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Show THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 6, 1920. i.V? mas cience ) - f " lseases A c. v, rouse litmg i r2 - J, - V Using 'an Incubator, a Motherless Brooder MV r j And Feeding ''the Wild Chicks' on a Diet . V Eggs, Of Sour 'Milk, Berries ' and A Cornell . University Trofessor' Discovers Hard-Boile- d . The Secrets for Domesticating Oneof s& the. Best ;Jfc But Most Rapidly Disappearing Game Birds r i tiny bit of brown fluff inter rupt their meal of our milk and matter to the far tide of the commodious pen in front of their brooder. These,. lay Dr. Arthur A Allen, who hat done die impouible in raising rufledgrouw m captivity, are only a few day old. But here, pointing to another comer of the tide bill dooryard on the edge of One of Ithacas beautiful gorges, i the group of 20 of which I am particularly proud. - They are two month old now and we have lost only one. Quite a record for A DOZEN ruffed grouse. Of course, be adds, it is too early to make any rash propheciy, but we have succeeded in overcoming a good many obstacles that have been met repeatedly both in my own experience and in that of others who have tackled this prop osition. So we feel that at least a step has been made in the artificial propagation of a game bird that has become increasingly scarce in regions where it was formerly plentiful, and that at last we can suggest a practical method of rearing them. This energetic young man, whose skill in handling shy wild things has converted the grounds around his home into a miniature aviarr, is professor of ornithology or the science of bird life at Cornell University. For the past 10 years he has been devoting a Urge part of his time to work on the ruffed grouse, whose draining was once a familiar sound in the woods of all the irtheastern states as far south as North Carolina and as far west as the Rockies. In a small enclosure at one side of Dr. Allens sylvan dooryard. tiny offspring of the wood duck sometime called the shyest and most beautiful of American game birds take refuge under the wings of a bantam ben that has been tricked into playing the role of a foster mother. Also.you can see here gorgeous Reeves pheasants, hardy woodland birds that Dr. Allen hopes may some day be developed to the point where they will live as successfully in this climate as the pheasant Unlike the pheasants, the Reeve's pheasants prefer woodlands to open fields or the fanners corn crops. A pool in the gorge below Dr. Allens home has been fenced off for water fowl, . while behind wire screening in still another corner of his'yard flutter a flock of young breasts. All thi meadow larks with their birds are the scholastic property of a graduate student engaged in research on bird habits. ; s ,t ct-- C; A V A dozen and two eggs. . . . In the moods, grouse's nest look s like this. . ruffed New-hatch- . ) , -- ' are two very important points in rearing grouse in captivity, says Dr. Allen, Them are sanitation and nutrition. It is Dr. Allen's aim. by the way, to work out down to the finest detail, methods for raising these birds as squabt ducks, turkeys or chickens are raised for the market Pen, brooder and chicks must all be moved repeatedly to different parts of the grounds every few days to avoid 'reinfection from parasites. By avoiding the foster mother carrier and changing ground frequently we have been able to keep the young birds free from parasitic infections during the critical Erst few weeks in which such severe losses were suffered when the work was first begun. , Food, - naturally, - must lie given very -careful attention. he continue. The grouse farmer will need food that appro-- . mate that of the bird in the natural state, yet it must be such that it can be raised in . quantity at not too great a cost We give young chicks sour milk at the beginning, but our first trouble is to et them to eat it. ' grouse instinctively try to catch their food on the fly. They dont look for it on the ground but want to pick it out of the air or off the bushes. So we smear sour milk on shingles and set them Then up against the side of the brooder. they learnrto know it by sight in a few days and eat it out of a dish. .Later on we give them ground hard-boileggs, pheasant meat and a little cracked wheat and sunflower seed. We do not give them corn. In general they require very little grain. Wild grouse live on fruits a great deal, such as strawberries and wild blackberries. So we have tried them out on things like mulberries and raspberries and we find they do very well Since grouse need a certain amount of insect food, we have been meeting this requirement by rearing bluebottle and green bottle flesh fly larvae for