RUFFED GROUSE. • 37 



of thorn apple are used for food — the cockspiir thorn {Cratcegus erns- 

 gaUi) and the scarlet thorn {C. coccinea). These apple-like fruits 

 afford a nutritious food. At Peterboro, N. Y., the writer observed 

 grouse coming to thorn-apple trees during November and well into 

 December. That they take large numbers at a meal is shown by an 

 individual obtained at St. Vincent, Minn., which had eaten 38. 

 W. H. Kobbe says that grouse eat with great relish the small wild 

 crab apple of the Northwest (Pyrus rioularis) ."^ They enjoy culti- 

 vated apples, seldom missing a chance at trees on the edge of wood- 

 lands. At Chocorua, N. H., in October, 1898, some of the birds killed 

 in old orchards of abandoned farms had fed principally on apples. 

 After thorn apples and partridge berries, a number of other fruits 

 are also staples. The large brilliant clusters of the mountain asli 

 {Sorhus americana) are acceptable, and the delicious wintergreen 

 berries, with scarlet skin and snowy pulp, are also relished. The 

 bayberry {Myrica carolinensis) is a favorite food wherever accessible. 

 Tn grouse stomachs one often finds nothing but the little round 

 granules contained in the Avaxy drupes of this berry. Blueberries also 

 are eaten in large quantities. A bird- killed at Chocorua, N. H., July 

 25, 1892, had eaten a hundred blueberries {Vaecinium pennsylvani- 

 rnm), and one killed at Chateaugay, N. Y., in September, contained 

 about three hundred. The high-bush blackberry and the huckle- 

 berry also are eaten, as well as the cranberry. Dr. A. K. Fisher 

 found 21 whole cranberries in a bird shot at Lake George, N. Y., 

 November 2, 1901. The extent to which blackberries are sometimes 

 eaten is shown by the fact that the stomach of a grouse contained 

 about 800 blackberry seeds. Another bird had eaten over a hundred 

 sarsaparilla berries. An explanation of the delicious flavor of the 

 ruffed grouse appears in its varied and highly flavored diet of fruit, 

 herbs, and seeds. In addition to the fruits already noted the follow- 

 ing kinds found in the birds examined may be named, though the 

 total number mentioned in this bulletin is probably not a fourth of 

 the complete list of fruits eaten by this bird : 



Greenbrier (Smilaa- sp.). Wild blade cherry (Pruiiun sero- 

 Hairy Solomon's seal {PoUjgona- tiiia). 



turn bifloruni). Wild red cherry (Pniitus penusyl- 

 Smooth Solomon's seal (Poli/f/ona- ran lea). 



tiini commutatum). Elder (^unihucux canadensis) . 



Blackberry (Riihus nigrobaccue). Ked elder (SainhKCKs pnJxvis). 



Black raspberry {Ruhus occklen- Black haw {Vihurniuii iinniifo- 



talis). It inn). 



Raspberry (Ruhits strigosus'). Nannyberry {Vihurnuin Icntago). 



Domestic cherry {Prunu.^ avium). Withe roa (]iliiiniiiiii cassinoidcs). 



Cultivated plum (Pniiiiis domes- Ma[)le-leave(l arrow wood (Vihur- 



tica). nuni ucvrifoliitni). 



« Auk, XVII, p. 351, 1900. 



