of average severity 
é these birds would have started on their migra- 
i tions earlier. Back on the mountain slopes and 
| tops, where lumbering was done in recent years 
1 and where shrubbery has replaced the cut tim- 
i ber, dried seeds and berries still clung to the 
( bushes and afforded the grouse a favorite food. 
| But it was among the beeches that most of the 
\ birds were put up. These trees bore a fair crop 
¢ of nuts this year. It was on the higher ridges 
« and mountain tops almost exclusively, however, 
| that the mast was produced. Chipmunks and 
| red squirrels in great numbers, as well as grouse, 
4 had gathered there to feed, and two gray squir- 
} rels were likewise seen. These latter animals 
| are very rarely met with beyond the valleys ex- 
{ cepting in times of a beech crop. 
¢ For the greater part these birds were flushed 
| singly or in pairs. As I came down off North 
¢ Mountain into a clearing back of the Kaaterskill 
i) Lakes in a driving rain, however, eight or ten 
i} grouse got up out of a clump of balsams, where 
i they had sought shelter from the weather. This 
| pasture, it may be mentioned, was bordered by 
6 a heavy beech growth. 
Coming out of the woods I stopped at John 
¢ Rusk’s store in Haines Falls. Forest aNnpD 
| STREAM readers will recall the proprietor as the 
companion of Raymond Spears on the trip 
4 around Chesapeake Bay last year. John does 
} considerable shooting. He spoke of the scarcity 
§ of birds in their usual haunts thereabouts, and 
# when I told him of having seen many of them 
1 he said that he had concluded they were on the 
i mountains. 
9 Coming down on the Ulster and Delaware 
) Railroad, returning gunners all appeared to 
1 have fair bags, one man carrying a bunch of 
| eight grouse. 
i The abundance and variety of food high on 
the mountains, together with the actual finding 
| of the birds feeding thereon, offers a satisfactory 
| explanation of the absence of ruffed grouse from 
(1 lower grounds. I have often found similar con- 
ditions existing in the Adirondacks, while numer- 
# ous complaints would be made by sportsmen near 
the settlements of the scarcity of grouse, the 

