COVER REQUIREMENTS OF THE GROUSE 167 



of coniferous woodland (H) if it is close by. 



5. Birds disturbed in second-growth hardwoods (E) are likely to go to mixed second- 

 growth hardwoods and conifers (EH) or to conifers (H). 



6. Birds found in mixed second-growth (EH) are most likely to fly to second-growth 

 hardwoods (E) or to conifers (H). 



7. Birds flushed in mature hardwoods with (FH) or without (F) conifers usually go to 

 any other woodland cover type except spot-lumbered areas (G). 



8. For birds flushed in spot-lumbered areas (G) to go to mixed second-growth hardwoods 

 and conifers (EH). 



9. Birds flushed from coniferous cover (H) show no strong tendency to seek out any one 

 other type, going, as they do, to other woodland cover or even to overgrown lands. 



10. For birds flushed in young slashings (I) to go to second-growth hardwoods either 

 with (EH) or without (E) conifers. 



11. For birds disturbed in older slashings (J) to fly to mixed second-growth hardwoods and 

 conifers (EH), to spot-lumbered areas (G) or to conifers (Hi. 



It must be recognized, in considering the above inclinations, that certain types of cover 

 will normally be found adjacent to certain other types (such as overgrown lands lying be- 

 tween open fields and woodlands). This fact, unquestionably, influences to a considerable ex- 

 tent the type of cover into which the birds go when lUi.shcd. and therefore makes the natural 

 cover choice of birds less obvious. 



Distance between flush and reflusli 



How far, once flushed, may grouse be expected to fly before alighting? Obviously this 

 depends on several factors, the most important of which is probably cover. But the 1.494 

 reflushes recorded by the Investigation were too few to satisfactorily answer this interesting 

 point. Some indication of what to expc( t in general may. however, be gained by glancing at 

 table 170*. 



Very occasionally young birds, early in the fall, may alight within 50 feel of their starting 

 point. Flights of from 150 to 300 feet are the rule — which is astonishingly short — unless 

 the bird has been hard hunted. Then distances up to 500 feet or farther are not infrequently 

 recorded. These are likely to be less when leaves are present or when the bird is in thick 

 cover. Flights of one-quarter mile or more are not uncommon when they are startled while 

 feeding under a thornapple or along a hedgerow at some distance from the woods. As pre- 

 viously mentioned a "crazy flight" may carry a bird several miles before alighting. 



In this table we have then an indication that about 300 feet is a normal radius within which 

 suitable shelter should be available at all times, in coverts one is trying to make more congenial 

 for grouse. 



Effect of sex on flight distance. 



Males have a habit of hurtling upwards in a convex curve towards the treetops. when 

 flushed in wooded cover. Females are more likely to rise in a much more gradual, often con- 

 cave arc. Remembering this, records covering the distance between flush and reflush were 

 kept on 969 grouse on which the sex was determinable with reasonable accuracy (table 1701. 



* Seo Appendix, p. 8i;{. 



