Nothing was left except feathers, the crop and a few of the smaller
bones This was attributed to coyote predation

i. A scarcity of ruffed grouse seemed to be general in the regions
visited However, at Francois Lake an apparent exception was observed.
None was met with during four days in which much good grouse cover had
been travelled through, but on August 9 a large covey--what might have
been the entire population from a considerable tract of territory-—was
encountered under somewhat unusual circumstances. I was working through
a thick willow bottom, where the trees averaged 30 feet in height and
made a dusky Shade, when a large number of grouse rose simultaneously
with a loud and continuous explosion of wings that lasted for several
seconds In the denseness of the thicket none was seen but as I
walked further others were momentarily sighted, some rising from the
ground others bursting out from thick foliaged trees. Finally eight
or more were detected high up in the willows and these remained on
their perches, craning their necks from side to side, while I passed
underneath them. An exact’ count of the covey was not possible under
these conditions but it was estimated to number at least 30 and prob-
ably close to 40. At any rate it was the largest covey I have ever
encountered at any place

Two young birds that were collected had eaten grasshoppers as
the chief item; lepidoptera larvae and unidentified leaves were
present in smaller amounts.

So large a number of birds together so early in the season--
some were less than half grown-~and the fact that after feeding they
roosted together above the ground suggests the following conclusions:
first, all the local population were attracted to this section by an
abundance of grasshoppers; second, a continued association of broods
afforded some protection against predation by coyotes and wolves both
of which were active in the neighborhood.

According to verbal reports made by hunters ruffed grouse were
abundant in the autum of 1942 and exceedinly scarce in the autumn
of 1943. Apparently a sudden decline in numbers was uniform over a
large section of country at least from Quesnel west to Nazko, north
to the Salmon River and northwest to Hazelton. In the Quesnel
district the scarcity was so apparent that a sportsmen's organiza-
tion recommended a closed season for hunting. This was put into
effect for 1944 in respect of the Cariboo and Lillooet provincial
electoral districts The greater part of the closed area lies
south of the region under review.

Information as to periodicity in numbers in earlier years is
available only in respect of the Cariboo Parklands where personal
observations have been made since 1931. In this section the last
peak of abundance was in 1932, and 1933 was a year of scarcity.
Subsequently some recovery took place but a relatively low

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