o 
i 


latter would be put up on the higher mountains 
back in the woods while I was still-hunting with 
sufficient frequency to be a source of annoyance. 
The objection may be offered that the condi- 
tions enumerated above do not apply to the 
covers of flat country. There we have former 
experiences to go by. This is not the first time 
that difficult to locate and widely scattered 
grouse have given rise to the fear of their dis- 
appearance. We have all hunted with trusty 
dogs over well known ground where it was for- 
merly possible to secure good returns, and not 
a bird has been found. Perhaps we should have 
tried the improbable spots. Later in the winter 
when fox hunting, the usual number of grouse 
would be located, occupying accustomed shelter 
among the hemlocks and small pines. And again 
toward the last of March no scarcity would be 
apparent in the willows and soft maples along 
creek bottoms. In the present instance similar 
observations will likely be made. Published 
statistics should prove interesting at least if not 
of value. 
If ruffed grouse have really diminished in num- 
bers to the extent indicated in the numerous re- 
ports to this effect, what has been the cause? 
The market hunter can hardly be blamed this 
time; an epidemic disease certainly has noth- 
ing to do with it; ruffed grouse do not starve 
to death and they do not freeze to death unless 
snared first. JosepH W. Droocan. 
CorNWALL Bripce, Conn., Nov. 25.—Editor 
Forest and Stream: I will tell you what I have 
seen myself with regard to the scarcity of par- 
tridges. 
Last winter I was in the woods nearly every 
day, and I found where thirty-three partridges 
had been killed and eaten. Thirty had been 
killed by owls and hawks, one by a fox, and one 
by a wildcat,-and one by an animal of some kind, 
I could not tell what. This is the truth about a 
section eight or ten miles in circumference in 
Cornwall, Conn. 
A year ago I knew where there were seven 
old birds with young broods, and last spring I 
knew of only one bird with young. She had 
seven eggs in the nest and hatched out six. 
I believe this is the true reason why there are 
no partridges in this section of the country. 
I am no writer, but have learned what I tell 
you by my own personal observation. 
Frank ASHMAN. 
Saginaw, Mich., Nov. 26—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I did not realize that this scarcity of 
ruffed grouse existed generally, but I know here 
in Michigan it has been most marked. Last 
year we had lots of them, and there were lots 
left over. While ten is the most I killed in any 
one day, I frequently got six or eight, and al- 
though I hunted but seven or eight days last 
year I killed fifty-three birds during the season. 
This year I have been out ten days and have 
gotten just twenty-five, two days not getting a 
bird, and one day not even a shot, and the next 
day but one shot. My biggest bag was six one 
day, and five for each of two other days, and 
four one other day. I have hunted over some 
of the best cover in this part of the State. At 
one place in particular, where I left lots of birds 
the last of the season last year, I put up four 
birds; they flushed wild, and I did not get a 
shot. 
It has been noticed by everyone that nearly 
all are single birds and old ones. My ill luck 
has not been on account of poor shooting or 
growing older, for only last week in a day’s 
tramp, through good cover and with a mighty 
good dog, I put up but eight birds during the 
day, shot at seven of them and killed five, and 
of the birds missed one was at too great dis- 
tance, and the other in very thick cover, and I 
only had an instantaneous snap at it. 
Everyone has the same story to tell about 
ruffed grouse, and the explanation of their scar- 
city is all theory. I do know that very late in 
May we had a severe snow storm; the snow 
fell to the depth of several inches. Along the 
Au Sable River and through Clare county and 
that district it was seven or eight inches in 
—$———« 
depth, and lasted two or three days. My recol- 
lection is this was between the 20th and the 24th 
of May, but late enough for the birds to have 
been well along in their nesting. 
Wm. B. MeErsHON. 
East Taunton, Mass., Nov. 24.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: In this section at least there are 
four reasons for the scarcity of ruffed grouse: 
Over supply of foxes, goshawks, a cold late 
spring, and the loss of our pine woods. Ticks 
are not guilty this time. 
Let me explain that I have hunted and studied 
grouse for forty-five years; I have watched them 
from infancy to death; I have always lived where 
the woods came within thirty yards of the house. 
I have had uncommonly good chances to observe 
them, and I always took the chances, for they 
were my bird par excellence. 
When the season closed last year there were 
a nice lot of birds left, an ample supply if all 
had gone well; but in December the goshawks 
came down from up north and they were the 
fiercest raiders I ever saw. They harassed the 
birds until April. One day in March I heard 
something strike the stable. I went out and 
saw a goshawk stoop and pick up a grouse that 
had flown against the stable window. I know 
of five that they drove against houses and killed 
within a short distance of my place. I have 
seen them three times before—once in fifteen 
years, say—but only one or two at a time. Last 
winter they were so hungry and fearless 
they were easily approached and shot. I 
two that raided my poultry. 
Now, here is where the loss of our pine comes 
in. There is practically no cover any longer. 
There are hundreds of acres of land covered 
with’ nothing but small oak sprouts, hardly a 
pine tree in sight. i 
When there is a crusted snow the grouse are 
an easy mark for birds of prey, for they can be 
seen a long distance. A few years ago, by mak- 
ing a short flight, they could strike dense groves 
of pine and be safe. 
For the last two years foxes have bred like 
rabbits and they are after the birds all the time. 
that 
shot 

I do not think a year or five years of closed 
season would amount to much except to make 
the foxes happier. The late cold spring kille 

1 
a good many hatches. What few birds I have 
killed showed no signs of ticks. 
Epwarp F. Strap tes. 
SoutH Mippresex, Mass., Nov. 26.—Editor 
Forest and Stream: J should say that in this 
section the proportion of ruffed grouse as com- 
pared to last year is about one to four. There 
were probably more left at the end of the shoot- 
ing season of 1906 than for any year in the last 
ten. This year there are fewer than any 
in seven or eight at least. 
There were a good number of broods hatched 
and got half grown and then disappeared. I 
know of one bunch of eight fine birds that dis- 
appeared between Aug. 5 and Aug. 12. This 
was in a cover that could be hunted thoroughly 
in an hour. Repeated visits failed to find a 
single bird again. Other cases were practically 
year 
the same, in some cases there were two or three 
survivors. 
I know of a professional dog trainer who 
says the birds disappeared during the latter part 
of August. This in southern New Hampshire. 
It seems that nothing less than some wide- 
spread disease swept them off. Whether induced 
by the severe drouth or some other cause is a 
question we would all like to see answered. 
I know a farmer that claims to have flushed 
two broods of grouse late in September that 
were just able to fly. He saw both old birds 
with one brood and one with the other. I can- 
not vouch for this yarn, but it would be interest- 
ing to know if any one else knows of grouse 
that must have been hatched in September or late 
in August. There have been but few grouse 
killed in this section, but a good proportion of 
those killed have been young birds and all 
seemed to be in good condition. Woodcock have 
been more plenty than for years. There are 
practically no quail. R. L. Eaton. 


