RUFFED GROUSE. 31 



ccespitum). Several species of the useful parasitic ichneumons are 

 occasionally taken, and as an offset such foliage-destroying insects 

 as sawflies, including adult forms of Nematus sp. and larva^ of 

 Lophyrus sp. A peculiar long-bodied hymenopteron {Pelecinus 

 sp.) also has been noted. The queerest article of food, perhaps, is 

 the galls produced by insects {Cynipidrp). The ruffed grouse shows 

 a marked liking for these odd growths, which contain a few tiny 

 larvae. The common semidomestic pheasant of England has the 

 same taste. The grouse usually selects galls growing on oaks, often 

 those produced by species of the genus Amphiboh'ps. A bird shot 

 in Lunenburg, Mass., in October had eaten 12 of these oak galls, 

 although at that time other food was abundant. 



Few invertebrates other than insects were found in the investiga- 

 tion of the food of the grouse. The miscellaneous animal food, how- 

 ever, included representatives of such Myriapoda as the thousand-legs, 

 of the order Diplopoda, and such Arachnida as harvest spiders 

 (Phalangidce), jumping spiders {Attid(t), and ground spiders 

 {Lyeosid(t^) ; snails of the genus HeUoc^ and also shell-less snails, or 

 slugs, including Limax sp. and Tehennophorus carolinensis. 



Vegetable Food. 



The vegetable food examined consisted of 11.79 percent of seeds, 

 28.32 percent of fruit, 48.11 percent of buds and leaves, and 0.86 

 percent of miscellaneous vegetable matter. Grain was not found, 

 though no doubt it would be eaten if obtainable. In fact. Major 

 Bendire says that grouse procure it along roads from the droppings 

 of horses." 



The seed element of the food is mast and miscellaneous seeds. The 

 mast — 5.33 percent — consists of hazelnuts, beechnuts, hornbeam seeds, 

 chestnuts, and acorns. The last, furnishing by all odds the 

 largest supply, includes those of the scrub oak {Quercus nana), scrub 

 chestnut oak {Q. prhwkles), white oak {Q. alba), and red oak (Q. 

 rubra). Acorns are often swallowed whole, half a dozen to a dozen 

 at a meal being not uncommon. Beechnuts also are taken whole, and 

 from 20 to 60 are sometimes found in a crop. 



Miscellaneous seeds make up 6.46 percent of the entire food. Like 

 many other gallinaceous birds, the ruffed grouse takes some legumi- 

 nous seeds, though fewer than might be expected. The kinds known 

 to have been eaten are the tick-trefoil {Meibotnia sp.), so abundant 

 in the edge of woods frequented by grouse, and vetch {Viria caro- 

 liniana). Winged seeds are often sampled, such as those of the hem- 



aLife Hist. N. A. Birds, [I], p. 62, 1892. 



