r,. I      Vf.' 
 
 
J. B. HARKIN, 
     COMMISSIONER 
 
 
NATIONAC    N/4' y.r 
MIGRAT     BIRDS CJ7E4." ACT 
HISTORIC SITES 
 
 
                          DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
           HFL/MI D. 
                              NATIONAL PARKS OF CANADA 
                                        OTTAWA 
IN YOUR REPLY REFER TO FILE ..... D.. .......................1933 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                Dear Sirs 
 
                            We have recently received information to the

                effect that Ruffed Grouse, which have been at a peak of 
                abundance throughout most of their North American range and

                which are still very abundant over most of that range, have

                begun to show a marked decline in two widely separated areas,

                namely, in the Cariboo Region in British Columbia and in
the 
                Gaspe( Peninsula in the Province of Quebec. This may indicate

                the initiation of a general and rapid decline in numbers
in 
                this species and as early information concerning such an

                occurrence is of importance in connection with studies of
the 
                cause or causes of such decline, we are sending this informa-

                tion for what it is worth to those persons known to us as

                serious students of cycles of abundance in the huffed Grouse.

                Attention is called to the fact that a decline in numbers
in 
                Ruffed Grouse in 1934 would be in accord with a prolongation

                of the graph of Ruffed Grouse abundance cycles in manitoba,

                published by the late Norman Criddle, in The Canadian Yield-

                Naturalist, Volume 44, No.4, April, 1930, Page 79. 
 
 
                                                  Sincerely yours, 
 
 
                                                        A 
 
 
 
 
       Professor Aldo Leopold, 
             University of Kisconsin, 
                   &ADISON, Wisconsin, 
                          U. S. A.