RUFFED GROUSE. 29 



where grouse are decreasing under persistent gunning the open season 

 should be further limited or even eliminated for a period of years'^ 

 until the birds have recovered something of their former numbers. 

 A reasonable limit to the day's bag should be set by law. Kansas, 

 Maine, and Wisconsin restrict the number to 15; Montana and 

 Oregon to 10, and Ohio to 6. Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Con- 

 necticut have a limit of 5 grouse per day to a gun, and in the latter 

 State, as well as in New York, no more than 36 can be taken in a 

 j^ear. By similar laws other States can aid in the preservation of 

 the bird. 



The grouse in captivity often becomes tame. Sometimes, indeed, it 

 takes kindly to the henhouse. It has laid in captivity, and its eggs 

 found in the woods have been hatched under domestic hens, but thus 

 far nothing like successful grouse culture has been approximated, 

 though there appears to be no reason why under proper conditions 

 it should not be successful. Comprehensive knowledge of the bird's 

 food habits should assist in solving the problem. 



FOOD HABITS. 



The food habits of the ruffed grouse have been investigated in con- 

 nection with the present paper by the examination of 208 stomachs 

 and crops. This material represents food taken in every month, but 

 chiefly in the colder half of the year. New York supplied more 

 material than any other section; Canada, Pennsylvania, and Massa- 

 chusetts came next; and Nebraska, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, 

 New Hampshire, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 South Dakota each contributed a smaller part. Analysis of the food 

 showed 10.92 percent of animal matter and 89.08 percent of vegetable 

 niatter. The animal food is almost all insects. The vegetable food 

 consists of seeds, 11.79 percent; fruit, 28.32 percent; leaves and buds, 

 48.11 percent, and miscellaneous vegetable matter, 0,86 percent. The 

 insect food proper includes grasshoppers, 0.78 percent; caterpillars, 

 1.15 percent; beetles, 4.57 percent, and miscellaneous insects, 3.86 per- 

 cent. Some miscellaneous animal matter, made up of spiders and 

 snails, is also eaten. The ruffed grouse eats a somewhat smaller pro- 

 portion of insects than the bobwhite, but, like it, feeds on them to a 

 large extent in the breeding season. 



Insect Food. 



Grouse shot by the writer at Chocorua, N. H., in September. 1898, 

 were feeding largely on the red-legged grasshopper {Melanophis 



a 111 Ohio the season has been closed until 1908, in Illinois until 1909, and ni 

 Missouri until 1910. 



