110 COVER CHARACTERISTICS AM) SHELTER REQUIREMENTS 



\\lii( h make up good grouse cover as the first step to intelligent management. 



it is. then, the purpose of this and the succeeding chapter to describe cover characteristics 

 and to explore and define, in some detail, the shelter and food requirements of the grouse. 



While classified as woodland game, these birds find cover conditions to their liking only 

 where a diversity of vegetation fulfills their food and shelter needs throughout each season of 

 the year. The fact that the grouse is a sedentary species with a normal cruising radius of 

 less than a mile and a minimum territory requirement of perhaps ten acres, suggests either 

 very simple requirements or a fairly high degree of dependence on the occurrence of suitable 

 habitat conditions within small areas. The latter surmise is more nearly the case for in large 

 measure, it is the quality rather than the quantity of the cover that determines the number of 

 birds a given woodland can support. 



Quality is seldom easy to recognize. One can determine the characteristics of grouse cover 

 only by locating the various cover associations which support grouse and by finding just what 

 part each plays in the life history of the bird. By stud) ing the use grouse make of the trees, 

 shrubs, grasses and herbs, individually and as a conununitv. that comprise a cover type, one 

 may gradually build a picture of food habits and shelter requirements. 



Man has, as yet, few ways of perceiving bird needs except by the roundaliout method of 

 charting actions and. from ihem. attempting to recognize the compelling reason. The inter- 

 pretatit)n is, of necessity, slow, for we have only our own experience as a guide and imagina- 

 tion is required to put ourselves in the place of a grouse in attempting to explain its reactions. 

 Because the probability of error in such observations is so great, a truly staggering number of 

 these must be recorded covering each individual jilace and activity*. The number must be 

 large enough to rule out the chance that, when anahzed. the result secured may represent 

 but an incidental reaction to a situation rather than a characteristic habit of the species. 



Ruffed grouse range extends from Georgia to Hudson Bay and Alaska, from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific, from Long Island's low-lying plains to the stunted forests atop the higher Adir- 

 ondacks. Throughout all of it the broad factors that govern grouse productivity are the 

 same. But the specific combinations of conditions prevailing in different localities vary 

 widely. This is particularly true of the plant and animal associations. Thus a study of the 

 relationships of the species in New York can reveal its shelter needs as a whole but evalua- 

 tion of the part each cover ty|)e plays in fulfilling them can be attempted onl\ fur liie situa- 

 tions actually observed. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF PRODUCTIVE GROUSE COVER 



For practical purposes, one may divide grouse cover into natural groups such as open 

 land, overgrown land, woodlands and slashings or cutover areas. Most of these, in turn, 

 may be further sub(ii\ided into subgroups called cover ty|)es. Woodlands, for instance, may 

 be composed of blocks of second-growth hardwoods. mMtini' liarduddils. cunifcrs or a mix- 

 ture of hardwoods and conifers'^. 



Each large plant community and cover type carries within it ;i special set of conditions. 

 Thdugli grouse are adaptable birds, they have by necessity become more or less specialized for 

 li\irig within a fairh broad range of cover conditions. The extent to which they can find the 

 basic life needs met within a given cover type is a measure of that type's importance and use- 



• Ttip ronrliisionii rrachril in this chapter mulled from a statiitiral analvtis of comprrlicnsivc data sliceta coverini! 19.619 i;rou»c 

 fliDillra. 1,515 liruod rontarlH and llip rxaniination of 1,270 neat lorntinna. These records were nathered. over a period of 13 years, 

 from all three iliverse types of grouse habitats in New York Stale, 



A See rover type descriptions, p. 120. 



