182 FOOD HABITS AND REQUIREMENTS 



SUMMARY 



Food shortages severe enough to cause star\'ation. pronounced weight losses and death 

 apparently do not occur, (p. 229). 



The ruffed grouse is omnivorous, (p. 184). 



It is primarily a plant-eater, its known consumption including representatives of 65 fami- 

 lies and over 334 species, (p. 197, 850). 



Manv of these species are widely distributed: they are normally to be found, often 

 in abundance, in good grouse coverts, (p. 1981. 



For the most part these are pioneer and temporary (transition) type species, (p. 199). 

 Trees and shrubs furnish the bulk of the food. (p. 198). 



Few of the commonly eaten food species are found in dense woodlands, (p. 225, 231). 

 The maximum number of these plants is present three to five years after heavy lum- 

 bering, (p. 234). 



Animal food, mainlv insects, is predominantly taken only during the first two weeks after 

 hatching, (p. 212). 



With adults animal food makes up but one-twenty-fifth of the summer diet: during other 

 seasons it is much less. (p. 197, 212) . 



Available insects during the critical period following hatching may reach 330,000 

 per acre in areas recently lumbered, (p. 214. 776). 

 Insects most frequently taken are ants, beetles and caterpillars, (p. 213). 



Over an 11-year period the foods most commonly taken by New \ork grouse came from 

 aspens, cherries, birches, raspberries and blackberries, hop-hornbeams and thorn- 

 apples, (p. 215). 



The diet varies year by year and season by season. Some of these variatioiir^. but not 

 all, may be explained on the basis of the relative abundance of the foods, (p. 214, 218). 



Great differences in diet exist between various parts of the grouse range. The young 

 differ widely from their parents in food eaten at first but acquire adult tastes by the 

 end of August, (p. 220, 225). 



To obtain an accurate conception of food consumption over a large area, such as New 

 York, a minimum of 50 grouse should be examined each season during each of at 

 least five years. However, a fairly large list of foods taken can be compiled from 

 the results of a single year's study. (p. 184). 



The distribution of grouse is influenced to no small extent by the feeding grounds in 

 summer and fall. (p. 229). 



Normally grouse find satisfactory amounts of water regardless of the specific habitat they oc- 

 cupy, (p. 245). 





Sfc^ 



