. Biennial report of the Montana Fish and Game Commission. Montana Fish and Game Commission; Game protection; Wildlife conservation; Fisheries. feel that the failure of recovery of the sharptail in western Montana is due almost entirely to the degeneration of its habitat. Much of the area formerly occupied by sharptails in western Mon- tana is now covered with cheat grass which can- not possibly support the birds. The sage grouse is recovering its numbers in many parts of the state, though in most areas its recovery is slower than that of the sharptail. We shall point out later why this is so.
. Biennial report of the Montana Fish and Game Commission. Montana Fish and Game Commission; Game protection; Wildlife conservation; Fisheries. feel that the failure of recovery of the sharptail in western Montana is due almost entirely to the degeneration of its habitat. Much of the area formerly occupied by sharptails in western Mon- tana is now covered with cheat grass which can- not possibly support the birds. The sage grouse is recovering its numbers in many parts of the state, though in most areas its recovery is slower than that of the sharptail. We shall point out later why this is so. Many regions of the state seem to show the bird remain- ing stationary and there are many areas where the birds became extinct during the drought and have not yet returned. Blue grouse in general are becoming more common, though the rate of increase is not rapid. Ruffed grouse are apparently making more rapid recovery of their numbers, while Franklin's grouse apparently are steadily becoming rarer. Brood County Studies: In any study on game birds it is of para- mount importance to determine the rate of in- crease. This is best done by counting the numbers of young in the broods of the various species. Accordingly, whenever a brood of young birds was encountered, special effort was made to count the number. The results of our brood count figures of 1942 are summarized as follows: Number Range of complete in number Ave. No. SPECIES broods counted of young' of young' Sage Grouse 28 4-10 Sharptail 8 3-14 Blue Grouse .. 83 1-9 Ruffed Grouse 22 1-5 Franklin's Grouse .... 22 1-6 Hungarian Partridge 32 1-19 Chinese Pheasant .... 22 1-10 These figures need some explanation. It is well known that the number of young birds in a brood gradually decreases during the summer due to predators, disease, and accidents. There- fore the number of young per brood in any species would be much higher during June than it would during August. It is necessary, then, for us t
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