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grouse. I was in military service that fall, so could not hunt at
all myself. I was also in service in 1918, but according to all the
information which I had, those years were extremely bad, 1917 probably
being the lower. I was in northern Maine in September, 1917, just before
going into service, and grouse were then extremely scarce; and during
that winter the trappers could hardly find one or two grouse a week, or
even the signs of grouse.
In 1919 the grouse crop was still very poor. The season was
closed in Massachusetts, and I hunted very little in New Hampshire.
There were a few birds, but scarcely enough to warrant making trips
of considerable distance to hunt them.
1920. There was a good comeback in some places, but birds
were not evenly distributed. 1921 was a good year all over the country
in which I hunt. 1922 was of course a banner year, and in thatyear
I made the biggest shooting record in this region I ever made, or
probably ever will make. 1923 was a failure. I was away that season and
did almost no hunting. 1924 was a poor year on the whole, although quite
a few grouse showed up at the end of the season and late November. In
1925 a fair crop of grouse showed up, and we began to make a pretty
good annual bag again. 1926 was a good average year, about two-thirds
to three-fourths of the banner year in 1922. In 1927 there came a bad
slump in birds, especially in Massachusetts, which resulted in a closure
of the Massachusetts season the following year. I suppose theoretically
we should not have had this slump, but it was certainly a very marked
event, and shows that our ten year cycle in this part of the world is
complicated by many unknown factors. 1928 was also a poor year. The
season was closed in Massathusetts and I did very little hunting myself.
1929 was a fairly good year again. I did a good deal of hunting, and
for the two months open season insoutheastern New Hampshire averaged
about 21 birds a day, one on starting day, 50 on another, and 37 on
another. This year was not as good, however, as 1922, but I hunted
harder.
1930 was a good average year. I only hunted in October for a
short time, and so have no notes on the whole season, but would say it
was about the same or a little better than 1929. The present season,
1931, is not far enough advanced to make comments on, but I have seen
more birds along the back woods roads than I have seen for many years.
I suppose you are familiar with the little European hazel hen,
which of course is quite closely related to our bird. You know also
that this bird, breaking up into various races, extends from Scandinavia
across to Japan. I have almost no knowledge as to how this bird is
handled by European game experts and as to whether it shows an cyclical
behavior. I think it would be well worth while to start a correspondence
with some of the European ornithologists and sportsmen, especially in
Scandinavia, who could give you some information along these lines.
I dare say Dr. Palmer of the Biological Survey could put you on the