them. This is a rather troublesome and disagreeable feature, however, that we hope to simplify somewhat when we have the method worked out in shape to premnt as a me a s .of practical grouse rearing on a large scale. By MARJORIE MacDILL -- 4 A i T. 44TpHE 4 t J Ki L v. M ed -- 'K ring-neck- ring-neck- lemon-color- J ' ed THE wild State there is very wa.s these diseases until they marked in grouse little chance of infected birds history by an invasion become very abundant and range over of goshawks swooping the same ground day after day. In tlie down out of the north. Masons when very few young are Goshawks are among reared in the coverts it may well be the fiercest of Amerithat one or the other of these diseases can birds of prey and hi is to blame, the ornithologist pointed bad- Two days old. . . . The grouse they have out. year been known to snatch o much like a chicken chick look A much more insidious disease, away a hunters kill be"peeper" that he can easily fool however, took off many of the surbantam hen foster mother. fore he could pick it One reason why the vivors Dr. Allen had anoceeded in It was up. They have a speg r o u 1 1 population bringing almost to maturity. cial fondness for grouse. reached a low level in 928. , . . Coshawks, found to be caused by. a stomach this slaughtered them in found they down birds Mason in fond From particular of careful worm. During on grouse, swooped especially autopsies enormous numbers in some regions, and thi is probably one numbers . . . would even snatch the hunter's dead in the field, it appeared that this stomreason why the grouse population reached an extremely low kill before he could pick ll UP- ach worm was responsible for a large number unique. level in 1 928 throughout many parts of its range. All of and in deaths the wild of 1928 saw state. of The years 192.7 grouM the provinces of Canada except Quebec and the .Y ukon deAbout 1924 the grouse research at Cor-- 1 the number of grouse throughout clared a closed Mason, as well as nine of the northern states who has tried to The American nell began to atttract considerable attention. their ranges in both this country and ANYONE turkeys knows in this country. In most other grouse state the birds were Canada at the lowest ebb ever reGame Protective Association decided to get behind the movereported as below normal in number and some unsuccessful corded. Many game experts be ment and money was subscribed to carry on the work on a something of the proposi- efforts were made to close the Mason. lieve that an epidemic is responsible more extensive scale. It was decided to extend particularly tioo the young scientist was up ....Because of this shortage no effort was made to collect the investigation of the life history of the parasites discovfor this great decrease of the finest against, for many turkey rail- felt that ered preying on the birds. of American game birds, -- but it rs who start early in June ipecimens for investigation in 1928, since it was he few surviving birds left in the coverts were probably The with a likely brood of young of sportsmen throughout the grouM seems more probable in the light of much of Dr. Allen's work, that this healthy anyway and needed protection to help bring the numturkey chicks feel lucky it they country of America was enlisted to aid the cause. Hunters . bers up the following year. diminution is due to a variety of have four survivor by the first were asked to Mod to Cornell specimens of birds found dead the total number of bird the In recent of and shortage, for them field. in for Drections the knew spite Dr. Allen of mailing reasons. . prewiring August examined in the laboratory since the work started faking of these difficulties and they Running down the cause, or rathquestionnaires about the number of grouse present in the together the one studied at Cornell and thoM handled in a He carries his feather bed along. . . . Fluffed coverts and what food they ate at different Masons of the er causes,' of this grouse naturally made him more obthese broadcast in and similar birds were out in this fashion, the grouse is able to keep journals. disease, and5rt the same time trying servant of his home-raisseparate investigation in New England under the direction points year of 'rofessor A- - O. Gross of Bowdoin College and a westIn short, every attempt was made to uncover as much as of the fielcL And his knowlwarm in tero weather. develop a practical method of ' ern was time an from the investigation in charge of Professor D, J. Leffingwell activities about , rearing baby grouse in captivity, egg edge led him on to the track grouse possible of the Washington State College of Agriculture has reached hatched until the young were in the nest