DIET 



203 



these two genera were eaten by no fewer than 80 of the birds collected by the Investigation. 



From southern New York southward, the mountain laurel (Kalmia lati folia) supplies food, 

 and even more importantly, shelter. The fullest crop examined, which was collected March 

 15, 1936, near Middletown, N. Y., was stuffed with laurel leaves, buds and twigs. Again, 

 tough leaves seemed to be attractive. 



Weed and Dearborn'"' found 12 leaves of sheep laurel (Kalmia angustijoUa) in a Janu- 

 ary-killed bird. The buds of a cousin, the azalea (Rhododendron nudijlorum) are sometimes 

 eaten in fair quantities. 



Another evergreen which, because of its small size is often covered by snow, is the aro- 

 matic wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), whose chewy leaves and solid-fleshed fruit are 

 favorites with grouse. Collected near Blacksburg, Va., on ISovember 25, one bird was found 

 by Smyth"" to have eaten enough fruits of this species to furnish 2,499 seeds. But so small 

 were they as to represent but 10 per cent of the gizzard contents. Ofttimes associated with 

 wintergreen is the shinleaf (Pyrola), whose flat-clustered, basal leaves are picked up possi- 

 bly because they also are evergreen. 



Evergreen winter browse is furnished largely by conifers, ferns and heathers. Where avail- 

 able, the last group is usually patronized more commonly than either of the others. 



The Sumach Family. — In New York, the fruits of sumachs ( Anacardiaceae) are well up 

 in the list of favored foods. Yet difficulties experienced in cracking their hard-shelled seeds 

 which lie just beneath the well known red coat of most of them pose a question not easy to 

 answer. Beer and Tidyman" have suggested that such resistant seeds are taken in place of 

 grit, a possibility discussed elsewhere in this chapter. In these days of vitamin-consciousness 

 one wonders if some nutritive need may not be locked up in the hirsute and acid outer cov- 

 ering of the sumach seeds. It is difficult to believe that these thin-pulped fruits would be 

 taken merely for stuffing with so many easily obtained and nutritious substitutes usually at 

 hand. It is a fact, however, that sumach fruits are often eaten in large quantities when an 

 abundant supply of other foods is available. For instance, one bird collected near Ithaca, 

 N. Y., on November 13, had swallowed 1.025 of the fuzzy fruits of staghorn sumach (Rhus 

 typhina) along with small amounts of several other foods. In winter, one occasionally 

 finds an astonishing amount of these sizeable seeds in a crop; one contained 1,069 seeds. 



Whatever the reason for their patronage, few of the sumachs are overlooked save possibly 

 in summer. Even the poison ivy (R. toxicodendron) berry had been eaten by ten of the birds 

 examined. Sumach buds were found but once. 



The Sedge Family. In the order of importance as producers of grouse food, the next 

 most patronized group is the sedge family (Cyperaceae) . They receive greatest attention in 



