No Mating Call

Last week spring descended upon Martha's Vineyard. Mass, (island five miles off the "heel" of Cape Cod). To greet it the island's animal life let forth their perennial mating calls. Less hopeful than other fauna was the island's famed Heath Cock.

Last year he had joined the chorus and, like the unhappy swain in the mouthwash advertisements, received no answer. This year he refused to waste his breath. Reason: he is the world's last heath cock. All his fellows and all heath hens are dead. This heath fowl, a North American grouse, is a close relative of the prairie chicken and about the same size. A mottled grey, his protective coloring makes him practically invisible among the scrub oaks which he frequents. Plenteous 75 years ago, the birds dwindled until 1907 when protective measures were taken. By 1916 they had increased until there were several thousand on Martha's Vineyard. Then a forest fire destroyed practically all of them. Steadily the survivors died off until at present there is but one. Uncaged, he walked about last week, ate food prepared for him, stared gloomily at crows who snatched at his rations.

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