again. Dr. Allen of valuable information. have been the two interrelated avethe neighborhood of 2500 specimen. The examination and The disease most fatal to grouse chicks turned out to be felt that it was impossible to foretell what little fact would nues of research by which the Cornell ornithologist hopes to the same as a disease that attacks young chickens, turkeys, restore the bird to a degree of its former abundance in the study of birds in such numbers has, of course, given orniturn out to be of the umost importance in shedding some and life the Allen thologists a much better picture of the life history and phy and the of canaries. found the Gradual replenishing Dr. that woodlands throughout the northeast. attacking parasites history pigeons light on malady ology of the .ruffed grouse than was ever possible before. took its heaviest toll before his chicks were three weeks old of covert and wise game laws should do the rest in recoverconsequently on the control of diseases. and that it was caused by a minute animal parasite of the As a result of this drive, nearly 900 specimens were ing 'for American sportsmen one of the favorite prizes of of the roost interesting features of this investigation intestinal tract The scientific name for this grouse variety in the Mason 1925-192From studies made on autumn game bags. , the recent attempt to link grouse up with tularemia, thew birds it was evident that no one disease is responsible Dr. Alien first began to tnr raising grouse chicks in 1919 pf infant's colic is coccidiosis, Blackhead. Another disease the rabbit plague that has swept over the country m all too welt known to turkey growers was also a source of for the disappearance of grouse. Over. 20 different 'parawhen an eterimental gaxe farm was established at Cornell the last few years and which has attracted wide attention .trouble in the young grouse. This other disease is caused sites and diseases were found in this part of the investigation. University. experiments were just getting a fair start from the number of human victims that have succumbed to it. Some of these diseases. Dr. Allen declares, are abundant when the farm perished from lack of financial support by the or parasite with a body of a single by a minute protozoan It was shown by Dr. R. R. Parker of the Spotted Fever cell much like coccidiosis. and of general distribution, while others are only local. state legislature. So there was nothing to. do but Carry on . and Dr. Green of the University of Minnesota brown flocks Mveral this each of around home. hi Laboratory both discovered limited these Dr. Allen that Work on own fluffy Meantime, in the spring Saw Eventually parasites space Brooder subcould be artificially infected with rabbit fever, home. the Allen that babies batched traceable the bantam hen foster out mothers to that at were smaller scale was made possible by a grant from the Heck-schgrouse grouse wyre and it was thought that the diseaM might be transmitted to stitutes for the bantam mother marked a great step forward. Foundation for the Advancement of Research. helping him bring up his experimental chicks. Most domesthe birds by natural means through the rabbit tick with which tic poultry, though subject to these diseases, usually acquire The eggs are now hatched in an incubator and the new. So here, within the confines of hi own dooryard. Dr. But as yet, Dt. Allen points out, ' immunity, although they still act as carriers. For this reachicks are left to the tender, uninfeeted mercies of a heated Allen fpund that he had an excellent chance to become grouse also are infested. known cam of tularemia has been found ia a the birds are-fr- ee brooder opening into a where a single not son the bantam foster mothers had to be abandoned and the familiar with various diseases to which the bird is subject pen raffed grouse. " . . and which may have caused its diminution. to run around in the sunshine when the weather is fair. grouse babies entrusted to the protection of heated brooders. Printed In U, S. A.) (Copyright, 121, NEA Uagazlae and Sclsncs Bsrvic TIE INspreading the greatest amount of space is given over to the chicks. It is well known to sportsmen and naturalists that this bird goes through more or less regular cycles of abundance and scarcity. Recent years, however, have seen a downward trend in the grouse in some states this population. downward trend approaches downNew England right extermination. still has a fair number and in party of Pennsylvania a good many have survived, probably owing to a of intelligent game laws and the possession of many miles wooded territory such as the groiuse best likes. But these records iace BUT com-binati- pa tf i ed i t fj s 6. ' er . wire-enclos- 1 ONE 1 " 1 |