212 FOOD HABITS A\D REQUIREMEXTS 



favorite, buckwheat and wheat are generally best accepted, although individual grouse differ 

 markedly in this respect. Occasionally birds in the wild may pick up one or another of the 

 (■ulti\ated grains. One bird consumed 123 kernels of corn, though from the location it is 

 likeh that the grain had been scattered as emergency feed for ring-necked pheasants. Eight 

 other birds each sampled a few kernels. Grinnell'" mentions a "vivid recollection of a part- 

 ridge which one winter could be started three times a day at the head of a small ])ond where 

 corn had been scattered to attract black ducks'". In the Wisconsin study of fall grouse foods. 

 Chaddock found corn, like clover, to be important. 



Among the items, upon which, to our surprise, none of the 1,633 grouse examined had fed. 

 are seeds of the ashes (Fraxinus), common trees of many northeastern habitats, and buds 

 and fruits of sassafras (Sassafras variijolium) . another locally abundant plant. The elms 

 (Ulmus), among the producers of early flowers and fruits of spring, were generally disre- 

 garded, though one chick did sample a seed and a single adult the swelling buds. Alders 

 (Almis), also present in many grouse coverts, were largely ignored bv the birds. Only six 

 grouse took small quantities of the seeds and two others ate a few buds. That the birds here 

 draw a line is evident, but the reason therefor is not vet apparent. 



Animal Foods 



So far as bulk is concerned, animals supply a relativelv small proportion of the normal grouse 

 diet, outranking plants only in the first few weeks of the birds" existence. Consisting largely of 

 insects and their relatives, they represent an amazing number of forms, seemingly limited large- 

 ly by availability. Altogether 580 different identifications of animal foods were obtained. Due 

 to the mangled condition in which they were found in stomachs, manv could not be deter- 

 mined as to species or even to genus. More than half again as many kinds of animals were 

 noted as plants, but despite numerical superiority they formed only 1.1 per cent of the diet (table 

 25). Distributed among 165 families, they represented 11 distinct classes. Few- were of 

 sufficient importance or taken with enough regularity, however, to warrant separate discus- 

 sion. 



Grouse undoubtedly render some service to man in the destruction of insect pest«. Control 

 of insect damage in grouse habitat is so difficult and costly that it is seldom attempted by man. 

 Hence, the frequent appearance of harmful species in the grouse diet, even though in .*mall 

 numbers, is worthy of mention. Such serious pests as saw-flies, weevils (such as strawberrv 

 weevils, the black vine weevil and the popular borer), leaf beetles (including the Colorado 

 potato beetle, the cucumber beetle and the elm leaf beetle), caterpillars (like the notorious 

 cut-worms, maple-tree worms, canker-worms and apple-tree worms), and grasshoppers are 

 all devoured. Plant bugs and leaf-hoppers are also taken on occasion*. 



Not only did the birds as a whole take a wide variety of insects, but individuals. ])articu- 

 larly juveniles, often had picked up 20 or more different kinds in a single feeding period. 

 One adult made a veritable biological survcv of its habitat in Tompkins Countv (N.Y.) on 

 June 21, in consuming 27 different animals and 17 species of plants. As is true with plants, 

 a single species of animal may provide food in different forms; the inunature as well as the 

 adult stages of insects being taken. The egg sacs of spiders apparentlv are devoured when- 

 ever discovered. 



Ants, wasps, saw-flies and their relatives ( 1I\ nu'iinptcra I are among the best sources 

 of animal food for grouse. Altogether 84 representatives of this group were identified. 



* For a complete 1i«l of all inaccu ealen. lee table 173 in llic Appendix. 





